Sometimes all the eggs do not hatch the same day and a young mother will leave the nest with eggs still hatching. If the weather is warm enough they complete hatching and seek water and food on their own. Sometimes with wood ducks that nest in tree hollows as much as 30' above the ground the ducklings will jump to the ground and if it is a windy day can get blown out of sight and due to the wind noise can't be heard above it and become lost. Sometimes they become prey for any number of other predatory animals. Surprisingly, many times they survive to adulthood. You could let nature take its course, or you could scatter some feed in and near the waters edge, but there should be enough natural food for it to survive on in and around your small pond. If it is a wild duck your state may prohibit you from doing anything other than watch. IÂm sure what ever you decide to do it will be fine. Good Luck!

Look on the Internet to find out if Magpie ducks will incubate (set on) their own eggs. As long as they are not in with a lot of other birds, I suspect that she would succeed in hatching her own. Sometimes they lay an egg every other day, until they reach what they consider to be a full clutch. Before they are actually starting to set on the eggs seriously, you'll notice that she will start building the nest and lining it with fluff from her own breast. This is, of course, if she will set on her own. I reckon that those eggs will be good for at least two weeks, while she gathers more. If you decide to use an incubator, I'd recommend one with a thermostat, hydrometer, forced air and egg turner; that is if you can afford it. I used to purchase the Styrofoam cheapo incubators, about every 12 months. They would get contaminated during hatching and after a couple of uses there was no way to use them successfully, as the eggs would become contaminated and cause sick, deformed chicks. Ducks require a bit more humidit'y for incubation, so you'd have to research that. I have hatched duck eggs under a broody hen. That works. But once they hatch, you have to take the ducklings and raise them yourself. The hen doesn't "speak the same language" as the ducklings. They don't communicate well and the ducklings abandon the hen after less than a day. Hope this helps, George

Kendra, the ducks are fairly shy and will leave the backyard if we go towards the pond. When the females starts to sit, she stays in the box, even if we mow the lawn right at the box, but if you open the door to her box, she will be off and not come back for several hours or more. We have two boxes, but a starling has scared them by sitting in the door to one of the boxes, so all three females that are laying are putting their eggs into one box. I think I have scared off the starling, but it will take awhile for them to try that box again. There was one egg in that box and I transferred it to the other box. Now we have twelve eggs in that box and none in the other box. We have put a camera in each box. So far the females have gone in and left before another enters the box but in past years we have seen some nasty fight when two females both get into the box at one time. Here is video taken in 2010--It was Fathers day. In this video you may see that one duck does not make it. He finally jumped after about 20 min. Mom was still waiting for him. Here is a link that might be useful: video 2010

Hi Lisa It is amazing how many of the eggs do hatch. The last batch had 22 eggs and 19 of them hatched. Only one duck stays till the end and is the only mama. The others are fought with and generally give up after they lay their eggs or they find a new nest for part of the eggs. The one nest we have now had 27 eggs and I am sure there is at least one more in it. I did not go and count eggs today as we had grandkids all day. Where are you located. We have so many wood ducks and I am sure part of it is because of the boxes. They say the female will come back to the area that she was hatched in. I keep telling my hubby we need more boxes, but he says no, he will not ring the pond with duck boxes. Connie