I think (but I'm not sure) that the mallards have a nest in our little thicket separating our yard from our neighbor's. For some reason the mommy & daddy ducks have rolled one egg out into our gravel driveway. I think they might have been trying to get to the other side of the driveway to another area of bushes. My husband was coming home as they were out there so he parked on the street, but it scared the mommy & daddy away and they haven't been back to the egg (it's been a couple hours).
I won't be able to leave the house without driving over the egg (however, I won't smash it of course).
I don't know what to do! I saw a news story on TV recently about another family who had a duck's nest in their yard with eggs and they hatched and the duck family is doing fine. I want a happy ending like that!

If there are still other eggs in the nest,or ducklings, the one they rolled out may be dead, they may be able to tell. I've never heard of birds moving a nest by rolling eggs to another location. Usually if there is a problem at a nest, they will abandon it and start another clutch somewhere else.

You could probably take a broom and gently move it to the grass. That way, it won't get a human scent on it if it isn't dead, and maybe the parents will take it back.

It might be a dud. Try holding up to a bright concentrated light in a dark room to see inside. If it's alive it should appear as a reddish colored blob that moves independently of the egg shell with vessels (and movement, if it has room to move). If it's yellow, blotchy, solid looking or completely clear it's probably dead. I wouldn't know how to incubate one without an incubator. Maybe try putting it back in the nest?

I also put some links in this thread http://www.veggieboards.com/boards/showthread.php?t=39245
They don't address eggs that much, but the first one has like a directory of govt. wildlife places you could call for answers. I'm thinking of calling about a Robin I've been seeing. I'm not sure if it's injured, sick or just young.

It's probably dead, but I read somewhere that once a duck is scared away from the egg, they won't return for it. It happened to us once when we were camping a duck layed her eggs underneath our camper, it was scared away when it saw us so we took the egg and tried to incubate it, but the poor thing was already dead :\

you can 'incubate' eggs if necessary by just putting them under a desk lamp with a 60watt globe in a small box/aquarium etc...

good luck Sally!! You're such a good person, trying to save the egg :smitten:

You could probably take a broom and gently move it to the grass. That way, it won't get a human scent on it if it isn't dead, and maybe the parents will take it back.


yah i think that's a fallacy... most birds have very poor senses of smell (as their brains are primarily adapted for sight and to a lesser extent hearing) so i don't think you need to worry about that aspect

i think you should tack in to you house and put in under a lamp and see if it hatches i don't think that the mummy or daddy will come back

To update you (not in a timely fashion, I know. I was out of town)...
A few hours after I posted this, we went outside with a broom to gently move it from the driveway. The egg had already been eaten (we assume). Only the shell remained.
The ducks still hang around our yard, but we still can't figure out where the nest is. :confused: