How Many Hours a Day Does a Duck Have to Sit on Her Eggs?

A typical duck sits on her eggs all day long, taking one or two breaks between the morning and evening for only about an hour, total, each day. This means that a mama duck sits on her eggs around 23 hours each day during their incubation period. If you don't see the mother come back to her nest within a few hours, it's possible she has abandoned her eggs.

  1. Egg Laying

    • Ducks lay about one egg per day to create a clutch of anywhere from eight to 12 eggs; some ducks may even lay up to 24 eggs per clutch, according to East Valley Wildlife Rehabilitation League. During the laying period, the mother duck will visit her eggs and work on her nest only for about an hour each day, according to the Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center. Only when all the eggs are laid will she begin to sit on them for an average of around 23 hours each day, taking an hour out of the day for short breaks to eat and exercise, according to "A Natural History of the Ducks."

    Incubation

    • The typical period of incubation for a clutch of eggs is around 28 days for most ducks, according to the University of Minnesota Extension website. Muscovy ducks need a bit longer, averaging around 35 days to incubate before they hatch. A mother duck waits to begin the incubation of her eggs using her body's warmth so all of the ducklings will hatch around the same time, ideally within a 24-hour period. During incubation, she keeps the eggs at a nice warm temperature of approximately 99.5 degrees Fahrenheit, according to AvianWeb. Without the mother in the nest, providing the eggs with warmth for a majority of the day, the eggs would become chilled and the ducklings would die.

    Hatching

    • After hatching, ducklings need time to dry off after emerging from their eggs. A mother duck warms her hatchlings for at least 10 hours before setting off to the water with them, according to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Once in the water, the mother duck teaches her young what to eat. Over the next several weeks, the mother duck nests with the little ones, providing them warmth and coating their downy feathers in waterproofing oils. At around 2 months old, ducks become independent of their mothers. Ducklings raised in an incubator without a mother should not be placed in water because their downy feathers don't have the waterproofing necessary for swimming until their adult feathers grow in.

    Considerations

    • Never bother or upset a nesting mother duck. You'll stress her out, and she may abandon the nest because of it, leaving the eggs to perish. If she senses your presence nearby, she may fly away and wait until you've left before she sits on the eggs again -- so don't get anywhere near the nest during the incubation period. For domestic ducks, provide food and water near the nest so that mother doesn't have to travel far to get nourishment. In case of abandonment, you can incubate the eggs in a commercial duck incubator and transfer them to a hatcher three days before the little ones emerge, according to the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine.