About how many eggs do ducks lay and when do they mate?
They lay about half a dozen eggs over a period of a few days, and the females won’t sit or ‘nest’ on the eggs unless they are fertilized by a male. This usually happens just before spring. As far as the alligator goes, nature will take its course and there’s not much you can do to stop it. If the alligator hasn’t eaten the ducks already, obviously they’re doing a good job of protecting themselves. If the eggs aren’t fertilized by a male duck, they will never hatch, in which case you should just gather them. Duck eggs are supposedly very delicious, my 2 female Rouen ducks (same markings as mallards but cannot fly well) are carrying eggs right now but they haven’t laid any. Good luck, I hope you have some ducklings by spring, they’re just the cutest things!
