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A female mallard duck incubates her eggs. Egg incubation is the process by which an egg, of oviparous (egg-laying) animals, develops an embryo within the egg, after the egg's formation and ovipositional release. Egg incubation is done under favorable environmental conditions, possibly by brooding and hatching the egg.
Mallard ducks are used extensively in the production of balut—female (left) and male (right).. Balut (/ b ə ˈ l uː t / bə-LOOT, / ˈ b ɑː l uː t / BAH-loot; [1] also spelled as balot) is a fertilized developing egg embryo that is boiled or steamed and eaten from the shell.
Duckling Female mallard with five ducklings. Egg clutches number 8–13 creamy white to greenish-buff eggs free of speckles. [92] [93] They measure about 58 mm (2.3 in) in length and 32 mm (1.3 in) in width. [93] The eggs are laid on alternate days, and incubation begins when the clutch is almost complete. [93]
The clutch is 8–13 eggs, which are incubated for 27–28 days to hatching with 50–60 days to fledgling. The ducklings are precocial , and can swim and feed themselves on insects as soon as they hatch, although they stay near the female for protection.
The females of many breeds of domestic duck are unreliable at sitting their eggs and raising their young. Exceptions include the Rouen duck and especially the Muscovy duck. It has been a custom on farms for centuries to put duck eggs under broody hens for hatching; nowadays this role is often played by an incubator.
The incubation period of the hybrid eggs is between the mallard and Muscovy, with an average of 32 days. About half of the eggs hatch into mulard ducks. [citation needed] Mulards tend to combine certain traits of the parent breeds. Due to their Muscovy heritage, they produce leaner meat than Pekins; females tend to be raised for meat, while ...
Once the eggs hatch, the hen leads the brood to rearing areas with abundant invertebrates and vegetation. [22] The American black duck interbreeds regularly and extensively with the mallard, to which it is closely related. [23] Some authorities even consider the black duck to be a subspecies of the mallard instead of a separate species.
A modern egg incubator. An incubator is a device simulating avian incubation by keeping eggs warm at a particular temperature range and in the correct humidity with a turning mechanism to hatch them. The common names of the incubator in other terms include breeding / hatching machines or hatchers, setters, and egg breeding / equipment. [1]