We Found An Egg Buried In Our Garden. We Think It May Be A Duck Egg Since Ducks Have Been On Our Pond Recently. How Can I Tell If It Is A Duck Egg And Why Would She Bury It?

It is not really easy to tell the difference between a duck egg and a chicken's egg for example, unless you have one of each side by side and compare the differences. Generally, a duck egg is white-ish and will sometimes have flecks of other colors which may be hard to see.

It is unlikely that you have found a duck egg, even if you have had one regularly visiting your garden. This is because female ducks, like most birds, sit on their eggs to keep them warm until they hatch. Some people believe that ducks will bury their eggs to hide them from predators. However ducks usually tend to stay near large bodies of water and lay their eggs in nests near the water but they will most likely stay with or near the eggs to keep them warm and guard them until they hatch.

Two animals that do bury their eggs are alligators and turtles, but it seems highly unlikely that either of these two animals will have buried their eggs in your back yard.

The most likely possibility is that a fox has moved the eggs into your garden and buried them. Foxes are renowned for stealing eggs from birds and ducks and carrying them away from their mother's and burying them elsewhere so that they can come back for them later. Unfortunately, eggs are also one of a fox's favourite things to eat. The foxes will gently pick up the eggs with their mouth, carry it to a safe place, dig a hole, place the egg gently carefully inside and then come back later to eat it.

There is not much that you will be able to do about the egg so if you find an egg or see a fox burying eggs you should just leave it alone. Even if you were to get the fox away from the egg, you have no way of knowing where it came from and cannot possibly return the egg back to its mother.

Today I saw the local fox digging in my garden, he picked up an egg in his mouth and gently carried it away a safe distance, but I could still clearly see him.  He then  broke open a hole and licked the insides out cleanly.  (I opened the door to scare him off after a bit, and then checked the egg.  Interesting!!!  It looked like a white duck egg.

I've just researched this and it appears to be foxes that bury eggs of all kinds in gardens. They gently pick them up in their mouth and carry it to a safe place, dig a hole and come back later to eat it. My neighbour and I have been finding goose eggs in pots and borders!

I think that Ahef01 must be correct because I too found an egg! It was buried deep within a flower pot that has been sitting behind my bushes all winter. I should have realized that it had been transplanted there by a four legged thieve. Some kind of animal has been under the kitchen window, close to where the pot was stored. We know this because we've cleaned up scat left there. Thank you for clearing up this mystery

I have just found 2 eggs, 1 buried in each of my planters. They are light brown and slightly smaller than a chicken's egg. Anyone any ideas please. We do have foxes so would go with that theory but I think my planters, being lightweight, wide but shallow on a pedestal, would have tipped up had such a large animal been digging in them. Thanks.
  Hils.

You can look it up on line. Why she bury it I don't know. It could be by something else that buries eggs.

The egg would be kind of waxy if it is a duck egg. I've never seen a duck bury her egg, cover it with leaves yes.

I just found an egg in my garden too. I think it probably is a duck egg that an another animal buried as there was scat in the garden as well.

She buries her eggs to hide them from predators

Well I think that she did that because so no other animal could get it