Fisher Photographs a Hen Moving her Eggs

Yesterday I suggested that ducks only rarely move eggs out of the nest.

However, they do move eggs in the nest – a lot. Our jargon is lame – we call it billing the eggs.

Mom routinely gets up and rolls the eggs around – moving their position in the nest and rotating the eggs.

Modern incubators do the same – tilting eggs forward and then backwards every 20-30 minutes to improve hatch rates.

This late nesting Canada Goose is billing the eggs in the top photo, then she settles down again.

-Frank