november 27, 2016

Good morning, it is very interesting but I thought for sure when our sitting hen duck was scared off her nest during the night that she was sitting on her eggs for naught.

When she was just on the eggs and I would pull back her protective fence in the morning she would HISS at me. I suspected something was up when she started hissing before I got within 10 feet of her nest.

When I removed the fence that morning,I could only see one fuzzball. Later I discovered out of 8 eggs she hatched 4 fuzzbals. Four more than I thought possible. This made me think of a lady who had a broody hen that was off her eggs for many hours and they too hatched once she started sitting them again. This survival mechinizum would be a good survival thing like in the case when our duck was scared off her nest. With all the predators around it really surprises me that anything hatches out in the wild.

We have a cholla in the garden and I would think it would be the perfect armored nest sight. No so for road runners. We have had mockingbirds, curved bill thrashers, and cactus wrens all try to nest to no avail. In most cases the young will get close to fledgling. I always root for mom but there is really very little I can do. This all makes me just the more amazed that babies do survive.

I was hoping to leave Mom with her babies in her nest but she had other designs. That night she tried to get her babies into the duck coop. She was soooo ready to rejoin the flock. Her babies just would not go in. In a lot of respects I was glad. I am not sure what all they do inside there of a morning but they do get a bit rambunctious before the door is opened. The babies could soooo easily be crushed.

With some “effort” Deb and I managed to get Mom and babies into travel cage and moved the to the brooding coop in the front yard. The same one that so recently had a bantam hen hatch four “duckins”. Mom hen was so confused when the duckins would rather swim than scratch the ground. This would have been hilarious with web feet.

Well Mom and babies settled in but Mom sure would like to rejoin the flock. The rest of the flock will sit on the other side of the fence and they will make contact calls all day. I think they will rejoin quite easily once the babies have a little size to them.

In the meantime, the “duckins”, which we have not gotten to move in with the other ducks, will daily come up and visit Mom and babies. No hissing like she does with the chickens.

We are in the process of moving a larger nest box into the “Duck orchard”. What with the 4 duckins and the 4 new babies the 4 X 4 nest box would be a bit tight and especially with how rambunctious they get in the morning to be let out. It is not too different than a clown car where all the clowns try to exit at the same time. The new nest box will have a much larger door and this will no longer be a. Hopefully 13 ducks is our limits.

It would be good for the duckins to be with the rest of the flock because as it is they do not have a duck pond to swim in. I had to put a large container in the chicken watering dish to keep them out. Other wise during the day they would each take turns in a 12” X 12” water dish and effectively drain the “tub” with baths and then there would be no water for anyone to drink. Besides the ducks really know how to “fowl” water!!!