Behind the hay and barn lime and by the cat's couch we store extra feed bags on, there's her nest. This is from last week, so she likely has more eggs now. I counted them, and there are 27. Eep!
The other nests are getting taken care of and sat on, and Squeaker Mama and Khaki Mama should be hatching late this week at the earliest. No peeping sounds yet.
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We have several nests going now here in the barn. We have six duck nests going and one goose nest, though most aren't being sat on consistently yet. With all these nests going, we aren't getting any eggs right now, but that's okay as we have a ton still in cold storage.
Khaki Mama and Squeaker are still sharing their nest, and if my figuring is right, they should start hatching babies next week at the earliest. They are quite the little mama team, taking turns off the nest to bathe, eat, and drink, and they're best buddies now when they really weren't at the beginning. Since they don't leave that nest alone at all, we aren't quite sure how many eggs they have, though it seems to be quite a few, and we have no idea how many might hatch. We will likely have to put those babies or some of them in the brooder, though, if just to protect them from the other ducks. Gracie disappeared for a couple of days, and we were worried until we saw her come out of a hiding spot in the barn for food and water. Robert finally found her nest tucked away under some things, and she has something like 25 eggs in it. We had no idea she was working on one there, as we thought she had a different spot that I'd been clearing out (not the best place for a nest, and it was still a bit too cold). Now, she's good and broody and not moving. She's a proven mama, so we are hoping she ends up hatching most of those. Broody Judy (new name that just seems to fit that poor broody Pekin who runs around yelling at everyone most of the day) is starting to get enough eggs to sit on her nest more, which she will likely do starting next week. Then again, Pekins aren't known for being good moms, so she might never sit on the nest properly. We're still waiting to see how that works out. Nest #3 seems to be starting to develop as a nest, but we have yet to see anyone on it, so we aren't sure whose it is. We originally thought it might be Mango's new nest, but she's now more interested in a different one, so that nest might never end up working out, or we might find that it belongs to one of the Muscovy gals. No idea, but we keep checking. What we thought was Gracie's nest under the bicycle and kept clearing out has been slowly turning into a real nest with feathers and everything and more eggs, though none of the Muscovy gals (the only ones who could get to it) are sitting on it whenever I check. So, I figure that one will end up having a duck on it sometime soon whenever she finally decides she's ready. What's interesting is that Lucky has been seeming to guard that nest, so I'm curious to see whose nest it is. The latest nest, and a rather odd development, has been the one closest to the geese side of the barn though protected by a pallet fence. At first, I thought it was just someone laying eggs randomly there since they weren't in a pile like normal. As an experiment, I left the three eggs I saw there one day only to find five there the next morning in more of a usual nest formation. Now we see Mango, the proven Rouen mama who usually goes broody later than everyone else, there, but there's also Danny guarding it, something he's never done before, and Geri often rearranging it and sitting by it, when she has never gone broody before. We're calling it the Rouen nest and really wondering what on earth is going on there. Ducks are weird, I guess. Petunia Goose has a nest but isn't sitting on it at all except for at night. We really don't think she or Mary will be hatching any goslings this year, but we leave their nest alone in hopes one or the other changes her mind and starts sitting when there are enough eggs. We've caught the Muscovy gals messing with that nest during the day and even sitting on it from time to time, which is also weird. It's definitely goose mating season, though, with all the noise and violence that entails. We'll see who ends up sitting on that one, if that even happens. We don't use an incubator for our birds, so we rely on them hatching their babies or on local sources for new birds. This year, we have the most nests ever, the most broody mamas ever, and we're hoping that turns into the most ducklings ever. Next on the to-do list: building a duckling tractor. Our flock is a bit on the smaller side these days (for us), but that's about to change since we have several broody mamas sitting on nests. As of today, this is who we have:
One of the things we really enjoy is making up stories about our ducks and geese and telling them amongst our family. Each bird in our flock has such a different personality that it's become a bit of a family game to make up new stories about Geri and Little, Danny and the Cayugas, and then the geese and their whole new integration in the flock. These stories get added in with the Mr. Fluffers stories, as Mr. Floofers has a twin outdoor cat with a white patch that shows up very occasionally. Mr. Fluffers is the Milo Minderbinder of the neighborhood in our stories, always working an angle with the squirrels and crows, and he often hires Little for new adventures or works on getting Geri what she needs for her new plan. These are all fiction, obviously, but it sure can make a dark winter's night more fun in trying to add more and more to the family stories. Today, as I was sitting and knitting by the pellet stove (damp rain makes my fibromyalgia act up something fierce), I saw a young crow flutter down close to the house. When I got up to see what that was about, I saw it sitting on the log the muscovies prefer and talking as Danny (the Pekin drake) and the Cayuga pair were seeming to listen and talk back. Geri, the Rouen in charge, seemed just to notice as he walked by and continued on to a more grassy area to eat. They talked for a bit, and the crow flew off only for the rest to go in separate directions to eat.
Since then, crows have been flying in and out, perching on branches above them, but there hasn't been much talking going on, just watching. So, are they ducks and crows in collusion now? What are they planning or figuring out? |
Our FlockWe have Sebastopol geese, Embden geese, Muscovies, Pekins, Rouens, Cayugas, a Runner duck and her Pekin/Runner daughter, and Khaki Campbell ducks. These are their adventures. ArchivesCategories |