A Brief History of Ducks
I’ve had ducks for years. I started with 3 little ducklings and I raised them as pets. The dogs got the drake when he was a year old, so I had 2 hens. A friend took some eggs and incubated them, hatching one. After the cute little duckling became a duck, they didn’t want it anymore, so they gave it to me. Back to 3 ducks. Then one of the hens developed a cough when she was about 3 years old, and croaked almost immediately. I had the two ducks for another year until the hatched duck stayed out in a snowstorm and froze to death. I brought the one remaining duck in my house and she lived with me all winter. I got her a boyfriend 2 years ago in the spring. Then last year, 6 1/2 years after I got my first ducks, MFDR came home (drunk) and ran over my old duck in the driveway. After the rage and tears subsided, I picked out 3 new ducks, 2 hens and a drake, (which he paid double for), and brought them home to the lonely drake. The four ducks wintered very well, but they are not pets. I can’t pick them up, they don’t follow me around, we don’t have quality time. I feed them, they eat grasshoppers, they boss me around.
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Both my hens have nests. They’ve been on these nests f.o.r.e.v.e.r. filling them with eggs on top of eggs. They have been so dedicated to their nests that I thought one of them was dead since I hadn’t seen her in days. Then I stumbled upon her nest and between you and me, I nearly peed my pants when she started hissing and flailing me with her wings. I haven’t made that mistake again.
Yesterday as I watered the pepper plants hanging by one of the duck nests, I told the duck, “You really should give up on that nest and enjoy your summer. You have done nothing but sit here for a month, and you know those boy ducks are shooting blanks. They are dumb boys. It’s a waste of your effort, and you should be sitting in the pool rather than sitting on this hot nest.” She stared at me, probably wondering what I taste like.
Pekin ducks aren’t known for sitting on their nests and hatching young. Almost everything I’ve read says you need to incubate the eggs if you want ducklings. I decided I was going to give the nests another couple of weeks before I candled the eggs and got rid of all the rotten ones. I always candle the eggs before breaking up a nest because the thought of breaking an egg open to find a half formed duckling freaks me out.
Today when I left for work, I heard one of the ducks making a strange noise. I dropped my stuff off in the van and went to her nest to check on her. I found the most wonderful surprise:
Seven baby ducks! I risked my eyes to get this picture while telling her how awesome she is. Flat out awesome! I expect the other duck’s eggs will hatch soon, and I will have more ducks than I know what to do with. For now though, I don’t care. I’m tickled that I have babies again so I can raise them to be pets, not wild, bossy ducks.
I guess it’s time to build that fence I’ve been thinking about around the front part of my yard.
