March 4, 2017

Sitting Duck





Correction - setting duck. Mama Duck started laying eggs again last month. She was laying in a corner of the goat shed, where there are too many goat feet for it to be safe for either eggs or ducklings. I kept collecting the eggs, so she started hiding them. When she didn't show up for scratch the other day we started looking around for her. I have to say she chose a good spot. She and her eggs were completely protected from a hail storm the other night.

Muscovies incubate their eggs about 35 days, so ducklings are expected sometime the first week of April.

Sitting Duck © March 2017 by Leigh 

26 comments:

Rain said...

She did choose a nice safe spot! Animals are so smart. I hope she does well and all the eggs are safe! :) I can't wait to see the ducklings!

Deb said...

Perfect spot. Looking forward to the babes.

DFW said...

Aww. Easter Ducklings!

Leigh said...

The biggest concern is some sort of egg eating predators, however, mama muscovies are quite good at running things off (like our cats, who run any time she even looks at them, LOL)

Leigh said...

Baby ducklings are so cute! And this duck is a very good mama.

Leigh said...

That's right! Hopefully the weather will be nice and mild for them.

Goatldi said...

Oh Mercy that variety of duck they are vicious little creatures! I always figured they were the avian counterpart to little dogs who in vet med get nicknamed land sharks. No offense intended to all you little dog people.

Looking forward to the hatch and more spring babies good mama!

Leigh said...

Yes, Muscovies are extremely protective of their young'uns! This same duck attacked me twice last year for trying to catch a kid that had escaped from the kid pen. I wasn't anywhere near her ducklings but it was still too close!

Mama Pea said...

Great choice of nesting! Our Muscovies are laying eggs like crazy, but we have to keep collecting them because it would still be very cold for the hatchlings a month from now up here in northern Minnesota. But soon, Mama Duck, soon!

Henny Penny said...

Oh, Muscovies are smart. I miss our female that looked exactly like yours. I used to love it when she would hatch about eighteen baby ducks. Now we only have one white female and Poppy says, no more Muscovies.

Ed said...

While the duck story was great, my eyes gravitated towards the pile of lumber. I'm sure if I had it sitting behind my house, I wouldn't be seen for months as I built stuff out of it.

Leigh said...

The only problem with it is that Dan is hoping to get to that wood pile soon! It's all on top of our concrete slab, so to get started on the barn we need to move the pile. Not sure what to do about that!

Leigh said...

We really like our Muscovies. Last year this duck hatched 7 eggs, which would be a good number for ducklings/ducks. They are quite prolific, but we can only deal with so many.

Leigh said...

Ha! Dan complains about not being able to get to it (because of time and work), not Mrs. Duck has chosen that particular spot for her nest! With the weather turning nice, he's itching to build.

Farmer Barb said...

Awesome!

Jason and Michelle said...

She picked a great spot! I'm glad she is a good mama.

Tricky Wolf said...

just thinking out loud here could I keep a duck with my chickens or do they have different sleeping requirements?

Renee Nefe said...

hummm looks as if Dan will have to wait to start the barn...unless he wants to bear the wrath of mama duck. ;)

Unknown said...

She is so smart!!! It looks like the best spot. Great job Mama Duck:)
Jessi

Anonymous said...

Do you always let your ducks sit the eggs? We used most of ours for making noodles. They are perfect for that. We did let them hatch out, but only every other year or so.

Leigh said...

Not that we had a choice, LOL

Leigh said...

It's great until we need to move the lumber pile. :)

Leigh said...

Most folks will tell you no, you can't keep ducks with chickens. They will say they don't get along, that if the drake tries to mate with a hen it will kill her, and that they'll all stop laying. That being said, our ducks and chickens share the same coop, yard, and feeders without problem. The rooster keeps the drake from picking on the hens and the drake keeps the rooster from picking on the ducks. They understand one another's property and give wide berth. Ducks don't roost like chickens though. When in the coop they settle down on the floor, if they sleep outside, it's either in a tree or on top of the goat shed.

Leigh said...

This is for sure a problem! But he's got preliminaries before he can get to the barn, as well as a little healing for his knee, so maybe things will all work out.

Leigh said...

Last year she chose a fallen pine tree in the woods because it had a nice cover of branches. This spot is protected from rain though, which is nice (although the ducks aren't bothered by rain.)

Leigh said...

I was collecting the eggs until she hid them! Last year was our first year with ducks and we had four ducks hatch out 28 ducklings. Too many! I gave away two ducks and 17 ducklings, we lost a few due to accidents and predation, and the rest are in the freezer. One male and one female are plenty, I think, with one hatching per year. I have no idea how many eggs she has, but we figure it will be this winter's duck meat.