And then there were 8....

(Photo:  8 baby ducks drinking from an as-yet unapproved-by-the-duckling-safety-board chick waterer) My worst fears were realized yesterday when I got home, of course.  A barn is no place for 4 day old ducklings.  Big chickens to steer clear of, places to get lost, an old filled-in dirt cistern to fall into in the back corner, bales of hay to fall off of, straw and shavings that are probably not supposed to be on a ducklings diet, not to mention all the winter's-worth of chicken droppings to explore. They can't have medicated chick-feed, but that's what I have to feed the chicks to keep them healthy through the first month or two, so the ducklings have probably eaten a fair share of it out of the bedding on the floor.  They can fit through all kinds of small openings and get separated from Ma and Pa. They can follow Blackbeard, the other black duck, and sit peeping loudly when they realize it's not their mama.  (One did this, before spotting Ma and literally tripping over his own feet as he rushed back to his own family). Any number of things can be a life-threatening danger to a very young duckling. I was gone for 6 hours.  They had that long to keep out of trouble (or get INTO trouble), with Ma and Pa watching them and letting them explore.  That's the way God intended it, right?  He made the ducks the way they are, and Ma and Pa were doing a great job with the fierce protecting.  But what chance did they have against 60 chickens, or against all the imagined dangers of a barn's interior? On coming back, I could hear the ducks quacking in the barn.  I followed the noise and didn't even consciously count the ducklings.  But immediately I knew that there were 8, and not 11.  A quick scan of the barn floor showed 3 little black bodies lying next to the chicken's drinking water.  I'd checked and double-checked that.  I spent a lot of time watching them explore the barn before leaving for the afternoon, and the waterer was one thing I watched closely as they went near it again and again. It's a hog-feeding pan, about 4 inches high, and there was maybe an inch and a half of water inside.  The ducklings couldn't even get their chins above the rim from the outside.  Ma and Pa could drink, but the babies didn't seem to be in danger because they were too short to even peek over the side.  Even if they could get in, they should be able to stand up in the water that was in it.  But 3 little bodies were soaked and lying very still outside the waterer.  Jeff suggested "fowl play".  :( If they were out in the wild, and not in the barn (relatively safe compared to wild ducklings' chances) a snapping turtle could have taken many of them from underneath the water for its own meal.  They could have drowned in a pond if they couldn't get out.  A carp or cod fish could have grabbed them and dragged them under.  A hawk or even a blackbird could have flown off with one.  Another mama duck could have chased them and scattered them in trying to keep her own nest or brood safe...... Eight left out of 13 is not bad.  But....I wanted to keep them safe!  I've gotten used to losing baby chicks, and am even accustomed to losing an adult chicken for no apparent reason about once a month.  These were the first ducklings, and I thought I could take all the precautions and keep them from harm.  I should have realized that unless I wanted to keep them in a cardboard box filled with pine shavings inside the house (and shut away from the cats and the dogs in addition to all that!), they would be faced with living or dying on a daily basis. So then I had to reason it out, and really, the farm doesn't hang on the life or productivity of ducks.  The ducks are fun, and will eat ticks and slugs, and add interest to the growing group of animals that live here, and will eventually patrol the raised-bed garden we're working on.  There may be duck eggs to sell later, but that won't pay for anything more than a bag or two of chicken feed during the course of a year.  There will probably be another brood of ducklings, maybe more, in the course of this next summer.  They make for very cute photos, and are extremely fun to watch as they toddle around on webby feet, but they really are very fragile.    It puts things in perspective, but doesn't make me less sad that the 3 died.   I could say "I should have known better!  I shouldn't have let them out of the safe pen!"  But then what kind of life would they have?  They have a Mom and Dad, unlike all the incubator chicks that depend on us to keep them safe and feed them and only to let them out when their chicken-sense kicks in at about 8 or 10 weeks.  Even then, young chickens roost outside the barn and become a meal for a wandering raccoon, or venture away from the rooster's protection and can be picked off by hawks out in the field.  When a chicken-mom hatches a brood, she gets the freedom to take her chicks out on the first day, if she wants.  Some die, but most will live.  We get to enjoy watching her teach them to eat, to peck, and to snuggle with them in the nest.    One of the best things about the chickens is watching the babies perch on top of Mom, or peek out from under her fluffed up wings.......but the Mom chicken needs to be protective and needs space to do her job of raising the chicks. The ducks should have the same freedom, I think, regardless of my fear that more ducklings might die today. After all that reasoning, I still shut them into their safe pen last night.  Today, after I milked Bessie, they were set free with Mom and Dad to explore again.  The chicken waterer is now set higher so that they can't even imagine reaching the edge.  I watched them and they can't reach it under any circumstances, unless they happen to climb up on a chicken's back and tumble in.  That's just one danger.  I guess I'll still have to trust Mom and Dad to care for their babies.  Again.  Next time there is a nest full of duck eggs with a fiercely protective mama duck and a daddy duck standing guard, I'll have to try not to interfere.  I can interfere just a little (like putting  a chicken-mama and her eggs in a separate pen to hatch in safety, away from cannibal chickens who would consider a hatching egg to be a yummy meal!)  I should let nature take its course...and maybe we'll lose all of them before we even get to day 5...or maybe Mama and Papa would have been just fine without all the precautions I've put them through. Today, the remaining 8 are running happily, following Ma and Pa everywhere, even out into the big, wide open grassy field behind the barn.  (If I was a nail-biter, my fingernails would be chewed down to the quick!)  Mama is running in agitated circles and making rushes at any chicken who dares come near, and Papa is standing guard, flapping his wings as a warning.  Maybe the hardest part is convincing myself that those little cuties aren't MY charges to care for, and reminding myself that some losses are inevitable.  In the incubator last year, out of 36 duck eggs that we tried to hatch, only Blackbeard made it.  My efforts were ultimately so much less successful than Mama duck's.  She was following her natural instincts, she and Papa were acting as a ferocious team, and, by hatching her eggs the time-honored and natural way, she is doing what mama ducks do best. Those are the lessons for the day, I guess.  These animals have a God-given instinct to care for their young, death goes along with life, and we humans can't prevent every casualty, even with the best intentions! Hmmm.....I was imagining the ducklings as a perfect example of the new life of Easter Sunday, but here's another thought:  "Death goes along with life".....sounds like the perfect theme for Good Friday as well as Easter this week.  Jesus' death for the sake of all of us coming first on Friday......and LIFE coming on Easter Sunday as He rose victorious over the power of death!  ;) Laura A little PS: This cute idea was sent from my sister-in-law Nancy, as "a better way to eat baby chicks".  Infinitely better than baby-duck-a-la-orange, or baby-duck-confit (my brother made a point of letting me know that it was duck CONFIT, and not duck-a-la-orange that he suggested.....)  Looks like a great way to serve those hard-boiled Easter eggs!  :)  A better way to eat baby chicks is create deviled eggs, add eyes made from black olives, and add noses made from carrots. :-)