The Country Mouse's Farm Adventures: Most of the ducklings survive Day Three

Hi all. (Photos below)
The ducklings seemed safe and sound, with the small garden fence around their area, and with Mom and Dad inside the fence with them. That was Saturday afternoon.
Dad decided that he needed to get out to check on Blackbeard (our other female Cayuga, who was still at large in the barn and half-heartedly sitting on eggs in the other area) He got over the fence by hopping up on a bale of hay and then over....but of course, couldn't get back in. That led to confusion and mayhem, with mama doing her agitated quacking and pacing back and forth, and papa outside the fence. I scooped him up by holding both of his wings down, and set him back with his brood where he belonged. That was Saturday night...the ducklings were still in the nest and there were 11 of them and 2 eggs.
Sunday morning--I went out to milk Bessie, and the little ones were out of the nest, toddling around, with mama and papa again acting very agitated. They were staying inside the fence, though, so I just watched them. A chicken or two flew up and over the fence to get at the duckling food, but no real problems. There were 12 ducklings now, with only one egg which had a tiny peck-mark made by the duckling inside. The ducklings had a little bit of trouble getting back up into the nest, but they kept trying and didn't need any help.
Sunday after church: Papa was out of the fence again, wanting to get back in, and Mama and babies were all out of the nest, except for one little duckling and the egg. Mama was trying her best to fend off the chickens who had now discovered not only the duckling feed and the water, but the egg shells (which they gobble down like candy. They won't peck into a whole egg, but I have reason to suspect that they have picked open hatching eggs before and nothing was left when they were done. Too many eggs under a less-than-protective mama chicken have been sat on almost to the point of hatching, and then just disappeared without a trace, leaving a distraught mama hen without any babies.)
So Mama duck was rightly concerned. The chickens were a threat to her babies, and even more of a threat to the egg, and Papa was stuck on the other side of the fence.
Daddy duck was deposited back in the fence, but by then the chickens were in a near-frenzy to get at a few little pieces of duck egg-shell that were in the litter. AND--the baby ducklings were out and milling around in confusion, and 2 squeezed through the smallest openings in the fence and were outside the safety zone and away from Mom and Dad. That would bring the cats' interest, for sure.
The plan all along was to move the 12 week old Barnevelder chicks out of the PVC enclosure, and get the ducks into it. Mama duck had built her nest just outside the far corner of the PVC-and-netting pen, in a hay bale. So I set about to secure the netting on the top and sides that might allow a chicken to get in or a duckling to get out. The old and gross pine shavings were shoveled out for the other chickens to pick through for any remaining feed, and fresh bedding was put down. A hole was cut in the netting just where the duck nest rested against the PVC pen's side. Mama was not too pleased, and I was hissed at and pecked at, but once the hole was in place, Mama and babies literally tumbled down into the pen. Daddy duck followed through the nest-hole, Mama rolled the egg down and into the pen, and I closed up the nest area with another bit of hay-bale.
You'd think they'd feel secure now, but....Mama and Papa needed to get all agitated again, checking out every corner and hissing at any chicken which dared to venture too close to the outside of the pen. Eventually Mom settled in, setting up a little make-shift nest in the hay nearest where her nest on the outside had been. Pa rolled the egg to her, she tucked it under herself, babies came and snuggled in, and it all looked good.
A little later, the egg was in the middle of the pen, and she wouldn't accept it again. My best guess is that, in the middle of all the confusion of Sunday, Ma had been off the nest too much, and the duckling inside the egg had died. The last ones in a chicken's hatch aren't always sat on long enough, either. I put that egg under the other duck, just in case there was still a live duckling inside.
This morning, we were down to 11 ducklings. One had died in the night. Yesterday, I noticed one which was slower than the others, which couldn't get back on it's feet after flipping on it's back in the nest, which Ma Duck stepped on as she arranged the new nest, the same little duck held back and didn't eat and drink when the others did. I'm guessing that it finally ventured out after dark, but maybe couldn't get back to the nest, or maybe ate pine shavings....or maybe just wasn't going to make it anyway. Sad, but it seems that with every successful hatch, either under a hen or in the incubator, life and death go hand-in-hand.
The others, though.....they are absolutely adorable. They toddle around like wind-up toys. Their little feet seem to take twice the number of steps that they really need to. Tiny black webbed feet that seem to be in the way of walking easily, shiny black bills, fuzzy black down, beady black eyes. They are so tiny, and just precious.
They aren't out of danger, yet, though. Mama and Papa both got out of the enclosure while I was gardening today, leaving the ducklings huddled on the inside of the netting with Ma and Pa agitated (again!) on the outside. They must have forced their way through the hay I packed into their old nest, and not been able to get back to their babies. I risked getting fiercely nibbled by angry ducks, scooped them both up, and put them back with their family. And added a heat-lamp for the babies just in case that happens again.
You're probably shaking your head in disbelief at all the precautions I'm taking. "Let nature take it's course" is what you're probably thinking.
There will be other hatches of ducks for that. For this first batch, I HAVE to take every precaution that I can, because I'd feel that I failed them if I didn't. I'd feel awful if any little duckling was gotten by the cats, or got separated from it's mom and died. The first batch of anything seems to bring out more extreme measures on my part, because it's all new. I will feel terrible if anything that I've done leads to the death of one or more of the little ducks. I would feel worse if I didn't do anything, and they all died. As the learning curve eases a bit with each successive hatch, I can depend on what was learned in the course of the last times.
I'll do the same with Bessie's calf, probably pestering Farmer Bob and the vet with more questions and imagined dangers than they want to hear about. And the second time around, it will be a bit less anxiety on my part. By the third time (maybe Lucy's calf in a year and a half? but it will be her first, so that will be a little stressful for me, I'm sure.), I should feel much more confident after a few times.
I feel badly for the one little duckling that died last night. I'm already quite fond of the 11 that are toddling around, slurping up water like Mom and Dad and nibbling bits of feed off the floor or nibbling everything around them just because they're curious.
SOMEONE in my family suggested that we might have baby-duck-a-la-orange for Easter. (This same person texted me "Yum" when I announced that our first duck, Blackbeard, had hatched). For shame! :) The guilty party knows who he is!
Reality is, though, we won't be keeping all 11 ducklings in addition to the 3 adults that we already have. I think that a couple of them will go to our new friends in Chicago, who gave us Ma and Pa duck just a few months ago (if they want them?) Jeff and Michael were discussing male-duck-fights in the car this morning, wondering if they'd fight to the death like roosters will. Hmmm....I don't know if a duck could nibble or scratch another duck to death. Probably not. Their wings are pretty powerful, though..... But if there's fighting, that might decide which ones are either sold, traded, or.....eaten.
That's a ways down the road. The drama of life on the farm......
For now, the ducklings are the cutest little creatures on the farm, and we will just enjoy their new-life (just in time for Easter!) :)
Laura.
PS. To anyone new to the almost-every-day e-mails, these are also on the blog. If you don't want to keep getting the Daily Farm News from me, you can just let me know. If you've expressed an interest in the farm, you're probably getting WAY more info that you ever expected, so don't feel bad about telling me if it's too much.
Blog address: http://dykstrasfarm.blogspot.com

You are invited to view Laura's photo album: 2012-04-02