Help...Something laid an egg in my mulch! UPDATE: It's a Duck!

[TLHB70]

I can't wait to see the pictures!

 

[Virgo10]

Well came out this morning to a find Mama Duck squatting in my mulch.
She waddled off & left us 2 more eggs!

How cool! I hope there's no outside cats around.

Time for you to start a photo documentary.

 

[micknpluto]

this reminds me. I live in a high rise on the 8th floor. a pigeon decided to build a nest and lay 2 eggs on my balcony. now I have 2 baby pigeons and a bunch of pigeon poop all over the place. gross =/

I don't want anything to happen to them. not sure what to do. just waiting for the to fly away, I guess.

 

[famofsix]

Do I need to be more creative than Daisy, Huey, Dewey, and Louie??

I don't know they could be Snow white and the seven dwarfs if she lays seven eggs...you are the dwarf master

Sir Hiss and Kaa would be funny since you are afraid of snakes

 

[Not so Dumbo]

We also have a duck nest in our garden under a hosta which is weird b/c we don't live anywhere near water.
The cool part is that the nest is only a foot from my DS's bedroom window ( daylight level basement) he literally has a bird's eye view.
So now he thinks it's his duck and he keeps an eye on it every morning and night.
When it's hot outside mama will leave the nest for the day and if it cools off too much or rains she comes back to sit on the nest. Pretty cool instincts huh.

 

[OK!]

Your biggest concern is predators. Keep an eye out for cats, dogs, raccoons (they love to eat the eggs), etc.

Not to mention snakes. We've lost countless chicken eggs to snakes, as well as several golf balls (we've used the golf balls as "egg replacements" in nests, to take the place of either recently-laid eggs or to encourage the hens to lay in a particular nest). I feel for the snakes that got the golf balls. Well, not really.

 

[solferino]

Not to mention snakes. We've lost countless chicken eggs to snakes, as well as several golf balls (we've used the golf balls as "egg replacements" in nests, to take the place of either recently-laid eggs or to encourage the hens to lay in a particular nest). I feel for the snakes that got the golf balls. Well, not really.

I use the plastic easter eggs to fake my hens out. I've had some sitting on the same darn eggs since about december. I did set some regular eggs under them 2 weeks ago, but I think our rooster is all bark and no bite because not one of the eggs I set are doing anything when I candle them. Tonight I picked up some bantie chicks in hopes that the broody hens would "adopt" them but they aren't interested in the chicks.

 

[OK!]

I use the plastic easter eggs to fake my hens out. I've had some sitting on the same darn eggs since about december. I did set some regular eggs under them 2 weeks ago, but I think our rooster is all bark and no bite because not one of the eggs I set are doing anything when I candle them. Tonight I picked up some bantie chicks in hopes that the broody hens would "adopt" them but they aren't interested in the chicks.

Yeah, they seem to be very particular about adopting chicks, as in--most of the time, they won't. Even if they're accidentally separated from their own chicks for a short period of time, sometimes they won't take them back. Most of ours are really good about things...in fact, my mom said that a first-time mom had 6 eggs hatch 2 days ago (of course, she noticed them as she was supposed to be leaving to go to the Cardinals game, so it was a very hurried move for Dee (the hen) & her babies into a secured cage from the horse feeder her nest had been in); by the time my mom got back from the game that night, one more egg had hatched, and my mom could tell something was "off" about the new chick, like it seemed a little slow or something. She took the chick out and tried to give it some water from a dropper, and when she put it back in with its brothers and sisters, Dee kind of pecked at it and wasn't sure what to do with it. My mom left them alone, thinking that maybe it'd be a natural selection kinda situation and if the baby was meant to live, it'd live. Well, 2 days later, it seems to be doing OK, though still a little slower than the others, and Dee is taking extra care of it (like tearing up food into smaller pieces and putting them directly in front of the chick, rather than having the chick come to her like the others do). I haven't seen them yet, but I can't wait!


is there any way you could maybe "borrow" a rooster from somebody for a few days to see if he could, er, work his magic with some of the hens? That's how my parents actually started their flock or gaggle or whatever you'd call them -- a hen ran away from a neighbor's barn, set up shop in my mom & dad's barn, and started laying eggs. My mom eventually decided she'd like more chickens, so she borrowed a rooster from that same neighbor and voila, they were off and running.

 

[solferino]

is there any way you could maybe "borrow" a rooster from somebody for a few days to see if he could, er, work his magic with some of the hens? That's how my parents actually started their flock or gaggle or whatever you'd call them -- a hen ran away from a neighbor's barn, set up shop in my mom & dad's barn, and started laying eggs. My mom eventually decided she'd like more chickens, so she borrowed a rooster from that same neighbor and voila, they were off and running.

Nah, I'll get some different eggs from my ILs. They own a couple of farm/garden supply stores and have this sea of fowl in the pasture. I'll probably get some aracauna eggs (the pretty blue ones) and see what happens with those. Not that I need any more chickens, though. Between the egg birds, banties and 3 dozen meatbirds coming over the summer I've got more feathers and chicken-you-know-what than I know what to do with. But there's nothing like seeing a mama hen with her new babies- so proud. I'd love to give those girls the benefit of being a mama to a few at least once. Chickenpeople are wierd like this.

 

[OK!]

Nah, I'll get some different eggs from my ILs. They own a couple of farm/garden supply stores and have this sea of fowl in the pasture. I'll probably get some aracauna eggs (the pretty blue ones) and see what happens with those. Not that I need any more chickens, though. Between the egg birds, banties and 3 dozen meatbirds coming over the summer I've got more feathers and chicken-you-know-what than I know what to do with. But there's nothing like seeing a mama hen with her new babies- so proud. I'd love to give those girls the benefit of being a mama to a few at least once. Chickenpeople are wierd like this.

Ha ha...I'm a chickenperson! Who'd ever have thought?

Aracaunas are great...we have a gorgeous one (named Lucy) who FINALLY had one of her eggs hatch (she's not interested in being a mother, so her baby hatched in a group some other hen was sitting on) on Superbowl Sunday, and the baby looked like it was going to look just like her. Had the puffy cheeks and everything. And then...the %^%$%^&$*@!@#$ coyotes got her and a sister and brother, which I ranted about extensively in a thread a few weeks ago. I HATE COYOTES. Thankfully, the surviving 3 of that group (2 little roosters named Donald and Mickey and a little hen named Peep) are doing fine, though they were understandably traumatized by seeing 3 siblings murdered like that. Grr.

 

[famofsix]

I know I am lame but I was thinking about this thread and wondered if there are any pic's or updates