While I was in California, our big duck hen disappeared. She isn’t the only one that thought it would be fun to stir things up while my husband was doing chores. We were both hoping that she had a nest somewhere and hadn’t been eaten by a raccoon. Luckily, she returned later that night…confirming our thoughts that she had a nest somewhere. My husband looked for a nest but was unsuccessful, when I got home I looked for a nest but was also unsuccessful. She would disappear during the day and come out in the afternoon for food and a dip in the pond.
While I was doing chores yesterday, I thought I would look in the pile of concrete pieces to see if she was hiding in there.
There are lots of crooks and crannies to hide in. I thought maybe we had missed her when we looked previously.
This hole made a strange noise as I walked by…it hissed at me!
I took a closer look…
and found our hen!
She is so well hidden that I would have missed her again if she hadn’t hissed at me.
When she left her nest at feeding time I went back to see how many eggs she has and was shocked when I didn’t see any!
I was a little scared to put my hand in there, but curiosity got the better of my fear. Way back in the back she has 12 eggs!!!
The mama duck is on the left.
She is so funny when she leaves the nest – talking, chatting, carrying on, telling her buddies all about the goings on asking about what she missed.
I hope the nest is hidden well enough to keep her safe for another two weeks!
How fun! Are these wild ducks or ones you raised?
These are the big ducks that came with the mallards Tony ordered last year. They are colored like Mallards but a LOT bigger.
Very cute story. Wow, 12 eggs!