So this is weird - last night around 8 pm - I went out to make sure our chicks that had just graduated to outside quarters were in bed and I saw 2 little ducklings running around in front of the chicken enclosure. I have 3 broody call ducks almost due to hatch so my immediate thought was that some had hatched and somehow gotten away from Mama. However, this made no sense since the Mamas were all locked up, sitting on their nests.
Anyway, they looked like little just hatched call ducks so DH and I scooped them up and took them inside to warm up. A downpour started right after that so we were happy to get them to a safe place. I lock up and count all our ducks each evening so I knew we didn't have a broody that I wasn't aware of.
One of the ducklings was very sleepy but once they other warmed up, it was like a jumping bean - trying to get out of the 17 inch high tub we had placed them in. This morning, they are both lively and have managed to jump out of the tub twice. I finally covered it and told DH there was something different about these ducks as we had recently hatched 21 call ducks who rarely tried to jump. There eyes also seem a little larger - but other than that they look very much like gray call ducks.
They mystery of where they could have come from was still puzzling us when DH said "ducks just don't fall out of trees". Then I remembered wood ducks do nest and hatch out of trees. Our chicken coop is about 50 ft from the back of the house and there is a very small stream another 100 ft from the chicken coop and we have never seen, heard or ever thought there were any wood ducks near us. And if these are wood ducks, where in the heck did they come from and what happened to Mama and the rest of them?
Here they are, any Wood duck experts have any opinions?
