EverythingZen
Songster
just to quickly recap, and sorry for repeating this story in every thread I start, lol, I'm the proud new mum of Winsor and Newton. They were named before I even knew what breed they were.
Anyway.. fast forward. They are about 4-6 months old now. Around 3 weeks ago Winsor took to sitting on a pile of around 20 eggs, with single random eggs appearing in other locations around the yard. Last week I went under there and did a count and a welfare check. 3 were kicked out, and one was accidentally dropped by my daughter, but it gave us the chance to see a forming foetus (is that what we call them in duckland? Lol) inside. Cool, we figured she (Winsor) must definitely be the female, especially given she'd been consistently sitting on them for around 23 hours a day, with 1-2 short breaks.
Fast forward again to this afternoon. I came home to see Winsor out having a bit of a feed and doing her early evening break. Newton was hanging about with her, having a good time doing duck things. He seems to get lonely a lot, and is glued to her side when she ventures out. I thought nothing of it. A while later she had gone back under the deck to her nest. Newton continued his wandering around the rest of the yard. I found a cold single egg, and picked it up. I came to sit outside for a while so newton could come and talk to me if he wanted, but he has spent the last 2-3 hours at the baby wading pool where they have their fresh water. Our pool is out of action, and has algae, so while they love playing in it, I like to give them clean water as well so all the animals can use it (cats, dogs, all the ducks (we have another juvenileduck, but he/she is another story for another day)).
Anyway, newton has just laid 2 eggs next to this baby pool! Newton. Not Winsor. The first one we thought was another single, but my husband went to retrieve it and found it was still soft! Confused, we sat out here for a bit longer, and newton laid the second while we we sat. He (!) is working on a 3rd egg while I type this. Newton cannot be a male. So what the heck is winsor?!? Winsor is the one who has been sitting on this big nest. Winsor is the one who is showing every sign of being the female. We saw the egg last week that had a baby duck growing in it! The yolk had developed what looked like a skeletal system forming.
I'm so confused. ive got one duck sitting on a large nest. I've now got another duck working on a second nest. How can this be?!? I don't think I know who I am anymore!! Nothing makes sense. I've got a total of around 30 eggs in various places, most being on the nest which has been in existence for weeks now. I know I need to get both Winsor and newton out to vent them properly, firstly, to officially determine their sexes. I'm wary to do this with both being so egg obsessed. Will it disturb them so much that they abandon their nests? Please help!
Anyway.. fast forward. They are about 4-6 months old now. Around 3 weeks ago Winsor took to sitting on a pile of around 20 eggs, with single random eggs appearing in other locations around the yard. Last week I went under there and did a count and a welfare check. 3 were kicked out, and one was accidentally dropped by my daughter, but it gave us the chance to see a forming foetus (is that what we call them in duckland? Lol) inside. Cool, we figured she (Winsor) must definitely be the female, especially given she'd been consistently sitting on them for around 23 hours a day, with 1-2 short breaks.
Fast forward again to this afternoon. I came home to see Winsor out having a bit of a feed and doing her early evening break. Newton was hanging about with her, having a good time doing duck things. He seems to get lonely a lot, and is glued to her side when she ventures out. I thought nothing of it. A while later she had gone back under the deck to her nest. Newton continued his wandering around the rest of the yard. I found a cold single egg, and picked it up. I came to sit outside for a while so newton could come and talk to me if he wanted, but he has spent the last 2-3 hours at the baby wading pool where they have their fresh water. Our pool is out of action, and has algae, so while they love playing in it, I like to give them clean water as well so all the animals can use it (cats, dogs, all the ducks (we have another juvenileduck, but he/she is another story for another day)).
Anyway, newton has just laid 2 eggs next to this baby pool! Newton. Not Winsor. The first one we thought was another single, but my husband went to retrieve it and found it was still soft! Confused, we sat out here for a bit longer, and newton laid the second while we we sat. He (!) is working on a 3rd egg while I type this. Newton cannot be a male. So what the heck is winsor?!? Winsor is the one who has been sitting on this big nest. Winsor is the one who is showing every sign of being the female. We saw the egg last week that had a baby duck growing in it! The yolk had developed what looked like a skeletal system forming.
I'm so confused. ive got one duck sitting on a large nest. I've now got another duck working on a second nest. How can this be?!? I don't think I know who I am anymore!! Nothing makes sense. I've got a total of around 30 eggs in various places, most being on the nest which has been in existence for weeks now. I know I need to get both Winsor and newton out to vent them properly, firstly, to officially determine their sexes. I'm wary to do this with both being so egg obsessed. Will it disturb them so much that they abandon their nests? Please help!
