Well, the soap opera continues!
We decided to only have two "active nests," meaning we would let the first two girls who started keep their eggs, hopefully to hatch them out, and collect from whomever else laid.
The first I've already written about is Seelie, our Buff Orpington, who was laying on a Muscovy egg, two Ancona eggs, and the rest (assuming) hers. I stopped counting and left her alone at 12 eggs, but I'm pretty sure there are lots more...
Well, that big, beautiful nest became full of feathers, which is usually an exciting sign to us. And then, all of a sudden, GullyDwarf was laying over the eggs, huffing at me whenever I'd get near.
Gully's a Muscovy hatched from our only successful clutch last year. We kept her to better balance our male/female ratios. To my knowledge, she hasn't laid any eggs, and it was a shock to find her being broody all of a sudden! I'm pretty sure these eggs should be hatching this week... buuuut... who really knows, with everything that's gone on with this nest. *laugh*
Our second keeper-nest is Blinky's, one of our two Ancona girls...
And occasionally BabyDuck... *chuckle* She's one of our original ducks and the nest-mama of that successful clutch of last year I previously mentioned. I've caught her on Blinky's eggs a few times. She's SUCH a good mama.
Blinky's tossed out a couple eggs, but the nest has been holding at 14 for a while, now. Hatching is still a couple weeks away.
And lastly, I have to give mention (though sadly no picture at the moment) to a third nest, by Holly. Holly is our chocolate Muscovy. She shared a nest last year with another chocolate Muscovy, but sadly they were scared off the nest only a couple days before Hatching Day.
Anyway, I've been collecting her eggs daily, but she's starting to act broody. She's lined her nest with feathers. She only comes out at feeding time. And of course, the giant poops...
I feel bad for the dear and I'm thinking of leaving her eggs alone... Thinking of running the idea passed the husband...
We decided to only have two "active nests," meaning we would let the first two girls who started keep their eggs, hopefully to hatch them out, and collect from whomever else laid.
The first I've already written about is Seelie, our Buff Orpington, who was laying on a Muscovy egg, two Ancona eggs, and the rest (assuming) hers. I stopped counting and left her alone at 12 eggs, but I'm pretty sure there are lots more...
Well, that big, beautiful nest became full of feathers, which is usually an exciting sign to us. And then, all of a sudden, GullyDwarf was laying over the eggs, huffing at me whenever I'd get near.
Gully's a Muscovy hatched from our only successful clutch last year. We kept her to better balance our male/female ratios. To my knowledge, she hasn't laid any eggs, and it was a shock to find her being broody all of a sudden! I'm pretty sure these eggs should be hatching this week... buuuut... who really knows, with everything that's gone on with this nest. *laugh*
Our second keeper-nest is Blinky's, one of our two Ancona girls...
And occasionally BabyDuck... *chuckle* She's one of our original ducks and the nest-mama of that successful clutch of last year I previously mentioned. I've caught her on Blinky's eggs a few times. She's SUCH a good mama.
Blinky's tossed out a couple eggs, but the nest has been holding at 14 for a while, now. Hatching is still a couple weeks away.
And lastly, I have to give mention (though sadly no picture at the moment) to a third nest, by Holly. Holly is our chocolate Muscovy. She shared a nest last year with another chocolate Muscovy, but sadly they were scared off the nest only a couple days before Hatching Day.
