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Yesterday we answered the question posed in the title of this thread. The answer is "no," we will not have ducklings on the farm this summer. Yesterday morning when we went out to release the beasts, Martha was downstairs in the run with the other girls ready to go out. I checked the nest, and...

Potentially, but you know what fans ducks are of changes like that...lol...I can run a power tool or lawn mower and need to shoo them out of the way, but leave a rake inside the run, and you'd think there was a bear! :)

With our long ramp, I worry a bit about the duckling taking a tumble.

Given that today could be Day 24, when do you think it's prudent to lock Martha into her space and provide food and water? Should we wait until she stops coming off the nest? I've heard that a mama duck won't leave the nest at all in the last 24 hours, but I have no idea if that is true. I'd...

That looks good. I'm bummed that I have to work around her as she is sitting. That will certainly stress her out some.

12 July Update: Once again, Martha has moved her relatively large nest to the middle of that wall. So interesting! She did not get up this morning at all, so I could not check the egg. Today's Question: We're going to secure her space in the duckhouse today probably, and we're trying to decide...

As K just reminded me, the egg may have been laid on the 19th (not the 26th as I said earlier today)!

Thanks! So the idea is that Yuban is tall enough (and the hole small enough) that ducklings can't get inside but mom can get her bill in?

So are we! She has been working so hard.

@Miss Lydia Was the Yuban for food and the other for water?

Follow Up: Since we only have one egg, and since viability is still questionable, BUT because we are getting close, I want to have some feed on hand in case we have a duckling. We feed our adult ducks Mazuri Waterfowl Maintenance, and we would prefer to feed a duckling Mazuri Water Fowl Starter...

Yes. There does appear to be an air sac. Is it a problem that it is on the "bottom" of the egg instead of the top like all the charts I see. I don't see any of the veining, but I'm still not seeing it in total darkness (this picture was taken in a dark corner of the duckhouse). I think the...

11 July Update: Martha did come off the nest for a little bit this morning (but not at all last night). There is still just the one egg. There were three unattended eggs in the other nest in the duckhouse. It appears as if Stella is over the whole nest thing. Here is the one remaining egg...

Nothing of note.

I'm thinking time bomb :-( There is certainly rolling going on to get an egg from Martha's nest across the duckhouse to the other nest in the opposite corner. I just want to know the thought process...lol...did Martha kick it out of the nest, and did someone then move it to the other nest? I'm...

I dug some, but not extensively. My phone was full today or I would have taken a picture. The whole egg looked dark and no air sac evident. I'll try again tonight if she comes off the nest. The duckhouse is just 4'x8', and there are just two defined nests in there now. I know for a fact that...

Fantastic!!!!!

9 July Update: Neither of us saw Martha come off the nest yesterday until moments before we were putting them to bed. Stella, on the other hand, was out pretty much all day. I was able to check the nest when Martha got up, and there were two eggs. We also had two eggs in the other nest in the...

I don't think we are interrupting the move. The move seems to happen at night or very early in the morning, and the former nest is usually pretty much absorbed into the new nest. So strange. We're going to let them out for some supervised free-ranging shortly, and maybe both Martha and Stella...

I'll rarely say never, but I think it's unlikely. We've never seen any snake besides a garter snake on our property, and the duckhouse is pretty tight. I'll look at the footage, as the camera would have caught something.