Hello All,
Mallard ducks love to nest in my neighbors yard. The first year she thought this was great - until she had to drain her pool. So, this year, she and a few of her friends herded 11 ducklings down to a creek across the street from our houses. Within a day or two, the hen and 5 ducklings showed in our yard (she has a more secure fence around her pool than we do). Although they poop a lot, I like the ducks and I began to feed them. After a couple of weeks, the mother duck disappeared. So, I continued to feed them. Eventually, they all flew away with random ducks who would visit our pool. Although, I missed them, it was nice to have our pool back.
Within a couple of weeks after the first group flew away, another hen laid her eggs in my neighbor's yard. However, by this time she was doing remodeling and contractors were making noise and left her gate open. So, the hen marched her two day old ducklings over to my yard. The ducks were super cute and once again I fed them. Again, within about two weeks, the hen went MIA.
The ducklings can now fly, but they don't know where to fly. (The first group would only fly away when they were with a random duck).
My questions are:
1. Did the fact that I fed the ducklings somehow cause the hens to abandon their ducklings? (They eat out of my hand, but I do not hold them and do not pet them.) It seems strange to have this happen twice in a row.
2. I have not seen a "random duck" in a while (they used to visit the pool a lot in the spring). Will this second group stay until a random duck flies into my yard (which probably will not occur until the spring).
Thanks for any advice or comments.
Mallard ducks love to nest in my neighbors yard. The first year she thought this was great - until she had to drain her pool. So, this year, she and a few of her friends herded 11 ducklings down to a creek across the street from our houses. Within a day or two, the hen and 5 ducklings showed in our yard (she has a more secure fence around her pool than we do). Although they poop a lot, I like the ducks and I began to feed them. After a couple of weeks, the mother duck disappeared. So, I continued to feed them. Eventually, they all flew away with random ducks who would visit our pool. Although, I missed them, it was nice to have our pool back.
Within a couple of weeks after the first group flew away, another hen laid her eggs in my neighbor's yard. However, by this time she was doing remodeling and contractors were making noise and left her gate open. So, the hen marched her two day old ducklings over to my yard. The ducks were super cute and once again I fed them. Again, within about two weeks, the hen went MIA.
The ducklings can now fly, but they don't know where to fly. (The first group would only fly away when they were with a random duck).
My questions are:
1. Did the fact that I fed the ducklings somehow cause the hens to abandon their ducklings? (They eat out of my hand, but I do not hold them and do not pet them.) It seems strange to have this happen twice in a row.
2. I have not seen a "random duck" in a while (they used to visit the pool a lot in the spring). Will this second group stay until a random duck flies into my yard (which probably will not occur until the spring).
Thanks for any advice or comments.
