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I finally found the nest!

Jbently28

Songster
5 Years
May 7, 2018
612
1,144
231
Louisiana
So I mentioned a while ago that I had my suspicions that my Welsh Harlequin had a nest somewhere. She would randomly disappear and we were no longer finding eggs around the yard. We finally saw her going in and out under our shop. I had looked time and time again, but didn't see any eggs so had assumed that she had a nest in between some boards that run horizontally underneath. I haven't seen her out in the last couple of days so I went looking for her. I was in complete shock when I found her literally 2 feet away from the edge of the shop. She's done an excellent job hiding those eggs from us when she leaves the nest. I have absolutely no idea how long she had been setting since ducks leave the nest more frequently than chicken hens do. She just turned a year old and this is her first time going broody. I'm assuming she is on duck eggs, but I have a hen who is under the shop setting as well on chicken or duck eggs as well. She has been setting for at least 2 weeks if not longer. I still cannot see her or her nest. She is for sure between the boards.
My only concern now is the big rusted out piece of metal, which I assume is an old popcorn can. I'm scared that the babies may hurt themselves on it once they hatch. But I'm afraid that if I move it that it may disturb her. Should I leave it be, remove it, or wait until I hear chirping and know that they have hatched?
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Look at that you found her. Is the can sharp? If you can get to it easily I doubt it will bother her. They are pretty zoned out when on the nest can’t wait to see her ducklings. I sure wouldn’t let her keep them under there though their peeping will def attract preds.
I'm not sure if it's sharp or not but there are some broken pieces that definitely look like they could do some damage. It looks like she's been crawling through it to get in and out. It would be very easy to remove though. I have a large dog house that I plan on moving her and her babies to once I'm able to get my hands on them. I'm going to build some fencing around it and have it completely closed in.
 
Just went out to give my Ancona ducklings some supervised swim time and my Welshie came out wanting to eat. So I of course had to sneak my way over to the nest and try to catch a peak. They are definitely her eggs and looks like I am seeing 8 of them! I want so bad to candle one to see how far along they are but I don't think I can reach then without possibly damaging them.
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