So our Mallard hen is sitting on 10 eggs and she hisses anytime we get near. On Tuesday, when I went by, I heard chirping. About an hour later, my husband saw her heading to the creek to take a swim so my sister-in-law and I went and checked out her eggs to see what hatched. There was a black bird in the nest on its back. I realized it was a baby chick (and they only take 21 days to hatch compared to the 28 of a duckling) so I snatched it out of the nest and we brought it in the house. We tried to get it to stand on its feet but it wouldn't. We put it under the heat lamp with the 11 baby ducks I had hatched out of the incubator and we went to Bible Study, hoping for the best. When we got back, it was more stable. My sister-in-law and brother-in-law take in handicap animals and already have a silkie chick that's foot is upside down. So they took dicken (duck + chicken = dicken) home and when I talked with her the next day, from the cuddling and love they have given it, it has righted itself and is able to stand and run around. It is doing fine! My brother-in-law has made a handicap accessible coop for "little foot" and they would like to have about 3 hens. They have 2 chickens so far and we don't know what they are, but they are definitely one thing: LOVED!! Who would have thought that my sister-in-law's prayers for more chickens would have come from a duck.
