My Love Affair With Ducks...

[duluthralphie]

I think I have solved the mystery of several day’s worth of one missing duck egg. Also, to the days of missing eggs, add a couple of days of one of the eggs being cracked. Yep!

Yesterday morning when I let the quackers out, I bent over to get the eggs and the two eggs that were there had yolk all over them. I believe I have an egg eating duck or two. And the cracked eggs, thinking back on it, looked like a duck’s bill had cracked it. I looked really, really good and found no egg shell remnants. They sure do a good job of cleaning up the evidence.

Of course, I could be wrong, but I don’t think so. Needless to say this upsets me.

Time to install a spy camera on them, so you have photos at the trial before you take the dux head..

Unless it is RalphieDux, then you know he is on the job stopping the spread of evil dux.

 

[shawluvsbirds]

I think I have solved the mystery of several day’s worth of one missing duck egg. Also, to the days of missing eggs, add a couple of days of one of the eggs being cracked. Yep!

Yesterday morning when I let the quackers out, I bent over to get the eggs and the two eggs that were there had yolk all over them. I believe I have an egg eating duck or two. And the cracked eggs, thinking back on it, looked like a duck’s bill had cracked it. I looked really, really good and found no egg shell remnants. They sure do a good job of cleaning up the evidence.

Of course, I could be wrong, but I don’t think so. Needless to say this upsets me.

I believe I also have an egg eating cayuga or two. They don't bother them on a regular basis but during a time a couple summers ago when I was letting one set on eggs, (well actually there were two ducks on the same nest) eggs kept disappearing.
And then occasionally I would find one out in the run broken open with concave holes in them.
The sad part was a lot of them had developing ducklings in them.
I set up a trail cam and never did see anything out of the ordinary entering the run. It had to be one of the other ducks.
But I also never got any pictures of a duck carrying an egg out so I never did get to the bottom of it really.
But whenever the first duckling hatched it was a bad deal having two on the same nest. they fought over the duckling and almost killed it.
I happen to be home that day so I was able to observe.
I got to them just in time, they were about to pull it apart.

 

[Mimi13]

Time to install a spy camera on them, so you have photos at the trial before you take the dux head..

Unless it is RalphieDux, then you know he is on the job stopping the spread of evil dux.

Good idea. I have a game camera and even have an SD card in it, but I don’t know how to work it.

 

[shawluvsbirds]

Good idea. I have a game camera and even have an SD card in it, but I don’t know how to work it.
View attachment 2503757View attachment 2503761

You tube! I bet you can find an instructional video there.

 

[Melky]

We just bought Wyze camera 26$ and can check in on my phone anytime run photos or live video with date/time stamp. Love it!

 

[duluthralphie]

Good idea. I have a game camera and even have an SD card in it, but I don’t know how to work it.
View attachment 2503757View attachment 2503761

They are easy to use but are all a little different to set up... faker Eilleen’s idea is pretty good YouTube the make of camera.

 

[Mimi13]

I believe I also have an egg eating cayuga or two. They don't bother them on a regular basis but during a time a couple summers ago when I was letting one set on eggs, (well actually there were two ducks on the same nest) eggs kept disappearing.
And then occasionally I would find one out in the run broken open with concave holes in them.
The sad part was a lot of them had developing ducklings in them.
I set up a trail cam and never did see anything out of the ordinary entering the run. It had to be one of the other ducks.
But I also never got any pictures of a duck carrying an egg out so I never did get to the bottom of it really.
But whenever the first duckling hatched it was a bad deal having two on the same nest. they fought over the duckling and almost killed it.
I happen to be home that day so I was able to observe.
I got to them just in time, they were about to pull it apart.

Why in the world would they fight over the duckling? And that’s sad they would decide to eat an egg with a developing embryo in it!

 

[duluthralphie]

Why in the world would they fight over the duckling? And that’s sad they would decide to eat an egg with a developing embryo in it!

They are rash creatures and did not have a RalphieDux with his king Solomon like wisdom to solve the issue.

 

[shawluvsbirds]

Why in the world would they fight over the duckling? And that’s sad they would decide to eat an egg with a developing embryo in it!

Hey ducks are not all sweet and innocent. Ralphie is not totally wrong.. they are kind of evil sometimes.
I'm going to post a video.
It is a little bit heartbreaking but fascinating at the same time.
There was an egg I found in the run that was mostly demolished. Assuming the embryo was already dead I picked it up to put it in this sack and the insides plopped out.
Then I realized the poor little baby was still alive.

Spoiler: Sad

 

[Mimi13]

We just bought Wyze camera 26$ and can check in on my phone anytime run photos or live video with date/time stamp. Love it!

I have wanted a camera that I can check in on the birds, but my WiFi is iffy at times in the coops and run.

I didn’t realize they were that cheap either. I would need 3 or 4 of them to cover what I’d like to see.

It’s stuff like this I don’t ask my DH to buy, so I’ll have to start saving. Here lately, I’m pushing it asking him to buy the feed because I’ve got so many girls that are freeloading. Molting, decreased daylight and increased ages is a recipe for No Eggs. The majority of my birds are coming up on their 3rd bday and two of them on their 5th bday, so it’s inevitable the egg laying is slowing. Last summer, I had 32 hens and would end up with about 18 eggs each day, 24 on occasion.

Sorry, I have no clue why I went off on a tangent. Anyway, I’m gonna start looking at that camera online. Thanks.