- Jun 28, 2009
- 6
- 0
- 7
We have had khaki campbells for a little over 3 years now without a hitch. 3 of our "ladies" went broody - one due to hatch in less than 10 days, one is still assembling her collection and is not sitting regularly yet, and the other we had to put down Saturday morning.
Our set up is very natural, and this duck decided to make her nest under a tree with a lot of underbrish, outside the nighttime pen. the bathing area is in the pen, and this duck did not seem interested in bathing once she began sitting. Oklahoma heat being as it is, she started to look sick to me, but from everything I had read, I learned that you let a sitting duck sit until the hatch with the absolute least amount of interference. I brought her some food and water each day since she was not comfortable going so far from her nest. but as I said about a week ago, her feathers had that scraggly wet look to them. but I couldn't get close enough to really check her out.
Friday evening she let me close enough for me to see that under her wings adn her abdomen adn back were covered in maggots. I felt so bad for her. She had the smell fo death to her and her quack was so weak I knew whe did nto have long to live. had she not been sitting, we could have caught it before it got so bad.
I am assuming that all her eggs are lost at this point, too.
Now, with 2 others sitting, I am concerned. One seasoned Mama is doing fine, as she nested about 20 feet from the pool. the other built her nest about a football field away, but since she is not sitting full time yet, she does not seem to have a hygeine problem. Are there other factors besides not bathing that could bring about such a horror?
Sorry the story is so gross, but I don't want any other ducks to go through this.
Our set up is very natural, and this duck decided to make her nest under a tree with a lot of underbrish, outside the nighttime pen. the bathing area is in the pen, and this duck did not seem interested in bathing once she began sitting. Oklahoma heat being as it is, she started to look sick to me, but from everything I had read, I learned that you let a sitting duck sit until the hatch with the absolute least amount of interference. I brought her some food and water each day since she was not comfortable going so far from her nest. but as I said about a week ago, her feathers had that scraggly wet look to them. but I couldn't get close enough to really check her out.
Friday evening she let me close enough for me to see that under her wings adn her abdomen adn back were covered in maggots. I felt so bad for her. She had the smell fo death to her and her quack was so weak I knew whe did nto have long to live. had she not been sitting, we could have caught it before it got so bad.
I am assuming that all her eggs are lost at this point, too.
Now, with 2 others sitting, I am concerned. One seasoned Mama is doing fine, as she nested about 20 feet from the pool. the other built her nest about a football field away, but since she is not sitting full time yet, she does not seem to have a hygeine problem. Are there other factors besides not bathing that could bring about such a horror?
Sorry the story is so gross, but I don't want any other ducks to go through this.
