- May 30, 2012
- 3
- 0
- 9
Hello all-
So happy to find this 'fowl' bunch!
So the short story is: I need some help and advice on keeping my mama ducks (and the future ducklings) safe and happy.
The long story is: I have never had ducks in my backyard. I saw a post on Craig's list for Ancona duck pairs for sale and thought: COOL! So I bought two pair of these lovely heritage black and white ducks...thinking I could gather two eggs a day.
Well.....after 2 weeks of happily gathering eggs daily, they stopped laying eggs. (Or so I thought) After about a week, I found the new nest with 15 eggs in it, and one female sitting on the nest.
Well now BOTH females are sitting together- side by side- on this nest with no telling how many eggs in it because every time I get near they puff up and hiss! (I don't want to stress them out, and I sure don't want to get pecked/bitten)
They have 'feathered' the nest and I'm hoping for ducklings....but I have no idea what to do to help. Do I need to keep the babies away from the male ducks? Do they need to swim in a homemade shallow pond? They are in my backyard in the city, and they have built their nest in my very small greenhouse.
Yikes! I am so excited, but clueless at the same time....
Thank you for any help you can offer,
Peace to you all!
So happy to find this 'fowl' bunch!
So the short story is: I need some help and advice on keeping my mama ducks (and the future ducklings) safe and happy.
The long story is: I have never had ducks in my backyard. I saw a post on Craig's list for Ancona duck pairs for sale and thought: COOL! So I bought two pair of these lovely heritage black and white ducks...thinking I could gather two eggs a day.
Well.....after 2 weeks of happily gathering eggs daily, they stopped laying eggs. (Or so I thought) After about a week, I found the new nest with 15 eggs in it, and one female sitting on the nest.
Well now BOTH females are sitting together- side by side- on this nest with no telling how many eggs in it because every time I get near they puff up and hiss! (I don't want to stress them out, and I sure don't want to get pecked/bitten)
They have 'feathered' the nest and I'm hoping for ducklings....but I have no idea what to do to help. Do I need to keep the babies away from the male ducks? Do they need to swim in a homemade shallow pond? They are in my backyard in the city, and they have built their nest in my very small greenhouse.
Yikes! I am so excited, but clueless at the same time....
Thank you for any help you can offer,
Peace to you all!
from Ohio. So glad you joined. Good advice given. 
