Thank you.
The guy who originally said it isn't half bad either.
I wouldn't know anything about spoiled ducks.
I once had a favorite duck. She had some health problems and we took her to the vet. It cost a small fortune, but we figured out what was wrong with her (she was anemic and just needed some supplemental iron). Even the vet thought my duck was special. She was both beautiful and very, very sweet. Well, we lost her to a racoon, but like you, and against all odds (refrigerated and washed eggs), I hatched her eggs in a homemade incubator. I got one female and four males (out of 6 eggs). All of them are special to me, but the female was a spot-on look-alike of her mother.
She was also very sweet and had the same mannerisms as her mother had that had made me so fond of her mom.
About two weeks ago now, we lost our dear duck (the daughter of the original favorite duck). She had been sitting on a nest for two weeks and I was so excited to finally get to see her with her own ducklings. She died probably early evening and we didn't find her until the next morning. She was very thin, so we think she just didn't have the constitution to brood at the end of a particularly harsh winter. Her half sister, who she was best duck buddies with, had taken up sitting on her nest. I don't know if any of her eggs will hatch, but I am keeping my fingers crossed.
It is always hard to lose a favorite duck.
At the beginning of this week we had some strange weather -- misty rain and sunshine. Turns out we had a rainbow in our backyard (it's two ends were within our property lines). One end ran smack down to her grave. It was the sort of thing that makes you stop dead in your tracks and wonder . . . .
So your story strikes a cord with me and I am hoping you hatch some wonderful ducklings! These silly critters really do enrich our lives, even though they cannot stay with us long enough.
