Haven't been on in a long, long time, but always read. You guys are all too funny, and bring a smile to my face with your stories. Things have been crazy around this homestead, thank goodness winter is slowly departing. Wasn't that bad really, right fellow Mainers? Just makes us all, north, south, east and west, appreciate spring all the more. Hub was recently diagnosed with diabetes, and he cannot tolerate the oral medication, so super diet revisions. We are trying the Paleo diet with changes to meet his other dietary restrictions. What a job it is to start a new way to eat, but it will be healthy for us both. No grains, no gluten, no sugar, no bad carbs,no chocolate, no caffeine, etc.,etc. Will say, he has lost 30 pounds over the past 6 weeks, and he needed to. More to go, but he is behaving and not cheating. Can't really, there's no bad stuff in the house. Just have to smell his breath when he comes back from the general, make sure there's no cookie odor LOL!
Anyway, I have a story to share with you all, especially the duck lovers out there. We have 5 Pekin ducks and a drake, and they live for now on the screened porch off our living room that has been wrapped in plastic for the winter. Very content there and we can watch them out our window. Have one that jumps up on a crate and pecks at the window when they want something, she will sometimes sit up there and watch TV. So one of my girls decided to go broody, and we all know Pekins are not good brooders. She had 15 eggs, all fertile, and knitted herself a beautiful nest in her box and tended to her eggs like a good broody chicken would, constantly tending to them. The others left her and her clutch alone, and were somewhat protective of her. If I went anywhere near her nest she would come flying out of there sprouting horns and spitting fire. Pretty much left her alone, and didn't even candle until after the second week. All were viable. I was so excited, and hoped nature would do a freak thing and make her take things to the hatch.
Yesterday, she was in there all morning, knitting away, tending to things. In the afternoon, she went out to the other end of the porch to have some social time with the others. It was pretty chilly yesterday. She spent all afternoon out there, they were all gathered together, talking amongst themselves. I was concerned she was away for so long, she never does that. At the end of the day, heard some commotion and watched out the window a few feet away as they all came marching in to their nesting area, she was in the lead. She plopped herself down in front of her nest and the others gathered around her. Suddenly she stood up and started rolling eggs out of the nest, and the others attacked them, carrying them off and eating them within seconds. I was so shocked and disgusted, went right out and shooed them away. Gathered up the surviving eggs and brought them in and candled them. Six were viable, but very, very cold. Put them in my sweatshirt pouch and wrapped a heating pad around. Took a good half hour to warm them up, they were that cold. Candled them again, and they were doing cartwheels in their shells. Probably close to 20 days, and appear to be very healthy. They are in a box with a heating pad under and wrapped in a warm fuzzy old blanket, and they all survived the night. Sprayed them with warm water this AM and turned them, but think they are pretty close to making their entrance, so will just handle them very sparingly and hope for the best.
So now have to get an incubator as I never want to see that mass murder ever again. Isn't it very bizarre tho, it's almost like they sat around all afternoon planning the whole thing, and it was perfectly executed. I was so angry with them they did not get their peas last night. Bad ducks, bad dogs, why can't we all just get along LOL!!!
Just wanted to share that with you and wonder if anyone has ever seen anything like this. I've let chickens hatch perfectly, but most hens are very good mothers. Poor pekins just have had it all bred out of them, what a shame. Have a good week everyone, and hope you can smell spring wherever you are!
