Will We Have Ducklings on the Farm?

[Beccazon]

We should get a candler, I guess! I had one sitting in my Amazon cart, but I don't see it now. Which one do you use?

Honestly? I just use my iphone flashlight. Always do. I am cheap lol.
My Digger sounds like hour Martha. Up, eat, drink, swim, back to the nest. Latte takes a bit more time and has come out a time or two during the day for half hour or so also.
My duck coop is easily darkened completely. Window have “shutters”, there is s small door opens to the run and a large door at the back for me. I open the small door in the morning. I leave the run gate open and they freerange all day. When they hop out I shut the small door and go in through the back and shut the door so I can candle easily. I take a pencil and sharpie though I know it might not be best. I pencil most things. Marker is for anything I might be afraid they would wear off...like a date or the one I marked “cold”. The pencil markings actually stay very well. I get in, get out and open all the doors again in just a few minutes. By then Digger is fending of my 2 drakes lol. Which generally ends with her running straight for the nest. She won’t come out again til next morning. Latte will rejoin her about 10-15 minutes later.

 

[Beccazon]

So goofy

 

[3bird]

Honestly? I just use my iphone flashlight. Always do. I am cheap lol.
My Digger sounds like hour Martha. Up, eat, drink, swim, back to the nest. Latte takes a bit more time and has come out a time or two during the day for half hour or so also.
My duck coop is easily darkened completely. Window have “shutters”, there is s small door opens to the run and a large door at the back for me. I open the small door in the morning. I leave the run gate open and they freerange all day. When they hop out I shut the small door and go in through the back and shut the door so I can candle easily. I take a pencil and sharpie though I know it might not be best. I pencil most things. Marker is for anything I might be afraid they would wear off...like a date or the one I marked “cold”. The pencil markings actually stay very well. I get in, get out and open all the doors again in just a few minutes. By then Digger is fending of my 2 drakes lol. Which generally ends with her running straight for the nest. She won’t come out again til next morning. Latte will rejoin her about 10-15 minutes later.

Great! Thank you. We have been keeping our drake (Angus) separate all the time. Today he is in the pasture below the duckhouse/run and the rest of the girls are in the pasture around the duckhouse/run with access to the run and duckhouse. At night we put Angus in his special fort/mancave/hole (depending on if he has been a turd or not, we change the name), which is the area underneath the duckhouse, and then everyone else can come or go as they like (water, food and eggshells are available free choice in the run 24/7).

As I mentioned earlier, we're thinking about turning either the whole duckhouse or half the duckhouse into a brooder a few days before the expected hatching. We have a long, relatively high ramp, and we would not want a duckling to take a tumble.

Thanks again for all your help!

 

[3bird]

27 June Update: Well we are one week in (maybe a week and a day or two for the first egg). Martha and Stella are still sitting. Martha is more committed to the nest, only coming off for short periods (although she went for a wee forage yesterday evening!). Stella comes off for most of the full morning supervised free-range and again for the evening. Briefly yesterday, Stella came off the nest while Martha was off, so I was able to get in and count eggs (six) and mark them with a wax pencil. One funny thing happened yesterday evening while free ranging--Angus (our drake) started to get up in Stella's face, and she fully stood up to him. She stood tall, puffed out her breast and did the neck thing like two drakes would do. Angus backed right town. ;-)

Here's a video of Martha when she came off the nest yesterday evening for about 10 minutes.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Aren’t they funny when broody? Just makes the heart full having these ducks in our lives. ❤

 

[3bird]

28 June Update: Yesterday Stella (fun aunt) came off the nest again for most of the evening supervised foraging, but Martha only came off for about 15 minutes in the morning. She ate and drank and had a bath. Here's Stella coming out last night:

(FYI: I did not break wind at 0:17!)

This morning, Stella came out again for most of the supervised free-ranging time, but Martha did not. Martha seems to come out only between 10:15 and 10:30 each morning for a brief period. I did not get a look at the eggs today....maybe later. There were two eggs in the other nest in the duckhouse, and we collected those (I just made a frittata!). Here they are on their nest this morning. Stella is on the right and Martha is on the left.

 

[Miss Lydia]

They are so funny! Did you find goose goose you quit filming before you did. I’d say Martha will be mama an Stella is going to be aunty Stella! And just like when a woman goes into labor and has a buddy to help? Well there ya go Stella will be right there for Martha! ❤

 

[3bird]

They are so funny! Did you find goose goose you quit filming before you did. I’d say Martha will be mama an Stella is going to be aunty Stella! And just like when a woman goes into labor and has a buddy to help? Well there ya go Stella will be right there for Martha! ❤

We did find The Goose! She was in some tall grasses chowing down on snails.

 

[3bird]

29 June Update: We fear this experiment may be coming to an end. his morning Stella came off the nest not long after everyone else headed out to free range...and then Martha followed. They both stayed out for the whole time, which they have not done since they started sitting. I went to check the eggs while they were out, and Martha had not carefully covered them as she has been doing before getting up. There were also only four eggs (we had six a couple days ago). I did find an unfertilized broken one at the top of the ramp yesterday evening, but I have no idea where the sixth one went. After about 40 minutes, both girls did return to their nest.

The big change today is that it rained overnight and is still raining. You know how excited ducks get about rain, right? So maybe that was just too much for them? We have been in drought conditions with no appreciable rain since mid May.

Here is last night's beginning to free range fun time:

 

[Miss Lydia]

They love that foraging! Have you candles? I’d candle jut to make sure you have life in those eggs.