Our first attempt at incubating duck eggs was a disappointing bust, but the girls have started laying confirmed fertile eggs, so we’re ready to try again. No sense letting that fancy incubator sit idle.
This time, we set a total of 11 eggs. Some were old, possibly as old as two weeks. One was added the day after the original group was set, since Piper laid a cute olive egg – we had to set it. Two days after the initial set, we added two more freshly-laid eggs. When we candled them tonight, all looked good except for two: one was a clear (infertile) and one looked like it had started development and stopped (blood ring). That leaves nine still in the incubator, including Piper’s small egg.
Speaking of Piper, the naughty girl has apparently decided she doesn’t like us taking her eggs from the coop and has stopped laying there. Continue reading “Duck Egg Incubation – Take 2”
One of the Muscovy ducks has been behaving a bit strangely. We saw her circling the duck coop the other day, as if she were looking for a way in (we have to keep the door shut after they come out in the morning or the chickens scratch the straw out). We opened the door and she rushed in, so we assumed that she needed to lay an egg.
The first batch of chicks we hatched in January are now fully feathered and ready to join their parents as part of the main flock. Adding juvenile chickens to an established group of adults is an unpredictable event: the adults and teens may fight as the new pecking order is established, and there are about 11 young roosters joining the adult flock, where LaRue currently reigns supreme.
Living in the “country” as we do, we look forward to seeing wild visitors. We see deer frequently and are amazed at how well-camouflaged they are: they typically appear at the back of our field at dusk, and in the low light, they blend right into the dry grass. In fact, it’s usually the movement of the white tail that draws the eye, at which time you realize there are three or four of them, a couple bedded down, watching us perform the evening chores. They’re not really afraid, even as our activities create noise and we chat. They live here, too.