Duck, Duck, Goose

Sorry about the corny title, but I couldn't resist.  Back in March we received a pair of Pilgrim Geese and a dozen Khaki Campbell ducks. A couple of months ago some good friends gave us seven Muscovies. We let these foragers roam over most of our quarter acre. We mowed the lawn back in March just before the ducks and geese arrived, and haven't had to mow since--they have done a great job keeping the grass cut! We do trim the edges, just for looks.  In addition to not having to mow our bit of lawn, we also do not have to provide very much extra feed. Finally a use for Bermuda Grass!

 About six weeks ago, one or two ducks began to lay eggs.

Ducks lay their eggs very early in the morning. We would find one or two on the ground each morning as we headed out to do the morning chores. This went on for a couple of weeks. Then, nothing. No duck eggs. We looked in all the usual places we had found eggs before--nothing. We looked in places we hadn't found eggs before--nothing. Someone remarked that this must be how the traditional Easter Egg Hunt began. We were happy that the eggs we were looking for were white rather than brown or some other hard-to-spot color--not that we actually spotted any. We wondered if the ducks had just quit laying, or if some critter had come into the yard and carried of the eggs. In the last couple of days one, just one, egg could be found in one of the usual places each day. What of the others?

Yesterday, we found a clutch of eggs under an antique "Old Blush" rose bush. White eggs are kinda hard to see when they are under a rose bush and there is a khaki colored duck covering them! No wonder we couldn't spot them. There are about 20 eggs in this clutch. We didn't want to disturb the nest so we just counted what we could see.

Mama Duck

We are very pleased that we may have a broody duck to incubate eggs and brood ducklings. The jury is still out, though, because she could still decide to get off of her clutch before they are ready to hatch. But we are hopeful. Typical of the Internet, we found websites that say the Campbells are not very reliable brooders, while other sites tend to claim the opposite. We'll be watching our Mama Duck closely, and if she decides not to sit on her clutch, we'll have the incubator ready to receive the eggs. Hopefully we can get at least a few to hatch this way if we have to.

We know that chickens who are brooded by their mothers tend to make good brooders themselves. We are confident that these ducklings (if Mama Duck will see it through) will be good brooders also, reducing the number of eggs we'll have to incubate and ducklings we'll have to brood ourselves. This will save us time, energy, and feed costs, but mostly it's just fun watching God's creation at work.

Buttercup, our Pilgrim Goose

We're also looking forward to our first clutch of our Muscovy Ducks, who are typically good brooders and tend to lay huge clutches. Probably we'll have to wait until the Spring since our Muscovies are young. We have harvested one of our Muscovy drakes. As noted in an earlier post, the meat is tender and tasty.

We'll also have to wait for Spring to get eggs from our geese, Wesley and Buttercup. More on that when the time comes.