A few weeks back, a pair of ducks moved into our pond. Though a bit fearful at first, they started to realise we meant them no harm. The dogs were duly shown that the ducks were higher status and so left them be.
The clincher was our hens, once the ducks saw our hens running round us, they relaxed and soon started to come up to the chicken run to be fed, and also to help themselves to the hen’s food.
One day, they disappeared. Occasionally, we’d see the female, but not often. We guessed she was sitting on eggs but we didn’t look for fear of disturbing her.
Then, one day, ducklings! In all, she had 10 of them. The mother had become a little wary of us, but once again, when she saw the hens, over she came and we soon had tiny ducklings all around.
Sometimes, they disappeared. We assumed the were hiding somewhere, but it turned out she was taking them to our neighbour’s pond (which was inside their chicken area). Clever duck, using two ponds and two food supplies.
Sadly, 3 ducklings disappeared over the space of a few days. We suspect crows, but it could have been anything. There are plenty buzzards around too. On the bright side, much better than last year when 12 ducklings disappeared on jut a few days (spurring us to buy a duck house).
Now, the remaining 7 are almost fully grown. And is it me, or does it look like she has 7 girls?
