hello, jemima who is our very chatty and usually happy female duck has changed over the last five days. she doesnt seem to like us, whenever we go outside she opens her beak and does loud, low pitched honks, her feathers seem to stick up a bit when we do this, we dont know why she suddenly hates us, this is out of character. she is fine with the other ducks and shes been laying her eggs as usual. any ideas??
http://s14.photobucket.com/albums/a328/BENN5150/ducks/?action=view¤t=DSCF1074.mp4
Hi Debbie
I would think that she is going broody and wanting to sit her eggs eventually, for that is what happened my wee calls in particilar when they did that and they were all for biting me etc but when they sat and had the ducklings they went back to normal.
Best Wishes
Lorna
thanks for that Lorna. I did let the four of them lay 16 eggs. The house was getting quite full, but by that many, they were not sitting. Shall I let them try again?
Jemima lays big white eggs, and the other 3 lay blue eggs. Do i leave all the eggs in, or can i just leave the white ones in?
Debbie
I would leave all the eggs in and see what she does, if she is for going to sit she will start to line her nest with her downy feathers and build nest up quite big, she will start and not want ot leave the house and keep going abck in again, hope that it all works out well for you.
Your runners are beautiful. I had one of mine go broody about 2wks ago but I did not let her sit as I do not want anymore ducklings, though they are cute and then she stopped laying but came back into lay last week.
Lorna
Ah thanks. Yeah the runners have a lovely temprement. They are really sweet, & very well behaved. All the eggs were collected together, but did'nt see any feathers. We would'nt be able to keep any ducklings, but do want to hatch some to see how they look with all the different breeds we have.
we had this many eggs after 2 days eventually we had 16. just ended up with a bigger collection with straw on top, but all still much cleaner than normal. Jemima is quite a big duck, but with 16 it was taking up quite a bit of room, and i was worried she might not be able to sit on all of them
Hi, Don't think she will cover that many , just take out the oldest eggs and then see. This could go on for weeks if she is not serious and a great waste of eggs.If she is intent then no matter how many eggs are in the nest you will not disuade her and she will be very quacky when you go in . Her behaviour does sound promising but not sure on how many she is capable of covering .Hope all goes well , Mama
Good luck! :) They look lovely.
The 2 runners are lovely Debbie, your white one looks so much like Indi my white one. What were their names again?
Good luck with the hatching process
Lorna
Saussage & Muffin :)
is this looking like it could be a nest or is it a drop off zone?
http://s14.photobucket.com/albums/a328/BENN5150/?action=view¤t=DSCF1134.mp4
this is still how jamima is behaving. its driving us mad
lol Candy is doing the same sometimes its almost like a crying quack from her, normaly when a big wood pigeon comes into the garden
think i would give in on them eggs that dosnt look like a nest to me, as you say just a drop of zone
Ah Debbie, she's trying to warn you away as you are too close for comfort. She is stressed so back off a bit and see if she stops this behaviour.
It is not a nest but she is definitely exhibiting broody behaviour.
Sarah
From my limited experience it seems that when the nests start rising from the floor and become intricately woven with straw and feathers they are getting serious.
Naomi, my khaki deserves a prize for engineering, as her nest is over a foot deep and 18 inches diameter, and she disappears completely into it, with only a beady eye and beak showing, which I check for regularly to see if she is still of this planet.
My Aylesburys are in early stages of construction, and their nest is perhaps 4 to 6 inches off the floor at the moment, they still have a long way to go before one of them starts serious sitting.
Both ducks were sat on nest this am, so there may be a squabble as to who sits eventually, unless they share it?
Regards
Barrie
So shall i just take all the eggs away again. She is only making the horrible noises when we go in the garden, like she does'nt want us there.
up to you Debbie, personaly I would but Sarah knows best as she has experience of broody ducks but the behavior in the film like I say is just like Candy but shes not broody, if you think shes objecting to you being there, have you done anything to her you can think started it off maybe x
I do think its because the eggs are there and even though she hasn't built a nest she knows you are (or have been) the possible egg thief. I would be inclined to take them away. The nest building starts before the hoarding of eggs - not the other way round.
Candy may not be broody but she is exhibiting signs that indicate she may become so, like laying in different places so the egg thief doesn't find her eggs etc. lol
taken all the eggs out now. might try again later in the year when we get them a bigger house, she might have more room then
lol thats Toffee the little one whos hiding them all over the garden, so far candys new quack is only at wood pigeons like I said and think that maybe down to them knicking her food lol x
think you're right waiting until you have a bigger house for them Debbie
bumping
What do you mean by bumping?
I have looked at the video and she is exhibiting signs of protecting her eggs. She is not a happy bunny with you taking them away.
i meant bump. we did leave 16 eggs in the cage but she never sat :(
hello, jemima seems to have made a nest and is sitting on the eggs in the duck house. she only has the eggs that were laid today!! its her egg and the runners eggs. will she just keep stealing the eggs each day?? i know its early days yet, but we want her to be a nice duck again!
Yes she will take everyones eggs and also prob keep laying her own til she is ready and feels the eggs are "safe". Let her come and go as she pleases and keep away from her and her eggs - that is if you want ducklings.
When she has been sitting for a week (she will go in and out)you can candle them if you want, but make sure she doesn't see you! :)
just looked out the window. She came out for about 10 minutes to eat and drink. She has now gone back in and sitting on nest. When i looked earlier she was very carefully turning/moving the eggs.
yes thats it then, she means business. i presume there is enough space in the shed for the others not to "crowd" her too much. Mine stayed happily in her corner of the shed and wasn't bothered by the others.
She's made her nest in the corner. the only time they might disturb her is bed time maybe. Daffy has spent quite a bit of time keeping her company today
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