Duck Eggs

Look at what my darling ducks left me this morning. I saw two white spots at the edge of the pond and went to investigate thinking they might be eggs and I was rewarded for my nosiness (I have on occasion gone looking and found they were just feathers). The pond is flooded and will get worse as the day goes on so I put on my boots and tromped out through the mud to get them.

They haven 't laid any that we've been able to find since last summer. We had a predator problem last year. The ducks were nesting in the edge of the woods and something raided the nests. What ever it was (we suspected weasels) also took out 6 ducks, 3 or 4 chickens, and both my turkeys. This year we'll have to devise a nesting box for them near the pond so they can escape. The chickens have a larger pen so they're safer and not as inclined to escape (well, they do get out, but now they can get back in and do so at dark).

I hope this year to have ducks sitting on their own eggs. We incubated them all last year (which was a blast) but I'd love to see a mama duck waddling around the yard followed by her brood. I'll have to try Roosterhen's trick and put an Easter egg in the nests to encourage them to lay there...Maybe I'll try pink!