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Original poster

NOT what I expected to wake up to this morning...

969 replies

AlanThePig · 18/10/2020 15:12

Some of you might recall we have a rather large pond in our garden. On it we have a pair of ducks. First day of lockdown appeared ten, beautiful ducklings. They grew up, flew away and that was that until next spring.

Except I woke up to this......
There are ten more (seven in this photo) and I can only assume the warm weather has thoroughly confused her.

I'm now going spend the next few months fretting over bloody wildlife.

NOT what I expected to wake up to this morning...
OP posts:
Thread gallery
87
BenchHench · 03/11/2020 11:45

Brilliant thread, how have I missed it?!

RandomMess · 03/11/2020 11:24

How utterly naughty of her!! Seems Weena has her head far too easily turned by male attention...

Original poster
AlanThePig · 03/11/2020 11:22

That bloody duck gave me a scare last night.
DH came in from work about 6.10pm, pops his head around the door and says "Wheres Weena?" I go out with the torch and spot 7 ducklings huddled together and no sign of either Duncan or Egwina.

DH rewinds the CCTV and sees them both take off at 5.10pm. I'm starting to panic by that point.
Eventually she 'swans' in around half six, not a care in the world, having been gone for an hour and twenty minutes.

If duck social services existed I'd report her.

OP posts:
Sunnydaysstillhere · 02/11/2020 16:22

Yabu!! We had 10 dchickens and named them all!! The big fat one was called Keith!!
Not a male!!
Ds used to carry her round the house!!
Grin

RandomMess · 02/11/2020 16:10

Call them Hank?

Original poster
AlanThePig · 02/11/2020 16:08

@Sunnydaysstillhere

Can we name them op??. I vote for days of the week...
I wanted to name them last time but there is no way of telling them apart. I think I called them all Simon 😂

There is a theory that the depth of the dark stripe that crosses the eyes can denote a male from a female but tbh I've never been able to see that either.

OP posts:
Sunnydaysstillhere · 02/11/2020 16:02

Can we name them op??. I vote for days of the week...

Original poster
AlanThePig · 02/11/2020 15:57

Four times they have yelled for service today! Growing like weeds.

NOT what I expected to wake up to this morning...
OP posts:
UpTheLaganInABubble · 01/11/2020 20:20

Can't wait to see pics of Duckingham Palace 😁

Original poster
AlanThePig · 01/11/2020 15:19

@RandomMess

Bless him!!!

Poor DH being a slave to this off chancers 😂

Oh he’s used to being a duck slave. I think he secretly enjoys it 😂
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Horsemad · 01/11/2020 14:58

😲 Wow, how big they are! ❤️ Love the idea of Duckingham Palace. 😁

RandomMess · 01/11/2020 13:38

Bless him!!!

Poor DH being a slave to this off chancers 😂

Soubriquet · 01/11/2020 13:33

Duckingham palace GrinGrin

They definitely need a palace whilst the weather is cold

Original poster
AlanThePig · 01/11/2020 13:31

DH currently sat working out the wood needed for duckingham palace and accompanying round platforms. He keeps moaning about the cost and maybe having to reel in my ideas a bit. He’ll come around hehe

Meanwhile 7 not so little ducklings turned two weeks old today.

NOT what I expected to wake up to this morning...
OP posts:
RandomMess · 31/10/2020 21:05

We had pond envy we now have floating island envy...

RedRosie · 31/10/2020 20:14

@AlanThePig Do it, Do it! Grin

Original poster
AlanThePig · 31/10/2020 18:18

As an aside, we were watching Cobra Kai last night and got to the training scene on water. If you’ve not seen it they are on a floating platform. It was beautiful and round....

We’ve now had an idea for 3 platforms, all round one large with a house, a slightly smaller one and a smaller one still.
Of course whether we can build this remains to be seen Grin

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Original poster
AlanThePig · 31/10/2020 17:37

I didn't take a photo today, cold, wet and windy.
They are growing so quickly! Will take some photos tomorrow as they are 2 weeks officially.

Happy to report there are still seven.

OP posts:
RedRosie · 31/10/2020 14:17

Keep us posted.

(I may be overinvested) Grin

Original poster
AlanThePig · 30/10/2020 19:42

Yep still seven❤️

Severe weather warning for the weekend, hopefully they will hunker down. Still very mild though happily.

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RedRosie · 30/10/2020 17:55

Still seven @AlanThePig?

(Everything crossed)

missmarplesapprentice · 29/10/2020 18:36

Love this thread. Thanks for keeping us updated. So nice to read something happy! Fingers crossed for them. Keep up the great work.

Original poster
AlanThePig · 29/10/2020 14:05

Still seven ❤️

Spent most of the morning chasing the heron down the drive. Cold and wet here today and they have been in a huddle for most of the day.

2 weeks old on Sunday, so almost halfway to full size.

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Soubriquet · 28/10/2020 15:18

Yeah I’ve disturbed many a duck rape

They really are quite brutal

Original poster
AlanThePig · 28/10/2020 15:03

@Soubriquet

I must say, I’ve never really seen the Male hanging out with the female and young

Usually I see a shag and then they are off to the pub never to be seen again!

They are quite the couple, have been for 2 years now. He does normally stay more during the winter months so its probably more habit than good fathering, but both of them and the babies are all huddled together on duck island at the moment.

Just after Christmas is when the males turn up looking for a shag, thats when the fights start. Thats when I invariably end up lobbing a bucket of cold water over scrapping males under the front window. Mating season is horribly violent. Males can and do kill each other and females can be drowned by being held under. Not pleasant really.

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