Duck Tales! (Still not what I expected to wake up to this morning)

[AlanThePig]

With the last thread almost full and a new clutch of ducklings I thought it might be time for another thread.

So this morning I was happily working away in the front garden when I happened to glance at the duck house, and saw two faces staring back....
Now I know our resident duck Egwina was on eggs, but I was convinced they were due to hatch somewhere around the end of the month. Quite surprised to spot ducklings.

As the day has worn on 14 little fluffy yellow ducklings have slowly emerged into the sunlight and launched themselves (not very gracefully) into the water. I say 14, I'm not 100% certain yet as they aren't keeping still enough to count and there might be more inside.

Difficult to photograph all together at present as some are in and some are out and they haven't yet come close enough to see. There was 12 (I think!) in this photo and 2 on the deck.
Congratulations Egwina!

Eldest son is moving in while I'm away to dog sit, have informed him this now involves ducklings. He replied 'oh, dear God, ok'.
I've now counted ten. I'll try and get some photos later but they are hiding in the dying back reeds, which is the other worry as the natural coverage is receding for the winter.

How bizarrely late…

Are they Egwinas?

I think so, mum is the one who comes in the house so it’s certainly one that’s tame enough to be her.
it’s not been cold here and DH commented last week he’d not seen her much and he thought she was in the new duck house. I told him not to be daft it’s the wrong time of year…. It’s 14 degrees here today again and been pretty mild all autumn so I can see the confusion. A friend tells me there are lambs in the field next to his house too. Milder weather is certainly causing some issues.

I’ve now counted eleven and seen her going back and forth to the nest so unsure if there are more inside. When I’ve had my shower I’m going for a wander to have a closer look.

I’ll be amazed if there are any left when I get back from holiday though.

Oh I hope so bless her. She couldn’t do it earlier because of the moorhens, and now she has babies, she’s gonna wanna keep as many as alive as possible

Thank you for the update @AlanThePig
🤞as many as possible can survive.

Just been for a nosey. Definitely eleven. A bit skittish at present so couldn’t get too close. You can see the grasses dying back in the photo and that usually provides cover so unsure now what they will do.
Ive decided to try and step back a bit as I’ll only spend my entire holiday worrying over them and realistically there is nothing more that anyone can do other than feed them and hope for the best. They have two floating houses for safety so it’s down to them now.

Realistically, they have more chance in your pond, with your son feeding them, and their floating houses as protection, then they would completely in the wild.

There is a very good chance at least half should make it. That’s why they have large broods in the first place

Very exciting! Worrying time of year for them but I'm sure you'll do your best for them x

Oh dear, I hope they're OK.

Not good news.
woke up this morning and no sign of Egwina. She eventually flew in around half eight but no ducklings to be seen. We assumed all had died overnight but have since seen 2 in the lillypads. Unfortunately we can’t find those either now so not looking good.
very sad.

Oh that is very sad 😔

I thought Egwina was much more conscientious until the ducklings were older.

😢

Bloody Bird Flu our local cygnets have all gone

She was hot and miss in the past. I think it was possibly my first thread where we’d discovered she was buggering off about 7pm and leaving them alone overnight, that was a late clutch too so whether it’s part of some thing she does this time of year I don’t know.

I’ve walked around a few times now but can’t see anything. Duncan is here but no sign of anything else. The only slight hope is they are snuggled up in the duck house maybe, but our lounge window overlooks the water so I’m sure we’d have seen them pop out by now.

Oh dear. What a sad state of affairs. Let’s hope they are hiding snuggled somewhere

Oh no :( that's heartbreaking 💔

Last update on this particular clutch. All gone.

Egwina and Duncan are both here, sat on a partly submerged tree branch. After initially spotting the two yesterday we failed to find them again so it does look like we've lost them all.

This would have left me heartbroken a few years ago, but I think I'm finally at the point where I can chalk it up to nature being a cruel thing. It is sad, but it was always hugely optimistic that they'd survive.
Better luck in spring hopefully.

Ah @AlanThePig having read your updates I was hoping (against hope, evidently) that things would turn out okay for these little ones. Nature is cruel, but nature also balances things carefully and this time it just wasn’t to be. I’m glad you’re not feeling heartbroken. It’s sad, of course, but sometimes it’s the way things have to be. 😔

Oh such a shame. I wonder what happened to them

I'm wondering the same at the moment. No sign of any remains around the pond yesterday and I will go and have a hunt again later. DH wondered if there might be remains in one of the houses but we wont get out to those until spring.

I have read they can drown if not supervised, and if it's too cold, and Egwina isn't exactly duck mother of the year, so that might be the answer.

Oh what a shame. Glad you are more able to separate yourself emotionally from it

Hopefully next year Egwina and Duncan will have their clutches at more appropriate times of the year 😊

All sorts of things can happen to ducklings. It's rare for a large number to survive from any clutch, that's why they have so many :(

Because they are so protected here we usually get 90% of the clutch through. The biggest was 16 with 14 survivors. That was an expensive few months 😂

An amazing success rate. The most I've seen, on a sheltered bit of water near where my DPs live, is nine reaching adulthood out of 12 hatched. (The second brood that year was less successful because the teenagers bullied the little ones and only three made it.)

We've cat proofed as much as possible and they have two floating houses to go at, added to the regular food supply they are pretty protected here.
16 was the biggest clutch, she usually averages around 12 and we lose around 2 each time to the cat around the corner.

They are wild, but not fully IYSWIM which is probably why we do so well.

Still, I wonder why these guys didn’t survive. Birds taking them maybe?