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

[AlanThePig]

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.

They are so cute!

@Norugratsatall

Ah lovely story OP. An antidote to all the grimness that's abound atm.

Is that a daffodil I see in The first picture? 🤔

Your point is? OP explained the first brood hatched 23rd March which visited her kitchen. Daffodil time, right?

They grow really quickly. My pet duck hatched 11, four weeks ago. I was worried as we had some frosty nights when they were around a week old but at that age they could still fit under her to stay warm. They're far too big now but their feathers are just starting to come in so I think they'll be fine now. They snuggle up together to sleep.

@Haffdonga

Duckdates please

This!!

I might be a soft touch here but could you get in a small shed with a heater that could be put on in the winter?

Add a small hole for them to go in when she wants to?

@Norugratsatall

Ah lovely story OP. An antidote to all the grimness that's abound atm.

Is that a daffodil I see in The first picture? 🤔

That was brood number one at the door, they were a few days old in that image.

Number two haven't really left Mum yet, she's sat in the grasses with them under her (as an aside, the grasses get cut back early October to help with growth so she's found a kind of island to sit on thats waterlogged all around so it's a reasonably safe spot). They did briefly venture out for a run on the lily pads earlier.

I think they have headed into the duck house for the night, fingers crossed there are still ten in the morning. I shall update.

Ah yes thanks OP. Thought that was a pic of the current brood. They are gorgeous and I'm sure you spend lots of happy hours watching them. 😊

Duck envy
Garden envy
Probably house envy too!

All I get is the neighbours cat using the gravel as a toilet

😍😀

How long before they will be grown up enough to deal with the elements?

Awww, I saw a brood? of ducklings yesterday when out walking and was a bit surprised as have never seen any this late in the year.

@userxx

How long before they will be grown up enough to deal with the elements?

From everything I've read (and thats a lot today), aside from the usual risks of foxes etc the main risk this time of year comes with frost bite. They have the duck house which has a platform so they will probably laze about on that, plus there is the pier at the side.

I believe they reach somewhere near fully grown in around 30 days, in theory they then fledge around 50/60 days, so should be off around Christmas.

If the weather stays 'ok' until mid/end November, we might get away with this....

This weeks project you working out how to build a duck friendly heat lamp house that’s fox proof

They are beautiful. Good luck!

Ahh how lovely!

Do Herons go for duckings? Just on your comment about the shiney tape?

@theGirlWithManyFaces

Ahh how lovely!

Do Herons go for duckings? Just on your comment about the shiney tape?

Yep, the heron will take a small duckling, as will a seagull. We occasionally have a sparrow hawk kicking about as well. In reality the tape probably doesn't do much and a determined, hungry predator will take them, but it makes me feel better. They are far out of the way in the middle of the pond so safe overnight hopefully.

I think we're going to have to look at constructing a bigger house next year. The last lot were sinking the current one when they got bigger. 😂
Not sure I can persuade DH toward heating though...

🥰 how lovely!

I’ve got a pair of Great Tits (even if I do say so myself), a pair of Dunnocks and a Robin that come by every day. They really lift my spirits.

Your ducks are gorgeous (as is your amazing pond!)

❤️❤️❤️

This thread has brought me joy!

We have a barn owl. We hear it every morning, with it's very distinctive squawk.

It comes in our barn, we can see both the feathers and it's droppings but we have only once seen the owl in there, but swooped out over our heads as we went in.

I love seeing it, really lifts my spirit.

blue tit investigating bird house on fence this morning - saw him (?) go in & investigate while we were drinking our morning tea

This thread is so lovely!!!

@mumwon I saw a bluetit do the same with our box yesterday! Do they start checking out nesting sites this early??

What do Ducks eat?

If those visiting us are anything to go by.... they Hoover up small bite dog mixer. As do the swans.

We’ve always fed them a floating duck food. It’s not the cheapest, I ordered some earlier as the last lot were getting through 20kg a month, 20kg is £35.....
But, if I put a non floating food down it means they need to come out of the water etc, plus it would encourage rats etc.

That said, she’s very good at getting out of the water, marching to the door and shouting loudly until she’s fed. By the time the others were grown earlier this year they followed DH everywhere as they knew it was him that usually fed them. He was like Sr Doolittle, walking down the drive with a troop of ducks behind him. It was hilarious.

I scribbled DH out though if you know us this is really outing, but this is when he started trying to hand feed earlier this year.

Woke up to the sound of Egwina having a good old shout. She’d brought them over for food, not straight to the door as I suspect they can’t make the jump up the bank closest to it yet.

Happy to report all ten still here. It’s not especially cold which is good. They have eaten some of the floating food and if she keeps the same routine as last time I think she’ll probably bring them over three or four times a day now.

You know that saying about ducks in a row. I now completely understanding it. Trying to photograph ten ducklings and actually get all of them in one picture is nigh on impossible. I think I’ve managed it here. Possibly. 😂