Wild ducks have laid eggs in my plant pot!
Discussion
elanfan said:
OP can you put a fire guard around the nest once it nears hatching time, then box them up and get them to water? Well never know but if she lost the last brood it’s why she’s back.
I'm not sure that would go down very well. Henrietta isn't tame, if she's not on the nest you can't go near her otherwise she will waddle/fly off, she only tolerates us going near the plant pot because I think she thinks we can't see her.If I tried boxing her and the future (hopefully!) ducklings up, I have visions of her flying off or being traumatised. Even if I got her and the ducklings to a local pond, I imagine she would fly the f
k away as soon as I let her out by the water and then her ducklings would be orphaned.She's off the nest as I type this, using the baking tray as a pond. Once she moves away a bit I will do a quick egg count.
Nightmare said:
Please can we have another duck update? 
Of course Not much to actually report at the moment though. I'm pretty sure Henrietta has finished laying as she's now on the nest all the time from when I get up until late in the evening, I can only assume she goes off for food/drink etc in the night (I read that ducks can be quite active during the night).
The strawberry plants aren't going to last circa 28 days until the eggs hatch especially as I can't water them with her sat in there so I'm a bit worried about how that will pan out.
I just went out and took a pic of her:
PH_77 said:
Could you perhaps put some artificial foliage in there?
I did wonder that, but I don't want to do anything that makes her abandon the nest. I think I was lucky with the straw, she obviously liked that. The other issue is she's seemingly always on the nest now so I don't have an opportunity to stick extra foliage in there or water the strawberries. Looking at the pics it's easy to forget she is a wild duck and not at all tame. I went out about 10mins ago to check and Henrietta is on full alert in the plant pot Quick update!
I just spotted Henrietta off the nest in another part of the garden so I had quick water of the strawberries in her plant pot and a quick egg count........ we are up to 11
She has really gone to town with the straw and feathers, the eggs are completely hidden. I took a quick pic with the nest as she left it and made sure to put everything back as it was after I counted the eggs. I put some more straw at the back of the plant pot in case she wants to use it
I just spotted Henrietta off the nest in another part of the garden so I had quick water of the strawberries in her plant pot and a quick egg count........ we are up to 11
She has really gone to town with the straw and feathers, the eggs are completely hidden. I took a quick pic with the nest as she left it and made sure to put everything back as it was after I counted the eggs. I put some more straw at the back of the plant pot in case she wants to use it
She's back on the nest already, I didn't even see her return. Could it be she saw me checking out her nest to take a pic and that made her rush back? Or do ducks not think like that? I took a pic of her but she hissed at me, she is no more tame than the first day she landed in the garden 
actionjack said:
So disappointed by the lack of updates to this thread....
Hopefully you won't cock it up like you did the first time she layed some eggs.... FFS...
Please accept my apologies! Hopefully you won't cock it up like you did the first time she layed some eggs.... FFS...
I could take a pic each day and post but I don't know how much interest that would be? Truth be told, not much is happening. Henrietta is still on the nest all day every day, no sign of any of the eggs hatching yet although it can't be much longer?
I just went outside and took a pic. She gave me the stink eye and hissed slightly as she doesnt like being looked at directly
What amuses me is I never see Henrietta move whilst she's on the nest. She does change position, but I never catch her doing it. She also has a sixth sense as whenever I slowly stick my head out the opem back door to check on her, she's already looking at me. She does the same when I look out a side window on the same wall as the plant pot; she's always looking back at me as I slowly peek out
Toilet Duck said:
What amuses me is I never see Henrietta move whilst she's on the nest. She does change position, but I never catch her doing it. She also has a sixth sense as whenever I slowly stick my head out the opem back door to check on her, she's already looking at me. She does the same when I look out a side window on the same wall as the plant pot; she's always looking back at me as I slowly peek out
Just to prove it, I just took a couple of covert pics out the side window, and there she is giving me the stink eye:
randlemarcus said:
That's wonderful, love the video of the ducklings rushing around mum We "think" the eggs may have started hatching! We've heard some strange noises from the plant pot, and Henrietta seems to be sitting funny/higher. We are wondering if ducklings are under her, and she doesn't want to squash them. We can't see any ducklings, but Henrietta seems more grumpy than normal when we look at her
Nightmare said:
Come on ducklings!!!
You really should have bought a night vision wildlife cam and connected it up so we can all enjoy it though!.
If I had, I would hate it if/when I saw something "bad" happen. Also, the Internet here is beyond dire (2Mb download speed) until the promised FTTP gets installed, so there is no way I could have put a working feed on line. If this happens again when we do have fibre, then I may put up a live feed for you guys.You really should have bought a night vision wildlife cam and connected it up so we can all enjoy it though!
. I've been looking out the window watching/listening and she definitely has ducklings, now and again I get a small glimpse of movement under her. Henrietta seems to be "talking" to them, I can hear squeaking from the ducklings and she responds to them, it's mesmerising to watch. Unfortunately, I can't get a good enough pic to show anything but I will keep trying:
randlemarcus said:
Looking at that nest location, you are, I suspect, going to have to be a bit of a babysitter, unless Henrietta has managed to time things perfectly. Broods should hatch within 24 hours of egg 1. If not, there is a distinct possibility of her wandering off to wet her wings (damp eggs hatch better), or get a snack, and the little ones following her. They can jump down just fine, but absolutely cannot fly back up, because their wings are vestigial. Can you create a ramp back up to the nest level, or keep a close ear on her - when they jump out, and cant get back in, you will hear her making her displeasure known Ducks don't seem to identify eggs or young by smell, so you will not be risking anything by picking the duckling up, and shovelling it back at nest level (well, you'll risk a beak strike from Henrietta, but hey).
I did put a ramp (piece of old decking) up to the plant pot first time around, there is a pic early on in the thread. I can put it up again. I read the same about ducks not "smelling" and therefore not abandoning eggs/ducklings because they stink of humans. Henrietta normally goes off for food etc in the late evening so I don't know what will happen tonight. I also suspect that tomorrow she will leave with her ducklings, as that's what happened last time (she cleared off within 24hrs of the 1st egg hatching). I am starting to panic!! Ducks don't seem to identify eggs or young by smell, so you will not be risking anything by picking the duckling up, and shovelling it back at nest level (well, you'll risk a beak strike from Henrietta, but hey).randlemarcus said:
This is the reason I now buy 20kg bags of duck food :ashamed:
I bought the same, 20 kg bag of duck/Swan pellets! Henrietta doesn't seem fussed by them, she prefers the "normal" mixed seed/peanuts that I put out for the other regular feathered visitors. Ramp has been reinstated:
tribalsurfer said:
Love this thread, only on PH can you find Powerfully Built Directors, who love gas chugging V8's and cute little ducklings.
Good work Toilet Duck !!!!!
Why thank you Good work Toilet Duck !!!!!
What makes me laugh is that by a strange twist of fate, I've also had a recent thread about toilet / soil stack issue, so my username must have been destiny
Ironically Henrietta is stopping me from doing the building work as well, the thread was here:
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Well, we've been up since around 04:00 this morning and got to watch something truly magical!!
Henrietta was making lots of noise talking to her ducklings, she seemed to be coaxing them to all get up. It was hard to count how many she had as there was lots of activity underneath her. At one point she flew off but came back around 5mins later, I'm not sure if she went for food/drink or was scoping where she planned to eventually lead her young?
After being back in the nest, she got off onto the floor and kept "talking" to her young, and eventually they started jumping/falling out the planter onto the floor. Occasionally she got back on the planter to try and get the others to follow, this went on for around 40mins. Eventually, she had TEN ducklings in tow and took them across our garden and into a private field next door so we weren't able to follow. It maybe that there is a pond over there in a neighbouring property some distance away, but we don't know.
I got lots of pics and even some video, I hope you enjoy
Video here: https://youtu.be/sYJWf99Ew7w
Good luck Henrietta
Henrietta was making lots of noise talking to her ducklings, she seemed to be coaxing them to all get up. It was hard to count how many she had as there was lots of activity underneath her. At one point she flew off but came back around 5mins later, I'm not sure if she went for food/drink or was scoping where she planned to eventually lead her young?
After being back in the nest, she got off onto the floor and kept "talking" to her young, and eventually they started jumping/falling out the planter onto the floor. Occasionally she got back on the planter to try and get the others to follow, this went on for around 40mins. Eventually, she had TEN ducklings in tow and took them across our garden and into a private field next door so we weren't able to follow. It maybe that there is a pond over there in a neighbouring property some distance away, but we don't know.
I got lots of pics and even some video, I hope you enjoy
Video here: https://youtu.be/sYJWf99Ew7w
Good luck Henrietta
Edited by Toilet Duck on Friday 24th July 10:08
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