I though I'd share a pic of some of the pest defence forces (and often pests in their own right) in the garden, since I mention them quite a lot. Their pen is 35X10ft and they have their own shrubbery to sit under and eat the berries from, not that they are spoiled or anything. The chickens are jealous and when they are out for their daily constitutional the chickens charge into the duck pen and investigate.
Just waiting for them to start brooding the eggs now.
Aaaaaah, i love ducks. Will you (ok, they!) be having ducklings then? Can't wait to see the pics of those - please keep us updated, Baa.
Oh, Baa, they are beauties. We used to have ducks when I was a child in the midwest. We had a pond, and I recall wading out to gather eggs floating on the water...surely that isn't right...would ducks lay eggs in a pond?
Philomel
We've had ducklings from the Black East Indies pair before but last year none of the eggs came to anything. Hopefully this year will be more productive, they have already laid 5 eggs but kicked two out already. I think I have a pic somewhere of the ducklings, tiny fluffy black/brown things with jet black feet. This year I shall risk my arm and try and candle the eggs to see if they are fertile. We have to be careful because one of the drakes is a duckling killer.
WZ
Floating duck eggs eh? LOL It might be that the ducks laid the eggs near to the water and they rolled or were pushed in. I should imagine it would be very difficult to lay eggs in the water, who knows? nothing is impossible :)
And I thought one of the ways of telling a 'good' egg from bad was to put it in water. Good ones sink, the floaters are the ones to discard!! - Unless you know different?
thats true Philomel. I keep birds and I test their eggs by floating the in warm water. but!!! an addled egg floats higher than an egg with a chick in it. when eggs are over due I do the float method to see if the chick is still kicking inside the egg. a healthy chick bobs like mad.
Mark
What kind of birds do you keep Mark? Thought you didn't have any 'pets' The picture conjured up by the bobbing eggs is hilarious :*)
BTW I'm now online with a pay per month package (BT as you suggested) so Whoooppeee don't have to worry about time on line any more ^
Ok, so maybe my memory fails me...maybe the eggs weren't floating on the pond...or maybe we had really stupid ducks! Hate to admit it, but that was probably 40 or 45 years ago, so may be I'm wrong. The other option is that the ducks were experimenting with underwater birth...a kinder gentler method for both duckling and mom. Or maybe, after expelling so many eggs, the sphincters just loosen up, and a moment of gas from a breakfast of dew drenched chickweed could cause a sudden expulsion of both gas and egg...not that I am speaking from personal experience, mind you.
Philomel, i am on BTanytime as well, have been since it came out, thinking of going broadband as its coming down in price.
It amazes me that i dont wake up quacking after all this rain, please come back sun all is forgiven.
WZ i have serious concerns with the way your mind's been working on this one! The optional explanations are mind boggling:O But, granted v amusing ROTFL!
Glad to have another endorsement for BT Sheila. Certainly seems good to me so far. I tried Telewest - been with them for TV and phone for about 2 years. When i logged on from their disc my puter threw a real wobbly. They didn't like each other at all. The mouse was jumping all over the place and i kept getting cut off, or couldn't log on. Their site had a constant error message on it too. All i'm left with now is their blue yonder whale, which swims hard against the current whenever i'm on line. He's quite cute, can put up with that:-)
Philomel: Thanks for that voice of reason...even the ducks aren't safe from my dreadful musings! And such lovely ducks they are!
