Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Quackers




Mrs Duck has done it again. Last year she managed to hatch 9 little 'uns but this year she surpassed herself and produced 11. Awwwwh!

I knew she'd been sitting on eggs as she's been coming up for feeds at odd times of the day and coming to look for me so I can feed her. This morning she came bustling up from the pond with them following in a neat line, all fluffy and sweet.


I put some mixed corn out for them by the barn. It always amazes me that they instinctively know what to do with it and they all got stuck in straight away.

Mrs Duck allows me to come within about 4 feet of them when they are so tiny but as they grow they become bolder and follow me into the barn and even take grain from my hand.

She makes quiet quacking noises to keep them all together as she needs to keep a watchful eye out for crows and magpies. I hope she manages to keep them all safe until they are old enough to fend for themselves. As I type this I can hear her out on the driveway with them, no doubt familiarising them with their surroundings.

2 comments:

Marina said...

Aww! Too cute!

Do you have a pond, stream, lake or some other body of water near you?

Susie Hewer said...

Yes, we have a biggish pond in the garden and then a larger one (that we call a plake 'cos it's too big for a pond but too small for a lake!) in one of the fields.

Most of the properties in our area have a pond as many of them were iron ore extraction pits that have filled with water over the years.