Disco Nesting Disaster ?

With only a week to go before Disco's ducklings were due to hatch...bad news ! A couple of nights ago I heard a commotion coming from Disco in the garden, something had spooked her off her nest.

I suspect it may have been a Mouse getting underneath her warm nest on a frosty night. The upshot was, she would not go back to her large clutch, around 18 eggs ! After a couple of hours I decided to check the nest and felt the eggs which were pretty cold. 

Realising the potential disaster, I took 10 of the eggs and put them in the incubator, in the hope that they can be saved. I will know in about a weeks time, but I don't hold out much hope, as they were pretty cold after several hours during a very cold night. 

By Morning Disco had returned to the nest and has resumed her normal routine sitting on the remaining eggs. I will be astonished if any survive with only a week of incubation remaining and getting so cold. Previous years she has nested in the safety of the coop, this year she opted for outdoors in the aviary which is not Mouse proof ! The incubator has 2 other duck eggs, salvaged from an abandoned nest attacked by gulls!  I'm hopeful these might hatch in a weeks time.

 Meanwhile, Donnie awaits the big day.

LUCKY 13th

With very cold temperatures and snow forecast for the weekend, there is one very lucky duck and 11 ducklings safely in my care. 

 This morning I woke up to check the incubator and was delighted to see one of the ducklings hatched, and another 5 eggs already pipped. Later when doing my usual riverside round I was informed that there was a duck with a large brood at Merryton bridge. Sure enough it was one of the sisters of the duck that had her nest swamped last week, and she had a brood of 11 ducklings. 

 The north easterly wind was blowing up the river, it was so cold, brass monkeys came to mind ! 

Weather conditions and Crows would spell certain death for this brood. With the large net I managed to catch the mother and then the 11 ducklings, I was elated!

 This now gives me the intriguing possibility of having this mother as a proxy for the eggs now hatching in the incubator.

Ironically they are connected, since both mothers are sisters !  Pics show the rescued brood and also the newly hatched one in the incubator.

Tidal Inexperience

Sometimes young first year inexperienced ducks get caught out by the changing tide heights, some lay their eggs below the spring tide levels. One such case was last month when I spotted a scattered flooded nest with 10 eggs, two of which had been broken open by the gulls or crows. There was no point in leaving the eight remaining eggs since the mother had abandoned the nest which was being flooded daily. I took them home and checked to see if incubation had already started but appeared not so - but still viable so put them in the incubator. I already had another single egg in the fridge which unbelievably one young duck had laid on the stone riverside path, so I marked it with the letter S and put that in the incubator too ! After 6 days I candled the eggs and discovered that 8 had living embryos and one was a dud.

The above photo was taken this morning showing 4 newly hatched ducklings,  the others should hatch within the next 24 hours. The single one marked with an S is still to hatch, but at least it will have many brothers and sisters to greet it !!
When safe to do so, these ducks will be reared and released back into the river.

New Life

A late clutch from an abandoned ducks nest is now under the care of the River Nairn Swans and Waterfowl Trust.
I was aware of this nest ever since it's beginning and had hoped that it would not be discovered since it was in a riverside garden.

However something scared the mother from the nest, to the point she did not return on the coldest night of August last week. The abandoned eggs were cold and wet and I gave little hope that any would survive since they were 3 weeks into their incubation. On candling the eggs no signs of life were detected and some were obviously dead and were discarded. 

The remainder I left in the incubator in the hope that maybe one or two might still be alive. After 3 days I candled the eggs again and was astonished to see the flicker of life in ALL the eggs, this was quite a miracle after being left cold and wet in close to freezing temperatures. At the point of writing, 4 have hatched with one doing so right now, and another 5 chapping at the shells. The will to survive in all of nature is truly amazing ! Although I know who the mother is, trying to catch her to rear these ducklings has so far been unsuccessful.