Yesterday night I heard the first peeps. Then today the duckling chirped its way into the garden. I scooped it up and brought it back to mom. See and listen to video below.
My experience has been that the first to hatch have it rough because there is no one around yet to play with and they roam while mom continues to sit on eggs. Misty, the cat, always wants to play but she does not play nice and is their biggest threat. We praise misty for getting mice and moles, but can’t teach her to avoid the little chicks and ducks born in nature.
The duckling will be strong if it makes it and we are thankful for the birth on the farm no matter how long it lives. I am hopeful and also surrender to nature.
The 4 mamas were born here so the duckling has good local genes and natural birth memory.
The papa drake lives down the road at the neighbors. Last month was a duck/drake love-fest over here with visits and sneakouts on both sides. Over the next couple of weeks we will see how many hatch. Ducks sit on their nest for 30 days. There are two nests with brooding ducks.
Interesting what you said about natural birth memory. Maybe one reason us two legged have difficulty relating instinctively to each other and our surroundings is how seldom we grow up, or live- as adults- where we were born.