Mother Duck

So Kip desperately wanted our ducks to have ducklings. I wasn't sure this was the quite very best idea ever. Also, it seemed unlikely to me. Supposedly, domesticated ducks don't often sit on their eggs.

Yeah. Yeah.

So a couple weeks ago, I went out to get the eggs in the morning and they were warm. They're not usually warm. Usually the ducks are completely uninterested in them. I figured that it was probably just a fluke, but because I am a good, loving wife and because there was a teeny tiny bit of me that also thought it might be a teeny tiny bit cool if the ducks had ducklings, I left them. They were warm the next day too. And then the day after that, our rouen duck, Rosemary, was sitting on them. She didn't stay on them for long that day, but within the week, she had begun to nest on them constantly. She has built herself a warm little nest--a pile of straw that she snuggles into and--even though I still think I might regret this little duckling adventure--it is absolutely the sweetest little thing you have ever seen and I can't stop myself from liking it.

Some mornings, I come out to find both females on the nest like two happy little sister wives.

The first time this happened the females were snuggled tight--practically wrapped around each other like a brown and white ying and yang. I wish oh wish that I'd gotten a picture. Of course, Lulu usually abandons Rosemary and the nest as soon as the coop door opens, but it's still so cute. And Rosemary doesn't seem to mind her motherly duties.

When we come near her, she makes a sort of sweet sounding coo that says, "Don't bother me." And once when Kip got in too close, she hissed at him.

A couple of mornings she's come off the nest for a very quick dip and forage in the pond. As soon as she hits the water, the male duck hops on top of her. It's like college ducks gone wild. Only right after, she heads back to the nest.