With levels of reproduction breaking the “procreation” scales, this Summer at Chicken Corner has proved quite extraordinary. This month’s edition places a special eagle-eyed focus on our call ducks that dared to defy convention!
So we begin the enigmatic tale.. 30 years on from when Phil Collins’ hit release Against all Odds first graced our ears, yet it couldn’t feel more apt in describing Chicken Corner’s July miracle (even to the point when we’re asking - was Phil actually foreshadowing this event?): the birth of two call duck ducklings.
Of course from an outsider’s perspective, this might seem ever-to-slightly melodramatic, HOWEVER, as many viewers understand in the historical context of the orchard, this is truly incredible!
To elaborate just a bit.. not only was our call duck hatching P.B. at a pitiful record of 1 (over the full course of our 18 year history), but in fact the drake to the best of our knowledge was asexual with a preference on occasion for his lesser water-inclined feathery neighbours. On the latter point alone, as Director & Manager, I had accepted the impossibility of call duck offspring.
As a result and to further intensify the EXTRAordinary nature of this situation, in the months leading up to the big crack, the female had taken herself off to nest deep in the day-of-the-triffid-style stinging nettles. With her best interests at heart, on certain nights I would remove her from the nest and place her in the safety of the duck-house. We couldn’t risk losing her to the fox, she was just too precious and cute..
For those viewers who aren’t familiar with the importance of “incubation etiquette” please read on. To ensure a fertile duck egg hatches, continuous incubation (duck sitting on the egg) needs to take place for 4-weeks (28 days). The mother does of course leave the nest every now and then throughout this period to drink, feed and pass the necessaries – promptly returning to provide the well-needed heat, moisture and egg turning to bring on hatching :) So viewers, it will come as no surprise that a full 12-hours away from the nest would surely halt all chances of that happening?!
Yet here we are today, the white female duck stands before me with her two extremely large ducklings (aged 4-weeks old), one a miniature of the father and the other a murkier dilution of both parents.
Recently re-introduced to their father in the main duck enclosure, they took to the sandpit pond like ducks to water (terrible pun.. way too obvious!) and to cut a long babbling story short, as the mother and babies charged towards the pond, the drake shot out in the opposite direction! ..and there’s been stalemate ever since. It’s the strangest behaviour to observe: during their time apart (so the babies could grow safely) he couldn’t be more attentive; at the fence chattering away to them all day every day..
But perhaps when it comes to “A period of separation” creatures can go two ways:
1. Absence makes the heart grow fonder
2. Isolation is bliss and the “isolatee” realises they made a terrible mistake in consummating the waterfowl marriage..
I suppose we’ll never really know what is going on in that little drake’s head.. all I know is he will never cease to surprise us here at Chicken Corner with his eccentric ways!
Bye chicks x
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