Mama duck is an OK first time mom. She is having a little trouble with her independence. As a mom myself, I feel her. I get it. You go from being an independent woman, doing your own thing, yelling at everyone who doesn’t readily feed you. Then…BOOM, you have eight hungry mouths to feed that wont leave you alone and when they do they are wondering off on their own. Alright, maybe I don’t have eight kids, and mine were far more spread out, but if this last year has taught me anything, it’s that mama needs her alone time, BADLY.
With this being said, mama duck has lost some of her babies. She is now down to only four from the original eight. The first, and probably second, were lost to the snapping turtle living in our pond. The last two were lost somehow, we have no clue, and honestly we aren’t sure the fourth missing duck is not alive anymore. We discovered today that she will wonder off and if they don’t follow behind her, she will leave their asses behind.
She had five ducklings this morning. Then later this afternoon I found four ducklings wondering around by our front door before they finally found her around the side of the house. Then when Chris got home he found her, couldn’t find the rest of them, but there was one by itself around the edge of the pond. I grabbed the feeder and coaxed her, the daddy, and the nanny duck and the remaining three babies back down the hill to reunite them with the lost duckling by the pond. The baby was very upset. Mama didn’t seem to care much at all. Hopefully this is a symptom of being a new mom and not a pattern she will repeat over the years. I really would like some ducklings to make it to adulthood.
