Matt wants to know if they are sitting on the eggs, and if they're not can he have some eggs, but I suspect that it's going to be far better to wait for the ducks. Mmmm, roast duck! Oo! Oo! We have a recipe for Peking Duck and we successfully made the mandarin pancakes last night although it was for Mu Shu Pork not peking duck. And today we went shopping for "stuff" at Kongs on William street so I am now the proud owner of two more woks bringing the total to five. Goodness, I have more woks that cats! Add to that the chinese pottery that Matt bought and we've been to the homebrew shop and Officeworks AND Bunnings... it's been a fun day!
good idea to let them fiddle around with the first few batches. It took our Mama Ducks a couple of goes to work out how to sit successfully.
One was no good at staying on the eggs at first, though she now broods reliably. The other one got fed up with it and kicked all the eggs out of her nest.
One Mama Duck laid an egg in a neighbour's downpipe last week, blocking it. Neighbour was fatalistically good-natured about it, and we clipped her wing to stop it from happening again.
We had to separate the drake out after the first batch hatched as he tried to kill the ducklings. He's fine now, I think the Mamas beat him up a few times over it.
Drako has never shown any interest in the actual eggs. Crows, on the other hand, are a damned nuisance and love to steal the eggs.
Is Gretel sitting? Or is she too busy MCing Big Brother?
No, she's not sitting. Do they start sitting now, or wait until there's more eggs? I would have thought they'd wait until they had enough otherwise there would be a duckling hatched every day for about two weeks!!
The spot they have chosen has no air cover, I was wondering about that too. Should I try and arrange something to hide the nest from aerial invaders?
She has to sit from the beginning, or the cold will kill the chicks. Birds have a mechanism that Laurton hasn't explained to me that makes the chicks all hatch at the same time. Believe me, I've asked.
Let her keep these eggs, even if they're already killed. She can only learn by trying and failing.
Muscovies seem to sit all the time. The Khaki Campbells I used to have never sat on their eggs, and they still hatched.
Hmm, you'll have to make sure you take the newest ones. Send Chesh out to mark the existing eggs with a pencil, so you can work out which are the new ones.
I would think that the birds would be listeria and salmonella free, since they are from a domestic backyard not a poultry farm. However, with such a short time to go, I'd err on the side of caution, and get Chesh to do all the handling.
I handle our birds and eggs, and I'm on listeria restrictions, but I'm also not pregnant, so all I'm risking is a bad case of food-poisoning for myself. Do you handle commercial eggs? I can't imagine they are any cleaner than the backyard eggs.
Oh, I wasn't worried about listeria etc, I was worried that the muscovies would get all funny about the humans playing with their eggs and not coming back to the nest because of it. :-)
Commercial eggs last for 2 months ok, so I'm not *too* worried about marking them but I spose it would be nice of me... *grin*
Our Mamas seem quite happy to show us their eggs, and let us take them from the nest without fussing, but they are absurdly domesticated. Give it a try, you'll need to find out at some stage how hysterical Gretel is going to be about her eggs, and if you start now, she might get used to you handling the eggs.
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chiming
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Date: 2005-07-09 04:24 am (UTC)From:They are about ,the size of a ten cent piece .
The public display of budgie sex are a bit of worry though.
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Date: 2005-07-09 08:55 am (UTC)From::(
My big lillypilly tree, which held at least 4 different bird species, was partly cut down on Thursday.
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Date: 2005-07-09 09:17 am (UTC)From:Mmmm, roast duck!
Oo! Oo! We have a recipe for Peking Duck and we successfully made the mandarin pancakes last night although it was for Mu Shu Pork not peking duck.
And today we went shopping for "stuff" at Kongs on William street so I am now the proud owner of two more woks bringing the total to five. Goodness, I have more woks that cats! Add to that the chinese pottery that Matt bought and we've been to the homebrew shop and Officeworks AND Bunnings... it's been a fun day!
no subject
Date: 2005-07-09 09:19 am (UTC)From:Um, er, I dunno. I don't expect many to hatch cos it's a first batch. So, I guess he can have a couple. How many does he want?
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Date: 2005-07-09 09:19 am (UTC)From:Sorry!
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Date: 2005-07-09 09:20 am (UTC)From::-)
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Date: 2005-07-09 10:16 am (UTC)From:*bounce bounce*
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Date: 2005-07-11 03:28 am (UTC)From:One was no good at staying on the eggs at first, though she now broods reliably. The other one got fed up with it and kicked all the eggs out of her nest.
One Mama Duck laid an egg in a neighbour's downpipe last week, blocking it. Neighbour was fatalistically good-natured about it, and we clipped her wing to stop it from happening again.
no subject
Date: 2005-07-11 03:30 am (UTC)From:Cool, I was half way through an email asking you for any advice!! LOL.
I'm going to go out and see if there is a sixth egg yet.
:-)
I figured it would take them a few goes too, but wasn't sure if we were able to help or not. Do we need to seperate the drake at any point?
no subject
Date: 2005-07-11 03:33 am (UTC)From:Drako has never shown any interest in the actual eggs. Crows, on the other hand, are a damned nuisance and love to steal the eggs.
Is Gretel sitting? Or is she too busy MCing Big Brother?
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Date: 2005-07-11 03:36 am (UTC)From:The spot they have chosen has no air cover, I was wondering about that too. Should I try and arrange something to hide the nest from aerial invaders?
no subject
Date: 2005-07-11 03:48 am (UTC)From:Let her keep these eggs, even if they're already killed. She can only learn by trying and failing.
Muscovies seem to sit all the time. The Khaki Campbells I used to have never sat on their eggs, and they still hatched.
She could do with some protection from the air.
no subject
Date: 2005-07-11 03:49 am (UTC)From::-)
Matt wants to eat some of them. Should I grab two or three for him when she gets to ten or so? Should I handle the eggs at all?
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Date: 2005-07-11 04:01 am (UTC)From:I would think that the birds would be listeria and salmonella free, since they are from a domestic backyard not a poultry farm. However, with such a short time to go, I'd err on the side of caution, and get Chesh to do all the handling.
I handle our birds and eggs, and I'm on listeria restrictions, but I'm also not pregnant, so all I'm risking is a bad case of food-poisoning for myself. Do you handle commercial eggs? I can't imagine they are any cleaner than the backyard eggs.
no subject
Date: 2005-07-11 04:03 am (UTC)From::-)
Commercial eggs last for 2 months ok, so I'm not *too* worried about marking them but I spose it would be nice of me...
*grin*
no subject
Date: 2005-07-11 04:07 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2005-07-11 04:14 am (UTC)From::-)
I will go and find some shoes and a pencil.