Duckess So Full of Hate

Earlier I mentioned we had gotten a pair of ducks. The female or duck was very young but started to lay eggs. She only laid about nine eggs. Then she stopped and went broody. That is she stopped laying the eggs and began to sit on them full time.

















Of course the eggs she was sitting on were wooden eggs. The real eggs were carefully dated and stored in an egg tray in Christopher's room. When she went broody, we moved her and the wooden eggs to a 3ft x 3ft cage with a nest in it. A day later we replaced the wooden eggs with six of her freshest real eggs. All seemed well, with the duck at least.






Meanwhile the male duck or Drake seemed to go into off mode. He would eat some corn, but mostly he would just sit on a stick all day long doing nothing. He didn't seem sick. Neither did he seem to have a purpose anymore. With luck the duck would be setting eggs for the next 35 days. It seemed important to obtain another female duck if only for the drakes sake.

 In the village of San Juan, there is a house that has a large flock of the most beautiful ducks. I obtained two nice sized females. They are quite a bit larger than my female, though she is quite young. We introduced the two new ducks to the drake. Everything seemed wonderful.

Although food and water are always in the broody cages, brooding chickens and ducks tend to stick so tight to the nest that they don't eat or drink. Once a day, sometimes twice, we remove a broody chicken or duck from her cage and let her run about for up to half an hour. This gives her a chance to get some exercise, eat, drink and "make a poopie". They don't defecate while sitting on a nest so this another reason we need to get them up and out at least once a day.

The drake and the new ducks must have been out foraging some of the days that we "walked" the duckess.  But one day, they were in the coop when we were getting the duckess out of her broody cage.  Someone joked that she might be jealous.  I was worried that the new ducks would bully her, as they had become established in the coop while she was not there.  To them, she would be the newcomer.  With chickens, there is intense bullying of newcomers.

Now, I should say that the only sound the drakes make is a quiet hissing noise.  The only sound the ducks make is a very faint cooing sound.  But since going broody, the duck had begun to make squeak sounds.  These are identical to the sound of little squeak toys for dogs.  So whenever we disturb the broody duck, she makes squeak sounds.

As we put her in the coop to drink from the water pan, the squeak sounds became much more ... emphatic.  The drake also made a bit of a stuttering hissing sound.  He seemed, really it honestly looked like he seemed nervous at the presence of the duckess.

But on the water pan and straw a strange new perfume blows

And the lightning flashes in her eyes

and he knows

that she knows

With an amazing fury, the little broody duck began to attack anything and everything near her. Particular hatred seemed directed toward the two new ducks.

Though the new ducks are much larger than duckess, the new ducks quickly fled the coop.

 

 At this point the duckess attacked the drake. Remember the duck weighs at most three or four pounds. The drake weighs somewhat more than 14 pounds. The drake fled.

 

Eventually, the duckess settled down, ate some corn, dipped her face in water and exulted in the now nearly empty chicken coop.