Duck!

[Pat Kiewicz]

Here's the consequences of being late on one of my normal garden tasks: pulling/grubbing out the grass and common daylilies that keep invading the veggie garden from the neighbor's yard along the west fence.

Last Sunday I pulled and hacked part of the way along the fence. Skipped the next day to work in the flower beds. Then the rains came. Finally Friday dawns clear and back to the veggie garden to do some more work.

But first, run the perimeter to check the electric fence wire, because it's time to reinstall the charger. So I'm walking north along the west fence, walking toward the area I cleared on Sunday when a mallard duck explodes from the ground at my feet! Holy crap!

Right at the edge of the uncleared area was a nest with seven eggs in it. And I don't think she's done with the clutch. How the hell was she intending to get those ducklings anywhere? The whole fence bottom is lined with chicken wire (to keep the baby bunnies out). The last thing I need is a small horde of ducks rampaging through the lettuce or newly-sprouted corn...

(One spring few years back, a duck and drake turned out the be the critters that ruined my first planting of snap peas.)

[Pat Kiewicz]

Following up my own post:

My daughter recruited my neighbor (who has done some wildlife rehab-ing in the past) to take the eggs for incubation. Ducks are apparently very good at finding safe, hidden nest sites but really don't have any clue when it comes to making sure the ducklings will be able get to the nearest body of water. (He told us about the time he had to catch a duck and her ducklings that had hatched from a nest hidden in a planter by a busy office complex.)

And so this afternoon we will be doing double-pace work to trim back the overgrowth along the fence...and hoping she moves on.

[FarmI]

I'd have bought lettuces and peas and considered myself to be lucky to do that if I could only get a wild duck to nest in my veggie garden.

[David Hare-Scott]

What would you pay for swamp hens to steal your horse feed?

David

[FarmI]

:-)) I'll pass on them thanks as we already have some on the back dam. We also don't have horses any more and we tried not to feed them a great deal when we did (except if in work) - just enough to keep them coming up to us each morning so we could check them over. The horses were quick to eat their food and never let the swamp hens near their food.