Every day is like Easter around here

After a long - VERY long - hiatus, I have returned with something to report. With six female ducks currently residing here on the Unfarm, they deliver eggs on a semi regular basis (at least during the spring and summer months). That said, they do not always deliver said eggs into the nest boxes that we built for that exact purpose. In fact, they regularly drop eggs anywhere BUT the nest boxes. In the middle of the coop, for example. Or the corner of the coop, next to the divider separating the majority of the boys from the girls during the night. Once we found an entire nest of eggs under the tarp covering the wood pile. And another one in the middle of the bamboo grove. 

The ducks are not the only birds guilty of unauthorized nest building: the chickens once had a nest in the corner of the yard by the blueberry bushes. Another chicken was regularly going missing until we discovered that she was routinely flying over the fence into the front yard and laying an egg a day in a corner of the front yard, right beside the house and next to a pile of wooden boards. She had amassed quite the collection when we finally discovered her. One of our most recent arrivals, a hen named Sugar, was disappearing into a second bamboo grove and had about 15 eggs hidden there, and that was just a couple of weeks ago. 

The one thing that can be said in defense of the chickens is that once they do build a nest, they tend to leave it where it is. The ducks, on the other hand, spend a great deal of their nesting time (when they decide to nest in the duck coop) moving their nest from one spot to another within the coop. They roll eggs in. They roll eggs out. (This has occurred several times mid-hatch, resulting in the duckling trying to hatch not surviving.) Don't ask me why ducks do what they do. I have lived with them for years and still haven't entirely figured them out. 

The other thing ducks do, which I have yet to figure out, is lay single eggs in random places. I often find eggs just laying around out in the yard. I find eggs in the duck run. I find eggs in the dog run (which all the birds have access to, the dogs being very well behaved with the birds.) I find eggs next to the outdoor sink. I have even found an egg in the duck pool. The one I found today was discovered near the bamboo. I never know exactly where or when I will come across an egg, making me feel like every day is like Easter around here.

The egg I discovered today, which prompted this post

On ceramic eggs and the intelligence of ducks

Ceramic eggs are in existence to help chicken owners. The eggs are designed to look like real eggs and you simply place them in the location you want your chickens to lay their eggs and they take that as a cue that this is the hot new spot to lay their eggs. I mean, if the other chickens are doing it, why shouldn't they lay their eggs there as well? The ceramic eggs can also be used to discourage chickens who have decided that they should peck at and eat the eggs. Ceramic eggs are much harder to get into, and much less tasty if they do. I haven't heard a great deal about using ceramic eggs with ducks but I figure if it works for the chickens then it's bound to work for the ducks as well. Right? 

Ducks are much smarter than they typically get credit for. When last I cleaned the coop and replaced a bunch of real eggs with ceramic eggs I reasoned that the ducks would assume everything was as they left it that morning and their eggs were still safely ensconced in their nest. Gwen and Gemma, my two outdoor female ducks, did continue to use the nest and did not seem upset over the loss of any eggs (we lost a duck once when she flew away forever after her eggs were removed from her nest) so I assumed that the ceramic eggs had done their job and fooled the ducks. I was wrong. When I cleaned the coop today and went to remove the real eggs I discovered that the girls had been using their nest but every time they laid an actual egg, they would roll a ceramic egg out of the nest to make room for the new egg. By the time I came in to clean the coop the nest was full of real eggs and the ceramic ones were scattered all over the floor of the coop. How they knew the eggs were fakes I am unsure of but realize it they did. This may be why I had not heard much about using fake eggs with ducks. I am, once again, reminded not to underestimate my duck's intelligence. It seems the only one fooled when I do that is me.

The haul for today: 22 duck eggs