Pauley's Pampered Poultry: Pekin Ducks

Here are the ducks in their wading pool. Once they get into the water, the ducks seem to swim in unison, clockwise, for a couple of minutes before they start splashing.

The ducks entertain us. Likewise, we try to give them things to entertain them. For one thing, the ducks love the wading pool! They're happy, so happy they started laying their eggs early, and that is where the trouble begins.

Their favorite way to play in the water is to splash it out. Then, they waddle out of the water and drill down into the surrounding wet grass to get to the roots. Then back into the water. SPLASH! SPLASH! Eventually the water gets dirty.

Our ducks don't seem aware that they lay eggs. They just go SPLAT! and there's an egg. They give their eggs no more attention than they give their excrement and, like excrement, it can fall out anywhere--in the tall grass, by the feeder, and even in the murky water. Then,

 SPLISH, SPLASH, SPLAT!

Chris tried his best to accommodate their egg-laying needs by building a nesting box for the ducks. At first, they were afraid of it. So then he put golf balls in it, but since they wouldn't come near the box and they didn't associate golf balls with eggs, that was futile. Finally, he took an egg from their murky pool and put it in the nesting box. Although their brains are small, one of them must have caught on! Now, about 1 egg in 6 can be found in the nesting box! 

That's learning, one little duck waddle at a time, 

maybe smaller than a baby step, but that's progress!

The ducks are beginning to take notice and are getting over their fear.  See the nesting box in the corner?