It’s time to get to know another of the characters that call this place home, Baby Girl. She is another one of our “home grown” critters, meaning she was born right here!
You see, a couple springs ago, Betty, our female duck, got this crazy idea to go broody. The desire to be a mama was strong and our drake, Mr. Bill was totally on board with his mate’s crazy scheme to fill our yard full of the pitter patter of little webbed feet. Baby Girl was one of those many little fluff balls they hatched out that year.
Now to be honest, I was NOT planning on keeping any of the ducklings, but the country kids shamed me into it. They didn’t want Betty to be sad with all her children gone. What can I say, I am a softy, a mom, and I totally bought into what they were selling. Rotten children. But I am getting ahead of myself….
Here is the wee family when Baby Girl was just a few days old. Okay, I have no idea which one she is, but she started out small and adorable. The thing about ducklings is, they don’t stay small and adorable for long. They grow WAY faster then chicken chicks.
By day 38, she and her siblings were as big as mom and dad! See Betty and Mr. Bill on the left in the back. And let me tell you, this many adult sized ducks make a LOT of duck poo. The time was nearing for them to go. While they were fun to watch, it was getting so you really had to watch where you stepped in order to avoid duck bombs.
We went through the ducklings that were females to decide which one to keep. One was WAY to shy and scared of everything. Another was just down right evil and would bite. Baby Girl was calm and seemed like a good fit.
Of course the day came, and everyone left, except Baby Girl. Let me tell you, she stuck to her parents like glue. She may have become large, but she was all child at heart. Though sometimes you could see Mr. Bill and Betty just wanted some alone time. Heck, what parent doesn’t!
Once the eggs hatched, Betty and Baby Girl were co-mamas, thought the majority of the duckling stuck closer to Betty. I think Baby Girl was happy with her smaller part of the bunch. First time motherhood can be overwhelming. We did NOT keep any ducklings this time and managed to find them all homes well before the onslaught of major piles of poo.
I think Baby Girl is glad to be ride of the herd of ducklings. I honestly don’t think she had a clue what she was getting herself into! Now that her attempt at motherhood is behind her, she has gone back to being a mild tempered duck who just likes to spend her days in the pool, floating and splashing. And let me tell ya, I like her MUCH better this way! Here is hoping next year she thinks twice before going broody.
I think I'm in love with baby girl!
Want her? LOL Cause I am betting she will go broody again *smacks forehead*
Loved this! I hope all your sweet ducks are healthy and happy:).
They are all doing wonderful, thank you.
This is so funny! Baby ducks are so cute! I went broody a couple years ago and hatched out 15 baby ducks in my incubator. lol Most of them were drakes of course. But it was so much fun! #thehomesteaderhop 🙂
We are always drake heavy under the mamas too. Odd.
I just love Baby Girl. What a nice experience.
Thanks for sharing at Over The Moon,
Bev
Thank you 🙂
Hey girl, hey! 🙂
Thanks for joining Cooking and Crafting with J & J!
Quack!
Haha so funny… I'm looking forward to our female duck (hopefully female) going broody and having some chicks. I am hoping for a few more females for our flock and it'll be easier to add them if I say "Oh I wasn't able to find homes for these ones"… lol 😉
LOL That's one way to do it!
I enjoyed meeting another one of your home grown animals – Baby Girl is a real cutie and definitely sounds like she has quite the personality! Thank you for being a part of our Hearth and Soul Link Party, Mindie.
She is something else!
LOVE this story! Pinned. Sharing on Facebook, too. Too cute!! Your friend, Linda @Crafts a la mode
So glad you enjoyed 🙂