Addendum to the Addendum: After writing the previous posts about the various eggs being broken into, we had decided to enclose our wayward duck and her nest in a large ‘cage’ that at least would protect her and her eggs from predators, whilst we waited for the weather to get better and determine if we would move her.
The morning found me up early and letting the other animals out, then it was off to our Delilah, only to find her nest with 4 eggs laid bare and no Duck and no covering nesting materials (feathers and leaves). The eggs were cold to the touch, but still, in a bit of a panic, I collected them up and took them to Lucy’s nest (in the duck house), defying her pecking beak and hisses to slot them under her. It’s probable they will not make it, but until we determined where Delilah had gone to, it seemed the best course of action.
Going back to the abandoned nest there was no sign of a struggle, no leaves disturbed, no feathers about, nothing. Just the empty nest. What was the weirdest was the missing nest covering. If Delilah had been taken by a predator, which was the most likely scenario, where had the nest covering gone?
We have a small smouldering spark of hope that she took it to build a ‘safer’ nest elsewhere, on which even now she is sitting. We will only know for sure, one way or another, if/when she comes off the new hidden nest. So, if within the next couple weeks there is still no sign of her we will have to assume a more sinister fowl murder.
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