Mamma Duck is Smiling

Mamma Duck is a Rouen hen and she has a reason to smile with three newly hatched ducklings and one crazy bantam chick so far. Way to go Mamma Duck.

I did manage to get the chick to hold still for a few seconds, long enough to snap a picture before he took off through the crack and disappeared.

It was 30 degrees Celsius today and the humidity was high, making working outside during the day very uncomfortable. The evenings bring out the mosquitos making working outside impossible unless something is used to repel the varmints. In the shelter where the ducks are nesting, 4 ducks in three nests, the temperature probably was closer to 40 degrees. There are openings for air and no door, but being on the west side of the building, that shelter was a swelter. But Mamma duck is smiling today. Three eggs hatched and one other one, a little black bantam chick so tiny and so cute. But it has to be a little rooster. He already is zooming around the shelter, has the exits and holes figured out and bombs through them like nothing. I thought I could catch him, but that was impossible. He hid under the building the shelter is attached to. You have to love those bantams! They are born smart. 

Mamma duck's eggs do not smell good, which means there is at least one rotten egg in the bunch. The chick looks like he is a few days old and she has not taken him out to feed or drink yet. There is no water shallow enough for the chicks so the duck waterer will have to be changed tomorrow. Newly hatched ducklings and chicks drown very easily. Nice work Mamma Duck.