No Eggs! No Eggs!

Listen- no eggs these days. Sometimes I really think those ducks are on to me. Even though the last week or so of closing them in at night has produced the most perfect eggs, now they are withholding! What, do they hold in the egg until I let them out and then find their nests and let loose? And by the way, I can't find one darn nest.

Two other possibilities: rats are stealing the eggs over night, or they are about to molt and therefore has stopped egg production.

For the past two months I've been bringing a dozen eggs a week to a local restaurant (the stellar Global Palate on 9W). I think I'm going to have to tell them that it might just be all over. I really liked selling my duck's goods. Made me proud. Now what happens when we have a clutch of baby ducks and a newborn baby human to take care of??

Staying Out All Night

Well, last night, as I was making strawberry jam, I realized it was bed time for the ducks and dutifully walked down the hill for the billionth time. They were in the pond and they casually looked up at me and then looked away, not wanting to make eye contact. I called them, I sing-songed "grain, grayyyy-ne," and they continued to ignore me. These ducks were not going to be shut in the barn overnight, thank you very much. Keep your grain! they silently intoned.

This morning I saw them cross the road from the neighbor's back into our property! The nerve of these ducks!

I just may forgive their insolence, as they did lay two eggs in the barn stall.