Killer Ducks

So yesterday as we were adding more vinyl siding to the shed (I swear, I’m going to start my own home improvement show), my almost two-year-old daughter was playing and started screaming. A female duck had flown into the backyard, scaring my kid half to death. Now, what’s so scary about a duck? It might be that the duck is about the same size as my munchkin, and she didn’t exactly want to be a duck snack.

We tried to chase the duck away, but the female would NOT leave. Uh oh. Yep, you guessed it. She was a Mama Duck. We learned that she had built a nest under a boxwood in our backyard garden. Two eggs were found, upon initial investigation.

Dilemma time. On one hand, we’re talking baby ducklings. On the other, we have two small children who love to run around and play in the yard. Ducks or not, it’s quite possible that they would be aggressive toward our kids. And geez, it’s not as if the ducks don’t have an entire freaking pond behind our fenced yard!

So, we decided it was time for the Duck Relocation Project. We’ve given her orders to move the nest elsewhere. After removing the rest of the leaves from the garden, we discovered not 2, but 11 eggs! We took the leaves and duck feathers and relocated them to a protected area behind our fence and close to the pond. Using gardening gloves, we moved the eggs over to the new nest. The male duck was watching us and happily swimming in the pond. We threw breadcrumbs to him, and made a breadcrumb trail back to the nest. Hopefully he’ll realize what we did. The female duck wasn’t that intelligent. She kept flying back to the empty nest, staring at it as if to say–”I know I left those eggs here! They must be here somewhere!” Then she shot us hate-filled duck glances.:angry:

I tried throwing bread to her, to lead her to the new nest and she finally wandered outside the gate, following the trail. We’ll see if they do all right in their new location.

Some folks might not agree with the decision to move the nest, but honestly, the ducks were scaring my kids. They have a right to their backyard, so in a contest between ducks and children, the children win. I was going to post a picture of the duck nest, but since the time change it’s still dark outside and I didn’t get a chance yesterday.

Hope they survive all right. I’d rather not be known as Duck Butcher, as well as Fish Butcher. But at least the kids won’t be scared to play in their own backyards anymore.

How about you? Ever had any uninvited critters take up residence in your yard?