It will be six weeks tomorrow that Smokey's clutch hatched on July 7, 2017. That will make her sweet babies 6 weeks old. Smokey had begun laying her eggs in the duck coop around May 10th. Unfortunately as she laid her eggs, I collected them for selling since I had two people wanting as many duck eggs as I could get in a week. I already had 4 of 6 females sitting on clutches at this time and the only reason I felt a little bad is because of how Smokey reacted every time she came to the coop to see her eggs. If you do not know how ducks create a clutch it is a very easy process but once it has started, the female duck is very aware of how many eggs and where they are and if someone has touched them. All of my ducks lay an average of 20 eggs per clutch. This means that the duck will lay an egg a day for 20 days and then will sit for 35 to 37 days before the clutch is ready to hatch. Everyone one of my girls has taken 38 to 40 days to hatch their clutch and almost everyone of them has had a 95% hatch success

On May 26th I went to the coop to find no eggs so I assumed she had stopped laying at 16. When I checked for the next two days I noticed no egg but I also noticed Smokey running towards the house to the other side which is equivalent to about 400 yards away. On the fourth day I followed her and she led me right to the old oak tree that had been hit by lightening years ago. To my surprise as she entered the tree, there lay 4 eggs. I had to smile to myself as I realized she had outsmarted me and was bound and determined to hatch a clutch. On May 30th I noticed she had not returned from the tree. When I got to the tree I saw that Smokey was about to begin her 37 day stretch of sitting with 5 eggs!

Smokey beginning her 37 to 40 day of sitting!

I have never seen any kind of bird better at brooding then my Muscovy ducks! It was within the first week that she lost two of the eggs to a black snake. The first time the snake came to call, the snake was caught red handed and about to swallow when I my husband snatched the snake up and remove the egg. Unfortunately, Smokey realized it was broken and did something we have never seen before. She picked the egg up with her bill and carried it to the field, laid it down, turned around, came back and sat on the remaining 4 eggs. The second time the black snake came to the nest, my husband caught the snake but found that the egg was broken again so Smokey was left with three eggs to sit and brood over.

On July 7th, 3 precious little ducklings were born, two little boys and a girl! All of which are still here at Black Oak Hollow.

We allowed her to raise her ducks completely in the tree and it was not until they were almost 4 weeks old that she led her ducklings to the other side of the farm and they became part of the Muscovy Duck family.

And as a cycle will repeat it self, so has Smokey. Three days ago I caught Smokey going to the tree again and when I approached she had began laying her clutch and there are 4 eggs inside as of yesterday. This will be Smokey's fourth clutch and she has hatched 39 eggs out of 45. We will keep you posted on her 4th clutch

Update on Smokey and her 6 week old little ones........