In May our pet female call duck started sitting on her eggs. This is called “Brooding”. The female duck will lay many eggs, one every day or so, and then one day she will start sitting on them to incubate them which will cause them all to hatch at the same time.
The female duck is the one who sits on the eggs, popping off only a few times in the day to eat, and drink. The male finds another place to sleep, our drake (male duck) slept out in the rain most of the time, with his head tucked over his back.
On June 2, 2011, after 28 days of incubation, the eggs hatched. Momma duck had three ducklings. Many eggs had died that she laid in April, as the weather at that time had been unseasonably cold, it is not uncommon for a mother duck to have 6, or more ducklings, but ours had only three. Keep in mind that the duck does not sit on the eggs until she has laid a whole bunch, so eggs that are too cold will die.
As it turned out June was also colder than usual. We had a cold, wet start to the month, and the grass in the pen was very tall. Sadly we lost one duckling rather early. It was not able to find its way through the grass back into the shelter with its mother for the night, thus leaving her with only two ducklings.
We do not know the gender of the ducklings she has left, when they are older there will be ways to tell, females will quack, males wont. One is grey and will look like the parents, the other is yellow and will grow in white feathers as it matures.
Our pet cats are very curious about the ducklings, but the parent ducks are protective and hiss when the cats come near. In this picture the ducklings are 1 week old. You can see momma duck hissing at the cat. The cats would not bother the adult ducks, but the ducklings are too tempting!
Ducklings grow remarkably fast, they doubled in size in about a week and are not even a month old now, and are almost half the size of their parents. 
Above is our duck family at 3 weeks of age! WOW look how big they are.
We had some fox trouble a few weeks ago, it killed one of our hens, and nearly got our rooster too. I have noticed the ducks seem more nervous than before, so I suspect they are worried even though they are safe in a fenced pen.
Further Reading
What is the Difference Between a Duck and a Goose?
Guide to Buying Ducks and Farmyard Birds
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Liked it
papaleng
On June 24, 2011 at 3:01 am
Cute ducklings, I thought chickens and ducks shared a similar way of incubating their eggs. learned something new today.
Jimmy Shilaho
On June 24, 2011 at 9:19 am
Lovely stuff. I really enjoy this kind of lifestyle, it is the way I was brought up before migrating to the city for greener pastures.
martie
On June 25, 2011 at 3:54 am
My son had a pet duck he raised from a duckling. It was so cute and a great lawnmower as well.
isloooboy
On June 27, 2011 at 12:24 am
Very nice and informative good work
dino renaldo
On June 27, 2011 at 2:28 am
Cheers for that one
addjust
On June 27, 2011 at 3:37 am
nice ducks
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On June 29, 2011 at 1:37 pm
V.nice
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Zippy
On July 5, 2011 at 4:08 pm
Thanks for sharing.
Camping List
On July 10, 2011 at 10:53 pm
Its nice to see the ducklings are nice and healthy.
Deer farming
On July 11, 2011 at 1:59 am
i was not knowing that truth that the duck does not sit on the eggs until she has laid a whole bunch. it was very sad tht they died coz of cold
iPhone Location Tracing
On July 14, 2011 at 12:04 pm
Back in Staten Island we had a little family of ducks that moved into a pond in our back yard. We fed them and took care of them named them. They would fly south in winter and come back every year for years and years.
irs agent salary
On July 14, 2011 at 3:52 pm
nice pictures taken. did u make it by yourself ?
Lee Messerli
On July 23, 2011 at 10:55 pm
I would love to have the room for some birds of my own. I keep dreaming … one day.
Shannow
On September 23, 2011 at 2:07 pm
So cute! <3
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On March 20, 2012 at 10:13 am
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