| Fellow nature lovers- a question for you 19:00 - Apr 15 with 1384 views | north_stand77 |
We have 4 Mallard duck nests in the garden with one already hatched off.
We found one of the nests a few days ago- with the female duck sitting on it. An hour later a female pheasant was sitting on the same nest,
with a female and male duck sitting nearby looking a bit peed off.
The pheasant has stayed in occupation since but when she left the nest today, I had a look and there are 17 pheasant eggs and 4 duck eggs on top of them! So it must belong to her.
The ducks are hanging round, usually within 10 feet of the nest.
Ducklings have to be led almost straight to water after hatching by their mum's which is not going to happen with pheasant mum.
Not sure what's going to happen here so I thought I would ask you clever lot (clears throat), if you have any knowledge of this behaviour between ducks and pheasants?
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| Fellow nature lovers- a question for you on 20:56 - Apr 15 with 410 views | north_stand77 |
| Fellow nature lovers- a question for you on 20:46 - Apr 15 by WeWereZombies |
I have no expertise here but I think this is one of those instances where you have to let nature take its course - as far as the pheasant and the ducks go. Any nosey cats and dogs, or kids or immature adults are fair game (OK, not the best phrase in the circumstances) for chasing off. |
Yes, you're right let nature take its course. I was only kidding when I said I would incubate them myself........I'll refrain 😊
This kind of mixed eggs- in-the-nest situation is curious and I just wondered if anybody had heard of it before and the likely outcome. | | | |
| Fellow nature lovers- a question for you on 21:04 - Apr 15 with 404 views | PJH |
| Fellow nature lovers- a question for you on 20:56 - Apr 15 by north_stand77 |
Yes, you're right let nature take its course. I was only kidding when I said I would incubate them myself........I'll refrain 😊
This kind of mixed eggs- in-the-nest situation is curious and I just wondered if anybody had heard of it before and the likely outcome. |
If either the young pheasants or the young ducks start going "cuckoo" it would be fun. |  | | |
| Fellow nature lovers- a question for you on 09:09 - Apr 16 with 350 views | GeoffSentence |
| Fellow nature lovers- a question for you on 20:46 - Apr 15 by WeWereZombies |
I have no expertise here but I think this is one of those instances where you have to let nature take its course - as far as the pheasant and the ducks go. Any nosey cats and dogs, or kids or immature adults are fair game (OK, not the best phrase in the circumstances) for chasing off. |
But in this case the pheasant isn't , strictly speaking, nature, what with it being an introduced and semi-domesticated species. It shouldn't be here.
It is akin to allowing a moggy to cut swathes through the song birds in your garden to 'let nature take its course'. |  |
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| Fellow nature lovers- a question for you on 09:23 - Apr 16 with 346 views | WeWereZombies |
| Fellow nature lovers- a question for you on 09:09 - Apr 16 by GeoffSentence |
But in this case the pheasant isn't , strictly speaking, nature, what with it being an introduced and semi-domesticated species. It shouldn't be here.
It is akin to allowing a moggy to cut swathes through the song birds in your garden to 'let nature take its course'. |
Whilst I accept that pheasants have only been around on these islands for just under a thousand years (and then was a different species that suffered a local extinction a couple of hundred years or so ago), a lot of them have become naturalised wildlife; so that is my reason for suggesting 'let nature take its course'. The domestic cat can become feral (and endanger our native Wildcat with cross breeding and thus weaken that latter species) but is to the greatest extent looked after by humans and thus competes on unfair (there must be a better word for it, nature isn't 'fair') terms. |  |
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| Fellow nature lovers- a question for you on 09:31 - Apr 16 with 344 views | ElephantintheRoom |
Your garden must be bigger than most? |  |
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| Fellow nature lovers- a question for you on 11:42 - Apr 16 with 320 views | north_stand77 |
| Fellow nature lovers- a question for you on 09:31 - Apr 16 by ElephantintheRoom |
Your garden must be bigger than most? |
Yes, we are quite rural so do have a large garden (about an acre), but we are surrounded by fields and near a river, hence having so many ducks pheasants and other birds visiting. We have also actively encouraged them by feeding them daily over many years. The ducks have been coming here to nest for the past 4 years now. | | | |
| Fellow nature lovers- a question for you on 12:04 - Apr 16 with 315 views | Ryorry |
With that many pheasant eggs, I doubt they'll all be viable, and it's also a question with them of whether they die now or in 6 months' time when the shooting season gets going!
But if you touch any eggs or the nest now, it's quite possible the nest will be abandoned by both pheasants and ducks anyway, so you don't really have a choice! |  |
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| Fellow nature lovers- a question for you on 12:08 - Apr 16 with 311 views | gordon |
| Fellow nature lovers- a question for you on 12:04 - Apr 16 by Ryorry |
With that many pheasant eggs, I doubt they'll all be viable, and it's also a question with them of whether they die now or in 6 months' time when the shooting season gets going!
But if you touch any eggs or the nest now, it's quite possible the nest will be abandoned by both pheasants and ducks anyway, so you don't really have a choice! |
Touching eggs or nests doesn't cause birds to abandon, that's some kind of urban myth. |  | | |
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| Fellow nature lovers- a question for you on 12:09 - Apr 16 with 310 views | north_stand77 |
| Fellow nature lovers- a question for you on 12:04 - Apr 16 by Ryorry |
With that many pheasant eggs, I doubt they'll all be viable, and it's also a question with them of whether they die now or in 6 months' time when the shooting season gets going!
But if you touch any eggs or the nest now, it's quite possible the nest will be abandoned by both pheasants and ducks anyway, so you don't really have a choice! |
No , I know. The pheasant mum is still on them. With that many, I would think that a hatch will happen soon, it's just what the outcome will be , especially with the duck eggs.
The mixed eggs are large white (ducks), fawn and light blue
. Do you know why a pheasant gas fawn and light blue eggs Ryorry? | | | |
| Fellow nature lovers- a question for you on 12:15 - Apr 16 with 305 views | Ryorry |
| Fellow nature lovers- a question for you on 12:08 - Apr 16 by gordon |
Touching eggs or nests doesn't cause birds to abandon, that's some kind of urban myth. |
Some of my bantams hadn't read your script I'm afraid! They were a pretty wild bunch tho, liked to do their own thing. | |
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| Fellow nature lovers- a question for you on 12:18 - Apr 16 with 303 views | Ryorry |
| Fellow nature lovers- a question for you on 12:09 - Apr 16 by north_stand77 |
No , I know. The pheasant mum is still on them. With that many, I would think that a hatch will happen soon, it's just what the outcome will be , especially with the duck eggs.
The mixed eggs are large white (ducks), fawn and light blue
. Do you know why a pheasant gas fawn and light blue eggs Ryorry? |
For a minute there I thought you were asking why pheasants were gaslighting ducks!!
No idea, soz - "mixed heritage"?! (product of more than one mating?). | |
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| Fellow nature lovers- a question for you on 13:28 - Apr 16 with 297 views | north_stand77 |
| Fellow nature lovers- a question for you on 12:18 - Apr 16 by Ryorry |
For a minute there I thought you were asking why pheasants were gaslighting ducks!!
No idea, soz - "mixed heritage"?! (product of more than one mating?). |
Haha! The girls are a bit like that round here!! | | | |
| Fellow nature lovers- a question for you on 13:33 - Apr 16 with 292 views | WeWereZombies |
| Fellow nature lovers- a question for you on 12:18 - Apr 16 by Ryorry |
For a minute there I thought you were asking why pheasants were gaslighting ducks!!
No idea, soz - "mixed heritage"?! (product of more than one mating?). |
Maybe only four of those eggs assumed to be the pheasants actually are hers and the other thirteen are something else. Four guinea fowl say, plus four partridge and, errr, five Tyrannosaurus Rex? | |
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