After several days of Tapper’s elusive behaviour, I thought she must have gone off with one of the wild ducks and was, perhaps, sitting on eggs somewhere in one of the paddocks. I searched everywhere to no avail and then, all of a sudden, she would turn up and have a swim in the pond, then disappear again. It was all becoming too mysterious and I was beginning to feel sad that we’d lost yet another bird….
Then, late this afternoon, after putting the gang away into their yard, I decided to go in with them, defy Godfrey (that took a bit of doing!) and sit in there on a tree stump while I waited for the hose to fill their yard pond. All of the gang, except Godfrey, came and nuzzled me for bread, which I always have in my pocket, and I had my camera ready just in case any of them did anything extraordinary.
Once the bread was gone, they quickly lost interest in me and went to the pond, so I was about to get up off the tree stump to go inside and cook dinner when I had a quick look inside the little chookhouse in that yard … and that’s what the picture is of – Tapper on her eggs!
jmgoyder 
What a great thing to find! Can’t remember if they’re likely to hatch or if she’s waiting for a mate.
She’s had a few mates so who knows what will happen – I am hoping for babies!
Oh yes! 🙂
Yahoo!
Good grief! What is it about waterfowl and their eggs? They always lay a huge pile. and then they can’t cover them all. Seems like they would take a hint and lay less. LOL! Do you think that they are viable? Say, maybe she and one of the wild ducks had a fling? ~ Lynda
I really have no idea what is going to happen, but of course I am hoping, for Tapper’s sake, that at least a couple are viable. I have decided not to interfere and see what happens. She has probably been in there for ages and I just didn’t realize – silly me!
We had ducks at one time and I know how sneaky they are about hiding their eggs. If they think you’ve found the nest and try to take the eggs they’ll find another hiding place and start over. I used to take a couple of eggs and mark the ones I left behind with an X so the next day I’d know which were the older ones. This worked for a few days and then they caught on and moved again. We continually played hide and seek.
I hope you get some little Tappers.
I’ve decided to wait and see what happens and not interfere – can’t believe that’s where she was all this time I was looking for her!
A proud mother, as she should be. Hooray for her….and you.
I hope they hatch – very exciting!
Yay, Tapper!!
I agree!!!
Hi,
Very sneaky of her to find such a good little hiding place. I hope she does have some babies, that would be fantastic. 😀
Hoping!
That’s a lot of eggs! I can’t wait to see pictures of the cute little babies. 🙂
Me too!
Aha! Mystery solved 🙂
Trust me to NOT look in the obvious place – hehe!
She’s a smart one – found a perfect place. Protected, out of the way, hard to find…
I saw the first hatch of muscovy ducklings along the channel two weeks ago, but I haven’t seen them since. There are plenty of predators around, from gar to alligators, so it’s rough for them here. On the other hand, if a goodly number didn’t become brunch, we’d be up to our hips in ducks, so it works out.
I hope you get ducklings AND no predators! This will be fun to watch.
I hope so too!!!! I am very excited. I put a bowl of water and some treats in the ‘kennel’ for her – fingers crossed – thank you!
Babies – yay!!
I can’t wait! I just hope it all works out.
OMG! I hope you will have little Tappers waddling around!
Me too!!!
Do you know when approximately they will hatch? Hardly wait to see the kids.
A couple more weeks I think – I am going to do a bit of research (google)!
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I wonder if she laid a golden egg for you. lol
Hope so – she’s sitting on more than a dozen now!