Duck Egg Found at a Pond's Edge

I found a duck egg at a friend’s house by her pond. I asked her if I could take it and see if it was fertile. “Sure, take it,” she said, for she didn’t know of any nest, so I took it home. I put it under a flashlight, and it was fertile. Now what do I do? I placed it in a blanket under a light. When I went up to the school to get the boys, I went a little early to speak to the science teacher and ask him if he had an incubator. When I got to the classroom, his last class was just cleaning up, so he saw me and asked if I needed help with anything. I replied, “Yes, do you happen to have an incubator? I found a duck egg, and it is fertile, so I was hoping to get it to hatch.” His reply was, “Yes, I do,” and he went to get it. I thanked him so much for the use of it, and he told me the temperatures to use with the egg and what to do after it hatches.

I got the boys, and we headed home. I set everything up and waited for the temperature to reach the right degree. Then I put the egg into it after I marked the egg with an X on one side and an O on the other so I would know when I turned the egg every day. The egg had been in there for three days when I got a call from the friend from whom I got the egg. She told me that a duck showed up the night I took the egg. Then she had four eggs, but a raccoon had got the mother duck and one of the eggs. “Would you be interested in taking the three eggs?” she asked. “Sure, no problem,” I replied, and I told her about going up to the school and getting the incubator. Everyone was waiting to see if this was going to work.

Then, finally, when I went to turn them one day, I noticed the first egg was starting to hatch. Brian was in school, so it was just me and Kevin. We stayed there until it hatched. They say the first thing that an animal sees becomes their “mom.” Well, yup, I was “mom” to Ducker.

(Photo caption: Kevin and Ducker.)

I had to leave and go get Brian. So now I had to keep the top a little open for Ducker, but not too much because I still had three or four days until the other egg would be hatching. On the fourth day, I started to see cracks in the other eggs, so I stayed away so that Ducker would become their mom.

Ducker loved to be put in the tub. He loved the water. When he got older and the other three looked just like him, the only way I knew which one was Ducker was that he was the first to come to me, and the others followed him. One early evening, I decided to walk them to where I found Ducker’s egg to show my friend. As we started out, we walked right in front of a restaurant, and the outside deck was full of people eating. Then I heard from the group, “Look, there are four ducks walking behind a person.” I turned my head and said, “Yes, I am the Pied Piper.” I stopped to check on traffic, and it was clear, so we crossed the road. The pond was about one-fourth mile up the road. When they saw the pond, forget about me— they were off, right into the water. I went up to the house where my friend lived, and she came out with her two children. We went down the hill to see the ducks. They were having a great time swimming around. After a little while, I said, “Okay, Ducker, it’s time to go,” and I started walking toward the road. He came out of the pond with the others following. Again I stopped to see if there were any cars coming. It was clear, so across we went. Then I heard a man say, “Look, they’re coming back,” and he added to the group, “You didn’t believe me.” I waved, and we walked the rest of the way home to the back-yard where it was fenced in for them.

I took them to a few different ponds on the island, and the children always enjoyed seeing them. But just before I was going to give them away, I took them to Wades Beach. For some reason, I always have to go to that beach. It’s as if I had to show my dad my new project, for this is the same beach where he was lost. I still go to this beach a lot, just for some peace and quiet, as I did growing up. Back to the story, the children always went into the water with the ducks, and all of their parents would be there taking pictures. It was so much fun sharing them with the children every day.

I ended up finding a home for them. A girl in Kevin’s class had a big backyard with a pond, so I gave the family a call. They loved the idea, for they had ducks in the past. They had a closed-in cab on their truck, so they came over and got the ducks. I was happy for them, knowing they would have a great place to live.