Do you believe in miracles? I do.
"There is no love or devotion like that of a mother for her child." ~ Vicki Reece.
In an instant—everything was ok, again.
What my Google Search said about Incubating Muscovy Duck Eggs
"When it comes to incubating Muscovy duck eggs, you really have to get the basics right. If even one setting is off, it can lead to a poor hatch, or even worse, no ducklings at all!"
So let’s do a recap of everything that went wrong with our Muscovy ducks, and I think you will agree, this is a true miracle.
The sheep had gotten out of their pen.
My livestock guardian dog put them all back up.
But in the process, an accident happened.
Momma duck got a broken leg.
Her nest was destroyed.
Some of her eggs were broken.
We placed the remaining eggs in the incubator.
We found a duck carcass and thought momma duck had died.
The eggs were past their hatch date.
But the ducklings were still alive inside the eggs, so we let them go longer in the incubator.
Then momma duck miraculously reappeared, even though we thought she was dead.
And she chose to sit right next to the shed where her eggs were being incubated.
I think she sensed their presence.
If all of these weren't miracle enough, on Sunday, March 12, 2023, some of the ducklings started to hatch.
As soon as the first one was dry and fluffy, I took it outside to meet momma duck, who was still right next to the shed. The duckling peeped, and momma duck hobbled right up to her baby. It was such a beautiful thing to see. She knew this duckling was hers. It was a heartwarming reunion. Last week I wondered if ducks felt love. You could feel the love she showed to her baby, and when you look at the picture, you can see it.
By Sunday evening, four ducklings had hatched. I've learned my lesson in assuming that would be all, and left the remaining eggs in the incubator a little while longer.
Then sure enough! On Tuesday morning another egg was pipped. By Tuesday evening, it hatched!
Against all odds, we have five ducklings that will soon be reunited with momma duck!
Oh, how I would love to allow her to tuck these babies under her warm downy feathers right now, but the weather is pretty cold. It would be sad to lose any of the babies after going through all of this.
Unless the perfect opportunity presents itself, we will keep these babies safe and warm in the brooder until they are about a week old. This will give momma duck a little more time to heal. I hope she knows we want to do the best we can for her and for her ducklings.
It is puzzling to think about the strangeness of how long these eggs had been incubating under the momma, and then even longer in the incubator. It’s like they had a pause button and a resume button. They should not have hatched at all, and yet they did.
These are lessons I learned from this:
Never give up.
Never lose hope.
Trust your heart.
A mother is connected to her children in ways that cannot be explained.
What seems impossible is possible, and with God, all things are possible.
In all of this I learned how wrong I was to judge. I had judged my livestock guardian dog, Ronnie, when he really deserved praise.
I learned not to assume. I had assumed the momma was dead, when she was not. I had assumed the eggs were no longer viable when they really were.
There are many life lessons on a farm, and God saw fit to show some of them to me. Thank you for letting me share them with you.
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Matthew 6:26
Do you believe in miracles? I do.
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