I was kicking back and putting my feet up on the front deck after a long day, letting the sounds of the country settle around me...and gradually became aware of a tiny but insistent peeping. So I headed back out to the barnyard, where I discovered a tiny brown duckling screaming its lungs out for its mommy. Now, I'd suspected one of my dozen or so brown ducks had stolen under the barn to nest, so it wasn't a complete surprise. I tucked the little fellow next to my skin to warm up, and it settled right down, happy to warm its tiny cold feet.

I hoped that Mom would emerge with a few more little quackers in tow, but that wouldn’t happen until the next day, if at all, which meant setting up a box and a heating pad "nest" in the house to keep this little one safe overnight. Sigh…one more thing to deal with…or…wait: One of the Blue Wyandotte hens was broodie and sitting nearly comatose in a nest box in the chicken room, wasn't she?

Ha! I slipped the duckling under her fluffed feathers, she resettled herself with a sleepy chortle, and we were set until the morning...and I put my feet up again.

Come morning, all was peaceful, hen still firmly sitting, baby warm and happy. I got the little one out and dipped its tiny bill into water a few times then tucked it back under the warm feather comforter. Newly hatched ducks (and other barnyard birds) don't need to eat for about 48 hours; they mostly sleep, subsisting on what remains of the nutrition in the egg they hatched from, but a bit of water is a good idea, especially in really hot conditions—which we were having.

That evening, there was still no sign of Mama Duck, so once it was dark and the hen was deeply asleep, I moved her and baby to a large crate with a nice nest in the back and food and water bowls in the front. Come morning, Ducky was out and dabbling in the water and the new mom was chortling sleepily the way mama hens do: I had a new family.

Over the next few days, I kept an eye out for Mama Duck, but none of the brown ducks acted particularly mom-like or appeared with a family in tow, so I figured that was that. Then, five days after the first duckling appeared, I heard insistent peeping when I came out in the morning...and found, yes, another tiny brown duckling wandering around. I nabbed it, opened the nursery crate, set Ducky No. 2 down behind Chicken Mom, and watched for a few minutes to make sure she didn’t attack it. It waddled over to the first duckling, Mom didn’t bat an eyelash, and now there were two.

Around lunchtime that day I heard—yup—PEEP, PEEP, PEEEEP! Duckling No. 3! This time I snagged it, dropped it right in front of Mom, and went back to whatever I was in the middle of. By evening the two little ones were snuggled under Mom (one popped a head out), No. 1 was still out running around investigating the world, and so, now there were three (and I crossed my fingers that that would be that).

Almost a week later, no more have appeared and the little family is thriving. Mama Hen chortles contentedly most of the time and clucks enthusiastically to call her chicks when I fill the feed bowl, and the babies are warm and happy; completely bonded to their mommy. Want to give raising chickens a try? See if you have what it takes to raise pet chickens!

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harmony, this is a lesson to Tonto and the rest who want party rice but are scared of dancing