Ducks and Pine Marten
In March I came across a nest on the lake containing twelve duck eggs.
There was no sign of the drake, so I decided to take six eggs and
leave the remaining six in the nest. I placed my six eggs into
our chicken incubator. Approximately three weeks later the eggs
started cracking as the ducklings chipped away at the shell from
within. Eventually all six ducklings hatched although one
appeared very weak. The next day the weak duckling seem fine and
the day after was dead! Over two weeks the ducklings grew quite
rapidly and were placed in an aquarium. They adopted Melly as their surrogate mother. The weather
was quite good during this period and we placed them outside on the
lawn for short periods. Whereever Melly went they would follow
in single file - with the two cats watching their every movement from a
safe distance.
After about three weeks they were getting too big for the aquarium and we decided to place them in an old rabbit shed. I spread sawdust on the floor and provided a meal of "chicken crumbs" and a bowl of water. The next morning I unlocked the shed door and noticed that the bottom of the door seemed chewed! I quickly realised that they was something wrong as the ducks could be quite noisy when I used to go near them, but now it was silent. A quick look around confirmed they were gone and a tiny drop of blood on the floor seem to confirm the worst.. The gap under the door was very small and although I could imagine a rat might have got to them I couldn't see how it could carry them off, as pound for pound they would have been the same size and weight. Eventually I worked out that it must have been a mink. Melly was very upset that they were gone and I immediately set the trap using slices of chicken as bait.
A week later the trap was sprung, the chicken slices were gone, but the animal had managed to lift up the entrance door and was gone! I had trouble opening the entrance door, so I was shocked to find that the animal could do it! The next evening I set the trap again but tied a wire around the entrance door. The next morning I found a pine marten inside the trap. It must have been very strong as it had pulled the entrance door with its teeth and the door had gone totally concave.
The pine marten was a beautiful creature, defensive but not as aggressive as a mink. Jasmine (dog) went crazy and barked at it when he saw it, but Squealor (cat) was very laid back, as usual, and was quite content to observe it from a distance. It was quite sad to get a local farmer to shoot it, but I had to think about both my animals and my neighbours (farmers) - lambs, geese, ducks, etc.
