For 30 years ducks have been building nests and laying their eggs near Jacqui Duke’s front porch in Darien’s Farmingdale subdivision.
“Sometimes we get two nests in the summer,” Duke said.
But 2007 might be the last year. The ducks at the Duke’s house became the prey of coyotes. The mother was killed, but the four-legged varmints left most of her eggs.
So Eric Baab, 30, a salesman who lives with Duke and has been involved with animal rescue organizations, took the eggs into his bedroom and built an incubator with an aquarium.
Baab said he put a dozen eggs in the aquarium. Late Sunday the first hatchling poked its head through the shell. Baab named it Midnight. He expects others to break out this week.
“We’ve had movement on three other eggs,” Baab said. “There could be four or five before the week’s out.”
About two weeks ago, Baab said there was a big commotion in the front yard one morning, and he found feathers all over the grass and blood on the sidewalk.
“We couldn’t find the mother anywhere,” Baab said.
Duke said a neighbor saw what happened. “She saw two coyotes coming out about 8:15 in the morning,” Duke said. There was a flurry of feathers and other remnants left behind, she said. “The duck was torn to shreds,” she said.
Baab said finding a home for Midnight and the other hatchlings was a challenge. When he contacted animal rescue organizations, nobody wanted his orphaned ducklings.
“Nobody will take them, and the zoo won’t take them, either,” he said.
But Baab said a fellow employee at his company has a relative with a farm that would make a good home for the ducks.
“There’s a little pond. They have horses, other ducks, chickens, the works, rabbits, the whole deal,” Baab said. “I do have a place for them. If in fact there’s only one or two, its very possible we will actually have it as a pet .... for one duck it really wouldn’t be that hard.”
Baab said his girlfriend, Dana Busiel, is already thinking about how to deal with the motherless ducklings.
“She wants to get a rubber duck floatie, like the kids wear around their waists, and actually go out on the lake and actually teach them how to swim,” Baab said.
