Chicks - Interrupted

Lindsay Parkinson did a good job of ferreting out all the hidden nests in my big barn over the weekend.  I confess I was a bit taken back by the number of eggs she collected, including eggs from under sitting hens.  True, I don't need any more free range chickens - especially the rooster variety.  I will miss watching the moms parade around with their broods, but Lindsay did find something that gives me great delight - a mama duck sitting on a nest!!  With Sue Ellen and Scarlett marauding around the barn looking for eggs to eat I immediately began scheming to protect them.  Lindsay and I constructed a panel barricade in front of mama duck to block  any curious pigs.  If the pigs wanted those eggs nothing would stop them, so I closed the big barn doors.  Last summer was the Summer of Ducks, with yellow ducklings in the barnyard and a couple I hatched myself inside.  I adore my Jemima Puddleducks.  Sure hope this nest results in more fluffy darlings.