For about a week now, Berry has not been in the poultry stable at dusk and so we have had no idea where she sleeps. From the beginning we suspected she must have a nest somewhere as her presence during the days was also becoming less and less. When Muscovies lay their eggs, as they get to the maximum number for hatching (which can be anything from 9/10 upwards), they spend more time on the nest until one day they actually start the incubation process and are thus on the nest 22/23 hours a day!. Until today though, we had NO idea where her nest was but finally this afternoon, after she appeared at corn time, we were able to follow her. To our amazement she headed for the lean to – which we had searched thoroughly several times of course – and we then watched as she headed under a whole pile of stacked wood. The photo show the only angle we can see her from and this photo was only taken after we climbed right round the back of the wood and lifted up a piece of roof lighting!!
We are taking Wednesday as the date she properly began to sit as since Wednesday we have only seen her once a day. Sensibly she seems to be making her 'time off' period coincide with corn time so that she can really stock up for the night.
This evening we snuck a quick look in the nest as Berry was finishing off her corn and counted 11 eggs. We now have a due date of 21st March – VERY exciting.