My garden is Ducky!

:cry:How sad. bleach in the pool killed them??

I don’t know? It’s strange as part of the eggs are in the pool too? Like she brought the eggs over, not the chicks, not sure what happened? My other neighbor confirmed he saw the mother at the pool.

Sorry to hear that. I suspect that maybe they were able to get into the pool but not get out. If there was no ramp or other obstacle that they could get up on, then they can only swim for so long. When in the water, they cannot even jump more than an inch or so onto something…they can only walk out but not jump or fly. They have to get out to sleep and rest and so on, and if they couldn’t, then they can only hold their head up for so long and then they drown. If this is what happened, don’t feel too bad…it was just a bad accident and happens to ducks in swimming pools, fountains, etc quite often. THe shells in the pool is hard to understand…if its only a little, then it could be just pieces that stuck to the chicks and then came off in pool. If its a lot, then it sounds a LOT like raccoons. They love to steal eggs (and chicks, for that matter) and they love to wash their food, so its very possible they could have dragged the eggs and/or chicks to the pool to wash and eat. ANd even if you never see raccoons in your yard, raccoons have a way of finding eggs and chicks from long distances (smell, I suppose) and coming in to get them. Of other explanations for dead chicks is if daddy duck came back. I’ve had dad ducks kill 10 of their own babies in 15 minutes. Its some kind of “protecting their turf” thing I guess-who knows- but its fairly common.
I’ve never seen a nest of eggs be born more than 48-60 hours apart, so I don’t know why yours didn’t hatch all at once. That’s strange too. I doubt the pool bleach/chlorine would kill them, but then again that could be possible I guess. But I’ve seen chicks live in backyard pools in situations just like yours (mom layed eggs nearby and owner just let them stay)…

Anyway, its all guess work. I’m sure you feel bad and we all know you wanted the best for them, so whatever happened it was just an unfortunate thing. And just so you know, their success in the wild likely wouldn’t have been much better…predators get the vast majority of wild ducks.

Yeah life has hardened me well. Next time, if it happens again, I’m going to make a few omelets.