Instinctively, duck leaves court behind

BOARDMAN -- Court Ducky is no longer trying to hatch seven eggs she laid on top of dirt in a round concrete sidewalk planter outside Mahoning County court's back door, which faces busy U.S. Route 224.
After nearly 10 weeks of waiting for the eggs to hatch, the mallard hen dubbed "Court Ducky" by court employees stretched her cramped legs Tuesday morning and by 11 a.m. was gone, Margaret Micco, clerk of court, said Wednesday.
The brown mallard's instincts finally kicked in, Micco said. Court Ducky, it turned out, was sitting on unfertilized eggs -- not an uncommon thing, according to Dave Brown, Mahoning County officer for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources' Division of Wildlife. The gestation period for ducks is 28 days. He had said earlier this month that her instincts would eventually tell her it was OK to go and that there would be no ducklings.
During Court Ducky's stay, she was fed cracked corn and given fresh water each day by Dee Onesti, deputy clerk.