there go the ducks...

 We just said good-bye to the ducks...

watched them go down the driveway

in their new family's truck. 

It was a tough decision, but after some soul-searching, 

we knew the ducks had to go. 

The chicken-raising-ducks 

adventure / experiment 

was definitely an interesting one 

and we learned a lot along the way. 

I don't regret it at all, 

but the next time we get fertile eggs for a broody chicken to sit on,

they'll be chicken eggs, for sure. 

I only wish that adult ducks could co-exist better with the chickens,

or that we had a bigger property 

where we could fence and shelter the ducks separately.

For months it was great fun...!  

quirky and entertaining...

 

The ducks added some lively excitement 

to our backyard flock.

But this winter with the ducks has been tough.

They reached sexual maturity in late November, and then winter came,

and they've been all cooped up with the hens

except for a few warmer days here and there.

They haven't been good coop-mates for the chickens.

They've been pestering the hens,

and it was the last straw 

when we saw them being mean to Commie, 

their chicken mamma.

 On multiple occasions, 

we saw her trying to get up on the perch

to get away from them.

She's gotten really thin

from not getting enough food

because the ducks bother her so often...!

That just isn't okay.

The ducks are a lot bigger than the chickens.

And they're noisy.

And messy.  

 Super messy.  

So messy

 that the whole inside of the coop 

is basically a frozen mountain of water-infused-bedding

from their continuous splashing and spilling and dribbling.  

All of that bedding gets damp and cold and the hens don't like it

and there's hardly anywhere for them to walk in their coop.

And they don't like the way the boys nibble at their necks 

and you, know...  the other things they try to do. 

For us, it had gotten to be high-maintenance.  

Multiple water changings and bedding additions per day 

(thank you, Boo, who did this far longer than I would have)...

But the real stress was worrying

about the safety of the hens

and their health/happiness 

because of the ducks pushing them around

and making the coop so damp.  

------------

It was going to be a very sad good-bye to the ducks

 and we were feeling so heavy-hearted about it.

(our friend Wendy was going to give them a fast death,

Henry VIIIth style, and then a place in her freezer...)

OY OY OY

it was feeling like too much to bear.

 So I said, UNIVERSE, do your thing.

If there is a way, make it work.

Please.

Please.

Please.

Thanks to the Universe, and Craigslist (!)

and a friendly elderly grape farmer on Seneca Lake --

the ducks have found a new home to live out their days.

Phew!

The ducks have been spared the hatchet,

and we the pain of knowing their fate,

and the mental images of that.

(even though we wouldn't have watched)

Oh no.

Not these girls.

---------------

I can't look at any pictures of the ducks right now

 or it just turns me into a big cry baby...

It feels even sadder than I thought it would

for them to be gone.

And so quiet.

Lizzie, the girl, was the noisiest quacker, 

from before dawn 'til after dusk.

Dash and Virgil, her amorous suitors, 

following her everywhere.

We're hoping that the guy who took them

was really honest with us, and that he'll take good care of them.

He promised that they wouldn't be for eating,

that they will be loved pets.

If it's anything like he says it is, they'll love their new life!

  On the farm they went to, 

I guess there are about 100 free range birds...

many types of ducks and geese. 
(they'll get to be with their own kind... not just crazy chickens!)

And a pond.

Come grape harvesting time, 

they get to eat loads and loads of grapes, which they ADORE. 

Not to mention that they'll get to roam a bunch of fenced in acres. 

But even if that's not the real story

just about any life would have been better than 

the big freeze in our friend Wendy's Frigidaire.

As long as the ducks have each other,

and food, and water, and shelter

they should be 

happy as ducks.

--------------

I'll really miss them

even though they've been a real pain

the last few months.

I'll miss watching them do their splash dancing in the pond,

and the way they nibbled with their bills at the earth for bugs and things.

I'll miss their synchronized curiosity...

the way they all turned their heads in the same direction at once

with the cutest look.

------------

Good luck, dear duckies!  

Many blessings to you,
our little quacky friends.

May you live long and prosper.
May you be safe and loved.

barnyard cookies

We found this chicken cookie cutter on Amazon and just had to get it!

They're handcrafted in the USA -- in Vermont, actually

by Ann Clark Ltd aka "The Cookie Cutter People of Vermont"

And they sure do make us smile.

We also got one other type of hen cookie cutter

and a little duck cookie cutter, too.

The girls all had something to say

to my blog readers.
 

 Lorpy wanted to say 

Season's Greetings to you.

 Specky wanted to say 

Feliz Navidad.

Commie wanted to say 

Mele Kalikimaka!

 Brahmie wanted to say that

she hopes that your Yule is cool.

 and Jersey

hopes all your days are merry and bright.

 and the ducks

wanted to say 

Merry Ducking Christmas!

------------

Happy Holidays

from our coop

to yours!

chickens and ducks in the winter

We had to rub our eyes this morning to make sure we were seeing straight...

Splish splash SPLASH!!!

OMG.  What are those schmucks, I mean ducks... up to now?

Mind you:  it's 32 degrees.   The ponds have a thin layer of ice on them.  

We got some snow and sleet last night.

But the ducks don't care.  As long as the pond isn't totally frozen, 

as long as there's some point of entry... 

They go for it.

If there's water, they're in it.  

It's as simple as that.

I'm beginning to think that the term 'foul' weather 

maybe used to be 'fowl' weather, and for this reason.

There is no weather that sways them. 

The chickens, of course, won't set foot in the snow.

 

But the ducks... they're impervious and immune.

As soon as the sun rises, they're outta the coop and into whatever the day brings.

Meanwhile, the hens, shaking their heads at the ducks wacky ways...

they stay cozy in their coop, hanging out by the heaters.

Egads... 3 out of our 5 hens are molting right now. 

I hope they molt quickly and get some good feathers fast, 

because they're going to need them in this weather.  

At least they have their little warm coop to help them through. 

Meanwhile, those schmucks are out there schmucking about

playing, preening, and

plopping into the water.

 Just being ducky.

---------------------

I don't know about you all, but I plan to make like a chicken and stay where it's warm!

gooseneck loosestrife

 

It struck me one morning how much this reminded me of our ducks, 

especially seeing this group of three duck-like flowers in one spot. 

I didn't know what it was, so I did a little research.

It's lysimachia clethroides, commonly called gooseneck loosestrife.

 Gooseneck, duckneck, whatever.

It's really lovely, but be careful with this one in the garden.

In the right conditions 

(which seem to be just about anything based on browsing some online forums),

 it multiplies like crazy and can take over in a flash.

 Some people sound positively honking mad and haven't been able to tame it,

in fact it's become the bane of their gardening existence. 

I suspect those are the gardeners who prefer to have every leaf and every weed under tight control... Those types of gardeners we most certainly are not.

(If we were, we'd be in big trouble!)

So far ours isn't out of control, it's just right.

 It takes a lot more than an overgrowth of flowers

to drive us honking mad, anyway.

But we'll have to keep a close eye on it 

(like the bumblebee "eye" on the left flower)...

White Flower Farms suggests planting it with equally "enthusiastic" flowers 

such as monarda and coreopsis.  They will keep each other in check.

The bees and butterflies love this gooseneck loosestrife, 

and that can't be a bad thing, since our pollinators are so precious...

More on that topic to come at another time...

 

Until then, be well.

Be ducky.  Be goosey. 

Or just bee!
 

overdue duckling update

I had intended to post regular installments with updates of the ducklings...
But with summer in it's full swing and life overflowing even more than usual,
I've definitely been slacking in my duties as a duckumentarian...

So here goes, in chronological order, duckling development, thus far (to 6 weeks):

They grow up SO FAST!

Their fluff started to turn into feathers:

All along they have been faithful followers...

the three messy stooges, bringing up the rear of our little poultry train. 

They get caught up in doing ducky things,

but never ever want to be left behind.

The other hens are very tolerant of them but once in awhile 

I catch a look of complete bewilderment...  

I imagine in this photo, Brahmie is thinking something along the lines of

"What the duck is going on around here, anyway?"

And sometimes I see their chicken mamma giving them a good talking to:

Listen up, you crazy kids!  There are rules around here! 

  Luckily for the ducks, our property is very wet... 

We dug out a small pond for them and they absolutely adore it!

 Commie has been such a good mamma and never strays far from them...  

At first she kept a very close eye on them while they were swimming, 

but now she has started to go off and forage on her own more 

and seems to trust that the ducks are okay in the water.  

Our friend Betty said her family did a similar thing with chickens raising ducks about 60 years ago, 

but the chicken mother panicked when the ducks went into the water

 and she would squawk and squawk for them to get out.  

Somehow our girl Commie seems to accept that while they're "her" babies, 

she knows that they're different, and she's okay with that...

 

Jersey, on the other hand, gave up on motherhood after a few weeks into the task.
We're not exactly sure what happened... maybe Commie got possessive and bullied her out of her role, but I'm thinking it's more likely that she just lost interest after realizing that the babies were ducks and not chicks... always splashing about in the water,
being terribly uncivilized and unchicken-like.

Now Jerz is back to hanging out with her best friend Lorpie,
 taking afternoon siestas in the sun and the dirt, and doing whatever she pleases,
whenever she pleases. 

She knows now that motherhood is not for the weak of heart,
and even though her parental rights have been terminated,
Commie allows her supervised visitation with the ducklings on occasion.

And that's that.
Other than that, things have been just ducky:

You've heard of copy-catting, but here's copy-ducking...

Duckie see, duckie do... 

Everything they do, they do together.

They wait for their turn at the feeder after the hens have finished...

One of them always seems to lie down to eat since there's always food all over the deck...

(In a duck's world, the five-second-rule is perpetual...)

They eat so much every day...

They're practically as big as their mother, but they still follow her.

She's been trying to give them lessons about personal space, since they're real space invaders.  

She said, "Imagine you each have your own little pond,

at least as wide as you can stretch your wings... 

That's how much space you need to keep between yourself and others to be polite, most of the time..."

The duckies stare at her blankly, and sometimes, even though she loves them very much,

she makes a run for it when she can, especially if she thinks they'll be distracted long enough so that she can get a little peace and quiet!

Look at those beautiful wings!

They seem to be mostly feathered out now...

It's been crazy fast development, all around...

At about 4 weeks old, it was so exciting to hear the ducklings start to make some new vocalizations beyond their baby 'peeep!peeep!peeep!' sounds.  

They've been trying to make honks and quacks, 

but theirs sound more like 'bonk' and 'back.'

They're going on pure instinct, because their only role models are ones who cluck and squawk...  

 They're probably a little confused.

I might just have to call my friend Sarah, who is a speech therapist,

 and ask her to come work with our misguided little ducklings 

... poor things don't know a bonk from a honk or a back from a quack!

We can't confidently tell them apart, but some characteristics are starting to emerge that are helpful...  One of the ducks has a bigger patch of white on it's neck.  And one of them struts around a lot and with a more shrill voice, makes a whole bunch of noise, all the time...  

 When we listen carefully, the other two are much more quiet.  

Just a hunch that the noisy strutty one could be a boy...

impromptu duckling swim...

The ducklings loooove sliding along on their bellies in our little shallow stream so much

that we just couldn't resist this idea that we found online... 

 

We found some folks on poultry forums who have said it's perfectly okay for young ducklings

who don't have the naturals oils of their duck mother to go for a safe little swim like this...

 

So we set up some paint roller trays and filled them with water from our pond.

We also sprinkled some mealworms all over the water.

You can see they went wild for them and didn't stop until every last worm was had!

 

Today was a pretty hot day, so we felt comfortable going on this little adventure knowing

that they shouldn't get too chilled from the water.

Their chicken mothers kept a close eye on them and even joined in on the fun,

but they don't like to go in the water...

And after all of that mealworm-gobbling-swimming-adventure the little duckies needed to clean up...

 

 

 

They were so happy...

And the Mammas seem happy with a good day's work...

Every day is a new adventure with their wacky water-loving offspring!

 

p.s.  Happy Summer Solstice!!!

 

hens co-parenting ducklings

(Imagine the Brady Bunch theme song, if you will...)

 

Here's the story of a lovely lady

who was bringing up one lovely little duckling on her own.

The duckling was gold, not at all like it's mother,

it gets a little funky when you pair a chicken with a duck.

 

 

and

Here's the story of a hen named Commie

who was busy bringing up two ducklings of her own...

There were three of them living in the coop all together

yet they were all alone.

 

 

Till one day when out in the yard,

Jersey met Commie

and they knew that it was much more than a hunch,

That this group must somehow form a family.

That's the way they became the Chicken-Duckling Bunch!

 

-----------------------------

 

So, here's the update: 

 

Both mammas started to venture out of their respective nesting spots yesterday...

 

This picture below here is of their first encounter of each other and the other ducklings.

You can see they were on guard -- Jersey is all puffed up and making her broody warning sounds, which roughly seem to translate as "stay away from my baby... or else!"

 

 

We were very worried because we had read stories about rival chicken mothers,

attacking each other and even going after the other mamma's babies...

 

We held our breath...

There were a couple of squawks and domination pecks exchanged

but then things gradually got more and more calm.

 

We still had our reservations about it, so we checked in on them all day long

to make sure everything was going alright.

 

As the day went on, we noticed them and their ducklings begin to hang out together.

 

As night came, to our great surprise, Commie gave up her nesting spot in the coop

to nest next to Jersey in her ramshackle outdoor bin...

 

Look at them, sleeping peacefully next to eachother with their babies warm underneath!

 

 

This morning, we noticed that the babies are SHARING the mothers,

and the mothers are sharing the babies and taking responsibility for protecting all of them.

 

(If only some of my students could learn about sharing and getting along

in such a short period of time!)

 

Needless to say, we are tickled beyond belief -- to our total astonishment and delight,

they have become a little blended family!

 

We've got two chickens co-parenting ducklings.

It's wacky, but it works!

 

I like to think that maybe they picked up on the vibe of our whole home here,

which is all about two ladies having a lot of fun together in life.

 

 

Or maybe they realized that parenting alone is no easy task...

Here, Commie is taking a little break while Jersey takes over the duckling-warming-duties.

 

 

 

 And then they had some romps in the mud all together.
It was like a trip to an amusement park.

 

 

The ducklings go absolutely gaga for water and mud...!

They dip their whole beaks in and fish around like they're going to find a treasure.

 

We have to be careful not to let them in deep water just yet.

They could drown easily and they don't have the natural oils
that their duck mothers would have spread over them to help waterproof them... 

 

 

It's so much FUN playing in the mud with your family!

 

Stay tuned for more updates on the Chicken-Duckling Bunch...

 

 

 

 

 



getting our hatch on...!

 

 

When we went out to the coop this morning, Boo found this duck eggshell

and we thought -- oh no! what happened?!!! 

We thought the worst for a split second... that perhaps one of the other hens ate the egg...

  

But it was broken and empty for the best reason possible...!

We lifted up our broody hen and found that our very first sweet little "chuckling" has arrived!

 

 

I'll notify Websters about the need to add a new definition to chuckling in the dictionary.

Not just a verb anymore, chuckling is also a noun...

chuckling = duckling with a chicken mamma

 

We are swooning with delight,

and so is the chicken mamma.

 

 

wobbly wobbly

on those webbed feet!

 

When I was in the coop,

the little chuckling spent some time exploring

but never more than a few inches from mamma...

 

It's so sweet to watch them interact...
our chicken is a very tolerant mamma.

 

The other girls were bothering the new mamma in the coop so much,

that we decided to close the door and shut them out for the day

so she and the baby (hopefully babies soon!) 

could have some much needed peace and quiet.

 

 

There are plenty of other places for other hens to lay their eggs...

We have nesting boxes set up all over the place:

 

 

(They're just fussy hens and have their favorite place to go lay, which is of course

where the mamma's nest is...  Oh well, they'll have to use their coping skills

and figure out how to deal with it!)

 

 

And then there's our good girl Jersey who has been sitting on some duck eggs, too...

Hers should be on roughly the same hatching schedule as the other clutch, so we'll see!

She has taken up residence in an old dog house...

 

 

So far, so good!

Stay tuned for more chuckling reports!