2019 Spring Ducklings are here!

[WannaBeHillBilly]

You can see by my avatar that George loves his pond. This morning I let them out of the coop and George waddled quickly toward the pond rasping "Mini, let's go mate, let's go mate". Over the side of the pond they go and are immediately still and quiet. They are walking on water! How did that happen? What do we do now? Run to the Humon rasp and quack loudly. Humon must fix pond! Their first experience with ice. Solved as all problems with a bowl of water and a handful of mealworms. As I went off into the distance I could here George rasp "Hey Mini, I bet we could mate in this waterbowl"

I will never forget the first frosty morning last year when i let the ducks out and they all ran to their ice-covered pond: After trying to get a drink they all stood quietly around it, then Donald jumped on the ice, immediately made the splits and slid on his belly back to safety. Then the all started squatting and came running to their humon asking to fix the problem. I miss you Donald!

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Despite being fairly close together, I am warmer than you. This only happens once every three years or so.

Yeah! I remember the 20 inches of snow in my back-yard living in Houston.
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20 horizontal inches, of course! And it was all gone before noon.
Here we will be below the freezing mark until Thursday.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

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Ha - thought so. I just retired after 30 years in IT - but my husband still works for IBM.
Looking out of the home office windows to watch our ducks at play in the pond is the best stress reduction ever.
We have a small 6 acre hobby farm and are awaiting incubation of eggs in neighbors incubator along with many donated to the 4-H hatching program. We are hoping to get a few more Saxony hens to replace those we lost to botulism last summer. Fingers crossed.
Currently have only 8 ducks.
I love your posts

I will have my 20th Oracle birthday this June, don't know if that is a reason to celebrate though… And yes, there is nothing more relaxing than watching the ducks run around in your yard, performing duckish stunts. My plan is to grow more and more of the food we eat on our own land, so we know what goes inside (probably lot's of duck-poop!) And working the land is a good exercise for a fat office worker!

 

[Magnolia Ducks]

@Magnolia Ducks hows your fencing working?

Well I still have both ducks, so I guess it's working. I also have wild dogs running with the coyotes. I worry that they won't be as detered. So I am optimistic that I have a solution. The lings are too little. Their heads can get caught in the netting so they are in the coop a bit longer.

 

[MIDuckLady]

I will have my 20th Oracle birthday this June, don't know if that is a reason to celebrate though… And yes, there is nothing more relaxing than watching the ducks run around in your yard, performing duckish stunts. My plan is to grow more and more of the food we eat on our own land, so we know what goes inside (probably lot's of duck-poop!) And working the land is a good exercise for a fat office worker!

Ha - I agree the excercise is good for those who must spend the bulk of their lives stuck in front of screen with hands on a keyboard. Unlike you, I don’t have to fight the winter. But yes, duck poop is everywhere in the 2.5 acres we have fenced around the house where they free range. Being in Florida means they have a consistent supply of food. I wish I’d had a camera to catch my Saxony down a big tree frog last week. They are so funny . They only treat my ducks will eat is dried meal worms - they forage too much good stuff outside and in the pond.

 

[WVduckchick]

They are precious Did that little tiny one hatch later or is it just a pee wee?

3 are a week older, 4 younger ones. I hatched the older 3 (half of the 6, sold the other 3 to Daisy's caretaker) The 4 younger ones are the ones my Tequila hen hatched and abandoned.

I on right on the border of MD and WV and we are having the same dang weather here. I am over it and the frozen ground. At least the sun is shining I suppose, for now....

Amen for some sun. And at least its not super windy. I can deal with the cold much better if its not windy.

@WannaBeHillBilly my first group of ducks. Check out the thickness of the ice on my pond. We had to walk out on it and break holed in it for them.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

3 are a week older, 4 younger ones. I hatched the older 3 (half of the 6, sold the other 3 to Daisy's caretaker) The 4 younger ones are the ones my Tequila hen hatched and abandoned.

Amen for some sun. And at least its not super windy. I can deal with the cold much better if its not windy.

@WannaBeHillBilly my first group of ducks. Check out the thickness of the ice on my pond. We had to walk out on it and break holed in it for them.
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Good point: I have not checked my pond yet! It should be ice covered too, but i won't walk on it. The previous owner of my property drowned in that pond, he could not swim…
Nice duckies, are those Mallard- or Rouen-mixes?

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Duckling update: They all made it through the lousy cold last night, we had -13°C (9F) in the morning. In the evening was also windy with gusts of 35mph which made it very uncomfortable. This morning everybody was super-thirsty because all the water was frozen solid, the grown-ups have experienced that already and were patiently waiting for their humon to bring the bucket with the hot water, but the little one's were close to total desperation about that »solid water«. They were so relieved when they saw me filling up their waterer…

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

I just looked outside of the window and my heart sank…

Not again!

I have enough of this s*it!

Why can it not stop?

It is snowing again here!!

Dear Mr. Winter, it was nice to have you, you killed all those pesky mosquitoes and ticks, but you have enjoyed our hospitality long enough now, so please - leave - NOW!

 

[Jpat]

We got snow lastnite. Good fun if nothing else