Tahai's Duck Journey!

[Tahai]

It's been awhile since I dug the camera out, so here they are. 9 weeks old - Holderread Stock.

Sorry about the illogical order. Hope you enjoy!

This is my Electric Poultry Net pasture.



Cayugas



a side view of the duck house (rabbit cages surround the building)






My re-designed garden - I use the no-till gardening method, so have plenty of space for all that lovely rabbit and duck poo!



I only have 3 named ducks: This is Blondie (a female), who is one of the most inquisitive ducks.



Front of the duck house.

 

[zooweemama]

Gorgeous birds!

 

[Miss Lydia]

They are very pretty and love your flat green grass, we live on the side of a mountain so it's not to flat around here.

 

[Tahai]

Thanks, Ladies. I'm really happy with the quality and health of the ducks.


Miss Lydia, I live in the Appalachian Plateu. We have what I refer to as popcorn hills, because our area looks like a bowl of popcorn from the sky. My house is in the bottom of a broad valley. Great for the flat land, but horrible for the soil (rocky old river bed) and garden temps (cold air settles at night). I'm looking forward to more poo to fix both those problems!

 

[Tahai]

OH MY DUCKIES!

They've started flying! Well, not really flying, but they get about 3 feet up. They do this little super-hero run-hop thing, then shoot straight up in the air, wings beating to all-get-out.

Had a Cayuga and a Welsh Harlequin do this tonight as I was herding them into the shed.

Also, noticed some aggressive behaviors, and territoriality today. Not sure if it's been going on for awhile, and I just noticed it since I was home all day, or if it's a new development, like the flights.

They'll be 10 weeks old on Monday

 

[Tahai]

Got my first eggs Friday!.

I have 10 hens, and I found 2 eggs Friday morning, 1 egg Sat. morning, and 2 this morning. They eggs are from the WH, and are about the size of large (not jumbo) chicken eggs. I cooked them up scrambled, and thankfully, I like them (I was worried after all this work that I wouldn't care for the eggs) The flavor is a bit yolkier than chicken eggs, and the yolks are much denser. I needed to add about 2x as much milk to the scrambled eggs as I'm used to.

Going to be exciting when they all start laying!

 

[Blondiega1]

Nothing like fresh eggs.

 

[Tahai]

It started out as such a good day...got duck eggs, life was good. Fast Forward 10 hours.

Coyote, in broad daylight, killed a duck and a drake, and injured 4 other ducks. The rest of the flock appears OK, but shaken.

That is the last time they free-range without direct supervision.

I'm mostly angry, and a little bit sad. None of the flock are personal pets, but still...

 

[Miss Lydia]

It started out as such a good day...got duck eggs, life was good. Fast Forward 10 hours.

Coyote, in broad daylight, killed a duck and a drake, and injured 4 other ducks. The rest of the flock appears OK, but shaken.

That is the last time they free-range without direct supervision.

I'm mostly angry, and a little bit sad. None of the flock are personal pets, but still...

So sorry to hear this, I was just admiring your pic of the eggs cooked and scrolled down and saw this happened. So sorry.

 

[jdywntr]

Sorry about the loss. Especially in daylight.