The Quack Shack

[Supercow]

Thank you very much for encouraging me in regards of Blanca Duck, but she is really gone. There is nowhere for her to hunker down here…

That is exactly what is called the Asian Beetle here.
Those almost killed my Plum tree last spring. We can buy plastic-bag traps here that contain a strong smelling bait to attract them. The ducks love their larvae more than cat-food!

Burning the dead wood? - I am planning to cut away the shrubs around the pond and turn the debris into a dead-hedge.
This way i don't have to drag everything out of the woods, pile it up and burn it. A hedge is also easier to "implement" on very uneven ground and the cost of material is negligible, just some wire to keep the poles together.

Oh OK, I googled Asian bug and the first hits I got were of an Asian ladybug so I thought that's what you had. This one, the golden whatever, in its adult form very much likes to visit dandelion, pear and aronia (chokeberry) flowers in the spring.

A dead hedge is a good idea for a "regular" kind of wood - in our case most of it is old raspberry and blackberry canes which often harbor an insect that burrows along the stem, one can see the characteristic swellings. So for sanitary reasons it's a good idea to burn that and the ash can then be used on the vegetable beds.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

We have 16 at the moment, I wanted to sell down to 12 but got vetoed... Welsh Harlequin eggs are arriving at the beginning of March and then we'll have to count and ponder again

Imho Duckoholism is one of the most healthy addiction one can have: The ducks kick you out of your bed early in the morning. They make you lift weights regularly (food bags/buckets). They make you walk and bend during the egg hunts. - And calm you down when sitting together with the flock in the garden.

 

[Supercow]

Again: The wild ducks all have developed a natural immunity against bird flu. Killing whole flocks is counter productive…

In our country we're told that ducks (in general, no difference wild or domestic) do not exhibit symptoms but do spread the virus.

Since there have been cases in the news here and there (USA, EU) of people getting the bird flu we're worried that the authorities are going to roll out the blunt instruments, as they are inclined to do, and order people to kill their birds. We definitely hope it doesn't come to that and have no plans at the moment about how we would handle such a situation.

 

[Supercow]

Your prayers have been answered for now anyway. I have tried so many times to get here and I could but that would be it I could not post or it would look like a script instead of normal BYC but today it’s working. Still no WiFi but by some miracle I am here. Hopefully that’s a good sign

Miss Lydiaaaa hooray

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

I would need a jackhammer to get through the ground here!!! And not just because of the bedrock.

Currently a -27 Celsius windchill. Supposed to 'warm up' to -13 by late afternoon but going down again over night.

Only got half the chores done so far, had to come in and warm up before braving the bitter cold once more. Ducks and chickens still inside their coops for the time being. Probably go out again in a half hour or so.

So sorry about Blanca. Her screeches will be missed.

I am missing her too! - She would have had a blast while i was digging up the cabbage patch yesterday. Not far to walk for her old bones and plenty of worms and bug larvae to eat.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Just the 10 and they are coming from a neighboring country (Italy) so I'm somewhat worried what the success rate can be because of the stress in transport.

On the other hand this is the same supplier that some lady here in Slovenia used 15 years ago to first introduce modern breeds of ducks here. (We are a very very small country / market so things don't just happen automagically and when they do happen it's with a delay.) So I guess there's a chance it works out well.

I'm not sure about the postal services in European countries… - My relatives and friends are always baffled when i tell them that the U.S. Postal Service delivers life birds, bees and whateverelse for cheap!
So if the postal service here is able to deliver fragile ducklings over 4000Km it should be a breeze to deliver some well packaged eggs from Italy to Slovenia.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Your prayers have been answered for now anyway. I have tried so many times to get here and I could but that would be it I could not post or it would look like a script instead of normal BYC but today it’s working. Still no WiFi but by some miracle I am here. Hopefully that’s a good sign

Good to have you back!
How is life out where you live?

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

What happened to Blanca duck?

During the cold weather she has developed a limp, Friday afternoon i gave her some meal-worms to comfort her and she went into the duck-house together with the part of the sane flock.
Saturday morning i noticed that she did not came out of the house in the morning, which isn't unusual as she likes to sleep in when it is cold or wet. When i collected the eggs later she was no longer in the house, so i assumed that she walked up to the pond.
In the evening she was missing. Usually she walked up to the during the day and returned for dinner and safe accommodation in the evening, but not this time. I had a little hope that she was too tired to come back down and slept on the pond with the insane ducks, but no. She has disappeared.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Thank you. Life is good considering. They have finally brought our road back to 2 lanes still dirt but boy is it all different before the flood there were trees and foliage along the road between the river now nothing is left they still have to pave no telling when that will get done. Our dirt road is fixed enough we can drive in and out but we still have part that washed away that needs fixed but everyone is working on main roads so that has to wait. What happened a slide across the hard road from our road came down the mountain crashed into the creek which diverted all the water down our road at the steepest part we had huge gullies but thankfully they have been filmed in. We just have to wait for available crew to give us an estimate on fixing ours. We finally got someone out last week to put fencing back up the flood destroyed. But thank the Lord our home nor us or our birds were hurt. Now if we can get our WiFi back on and running it will feel pretty normal again. I am so thankful to be on today not knowing if it will last but I’m here for now. I went back and found where you said Blanca duck was missing I am so very sorry.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Oh OK, I googled Asian bug and the first hits I got were of an Asian ladybug so I thought that's what you had. This one, the golden whatever, in its adult form very much likes to visit dandelion, pear and aronia (chokeberry) flowers in the spring.

A dead hedge is a good idea for a "regular" kind of wood - in our case most of it is old raspberry and blackberry canes which often harbor an insect that burrows along the stem, one can see the characteristic swellings. So for sanitary reasons it's a good idea to burn that and the ash can then be used on the vegetable beds.

Those bugs are actually called »Japanese Beetles« but that name has turned out to be "impolite"… They have no natural predators her - except for the ducks and chickens so they multiply like crazy and damage the young leaves of fruit trees like peach and plum.

Yes, anything infested with diseases be properly destroyed.