Yes, there are indeed two cute little baby duckies out there!! You forget how TINY they come in a short amount of time!!! We've been keeping the pesky bigger ducks away from the Mamma and babies. Yesterday, Mamma duck wanted to come out and run around the yard with the big ducks. I let her out, thought I closed the pen, and went inside to get the camera - like I need more baby duck pictures...
I came back out and the little guys had come out of the pen. *sigh* Yes, they come very tiny and can get through small openings!!! Anyhow, I waited for the Mamma to go back to the pen on her own. When she did, I shut her in and planned to lower the babies back in through the top. Once I was able to keep the babies from climbing through the fence, I put my plan into action. Mamma duck did not like my plan. She did not like it at all that I was touching her babies. SHE BIT ME! I do not mean a little peck. I've had little duckie bits before. But this was a huge BITE and she left a mark!!! I can still see it today! Wow. She was ticked. Bill came home and just made her extra mad. He picked up one of the babies to hold it. And then he picked up Mamma. If you hold them just right, they calm down a bit and are very soft to pet.
Just thought I'd share my duck bite story.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Duck News!
Well, this blog is way behind. I'm trying to figure out all that happened since I left off. So we had 6 "babies." One drowned so we were left with five. The folks in the SUV took 2. We were left with 3. One of the ones they took died, they came back for a new one. Then we had 2.
We still have 2 of those.
So we are looking at the three original "adult" ducks and two of these "teenage" ducks. I'm not sure what has done it, but they are all starting to look alike!! I'm not talking about just size either! Our drake's head doesn't look as dark/green anymore. The Mamma duck that used to fluff her feathers at us is blending in to the others now. The nice Mamma duck looks the same and is sitting on eggs (keep reading). I don't know if sitting on eggs causes a female duck's color change or what?!?! It's bizarre. I should have been keeping up with this blog so I'd have a better record of these things!!!!!
The LATEST NEWS---
The lady ducks had been sitting on eggs again for a while. A little stash seemed to have been building up in the green box. However, those eggs all went away. We aren't sure if the ducks themselves destroyed them, or if chimpmunks or other varmints did it. Oh well. The green box has no eggs and that Mamma is hangin' out with the others now.
Pretty Mamma duck (they had their own names in the beginning, but I lost track of which name was which duck) built herself a little nest in the other corner of their pen. She hasn't laid many eggs that we've known about in the little nest. I don't recall how long she's been tending her corner. Must have been about a month though cause...
WE'VE GOT BABIES AGAIN!
The little people noticed a little brown head peeping out from under Mamma's wing earlier today. Mamma was very protective, but not as crazy as the other Mamma had been. I told the girls to close the door to the pen once the big ducks had exited so they wouldn't have the chance to kill the baby. Yay! Another baby! Oh, they are so small! One forgets so quickly how small things come! Especially since the "babies" from earlier this year are as big as the "big ducks" now. :-)
Later this evening, I hear "We have two baby peep-peeps." (This language coming from the high schooler, not the KG :-).
Apparently, there was a second little duckie who had wandered away from the nest that we didn't see earlier. I have not seen the second myself, but I have reliable sources. :-)
We still have 2 of those.
So we are looking at the three original "adult" ducks and two of these "teenage" ducks. I'm not sure what has done it, but they are all starting to look alike!! I'm not talking about just size either! Our drake's head doesn't look as dark/green anymore. The Mamma duck that used to fluff her feathers at us is blending in to the others now. The nice Mamma duck looks the same and is sitting on eggs (keep reading). I don't know if sitting on eggs causes a female duck's color change or what?!?! It's bizarre. I should have been keeping up with this blog so I'd have a better record of these things!!!!!
The LATEST NEWS---
The lady ducks had been sitting on eggs again for a while. A little stash seemed to have been building up in the green box. However, those eggs all went away. We aren't sure if the ducks themselves destroyed them, or if chimpmunks or other varmints did it. Oh well. The green box has no eggs and that Mamma is hangin' out with the others now.
Pretty Mamma duck (they had their own names in the beginning, but I lost track of which name was which duck) built herself a little nest in the other corner of their pen. She hasn't laid many eggs that we've known about in the little nest. I don't recall how long she's been tending her corner. Must have been about a month though cause...
WE'VE GOT BABIES AGAIN!
The little people noticed a little brown head peeping out from under Mamma's wing earlier today. Mamma was very protective, but not as crazy as the other Mamma had been. I told the girls to close the door to the pen once the big ducks had exited so they wouldn't have the chance to kill the baby. Yay! Another baby! Oh, they are so small! One forgets so quickly how small things come! Especially since the "babies" from earlier this year are as big as the "big ducks" now. :-)
Later this evening, I hear "We have two baby peep-peeps." (This language coming from the high schooler, not the KG :-).
Apparently, there was a second little duckie who had wandered away from the nest that we didn't see earlier. I have not seen the second myself, but I have reliable sources. :-)
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Good News, Sad News, and Public Service Announcement
A few blog-worthy events from today. The ducks were doing their usual thing this morning, playing in the yard, eating bugs (or whatever it is that they do). I had to run Jill and Courtney to the movies. I didn't take the time to put the ducks back into their pen cause I thought I'd be right back. Well, I got a couple of phone calls which sidetracked me from coming home right away. I did get home around the same time as Bill & the little girls. Soon after, an SUV pulled in to the driveway. One of our neighbor's daughters has recently moved to a farm with a pond and was coming to pick out and pick up some ducks. :-) This wasn't a surprise to us. The neighbor had talked to Bill about it before, just didn't know they were coming today. Well, we went to show them the duckies and counted, 1,2,3,4,5,---? Where was #6? Oh my. :-( Here's the sad news. Bill found #6 in the pond. Drowned. :-( I feel bad cause it wouldn't have happened if I'd put them back in the pen when I left. I guess it may have happened eventually anyway. They say that little ducks can't swim too well until their feathers come in. A few of our little guys had been swimming some in the pool. Many of their feathers seem to be coming in. Our little girl's feathers are in yet, but she was ok. Since we weren't here, we don't know exactly what happened. Perhaps there was a duck fight? Perhaps he just pushed himself by staying in too long. Perhaps some other critter contributed to his demise. We shall not know. But it was very sad.
The good news is that our little girl and the nice male she's been hanging out with have a new home on a farm with a pond. Bill sent them off with some feed. Hopefully they will thrive. Gotta warn them about bread. Bread is BAD for ducks!
That reminds me:
There is a female duck sitting on some eggs outside of the children's wing entrance at church!! Neleh saw it on our way to pick Becka up from PALS camp this week. Of course, laying near her, hot dogs buns. So, I informed a couple of members of the church staff that bread is, indeed, bad for ducks. Of course they had never heard this before. Only people with and around ducks realize this. So now YOU, who have read this post, know not to feed ducks bread, crackers, etc. Stick to fruits, veggies, and of course - duck food (cracked corn, poultry mash, etc.). They sell crickets at the pet stores and bait shops- I've wondered if the ducks would eat them??
I may start picketing at the local parks -- "Don't Feed Bread to the Ducks!!" We've got to get the word out! Tell all of your friends! Take grapes to the park the next time you want to feed the ducks. Certainly do not give "junk food" to the ducks. That stuff's not very good for humans! You think it's good for ducks? Heck no!! Save the ducks!
The good news is that our little girl and the nice male she's been hanging out with have a new home on a farm with a pond. Bill sent them off with some feed. Hopefully they will thrive. Gotta warn them about bread. Bread is BAD for ducks!
That reminds me:
There is a female duck sitting on some eggs outside of the children's wing entrance at church!! Neleh saw it on our way to pick Becka up from PALS camp this week. Of course, laying near her, hot dogs buns. So, I informed a couple of members of the church staff that bread is, indeed, bad for ducks. Of course they had never heard this before. Only people with and around ducks realize this. So now YOU, who have read this post, know not to feed ducks bread, crackers, etc. Stick to fruits, veggies, and of course - duck food (cracked corn, poultry mash, etc.). They sell crickets at the pet stores and bait shops- I've wondered if the ducks would eat them??
I may start picketing at the local parks -- "Don't Feed Bread to the Ducks!!" We've got to get the word out! Tell all of your friends! Take grapes to the park the next time you want to feed the ducks. Certainly do not give "junk food" to the ducks. That stuff's not very good for humans! You think it's good for ducks? Heck no!! Save the ducks!
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Concerned about the little one & cherries!!
One of our little ducks doesn't seem to be growing as quickly as the others. We believe that it is a female since she doesn't have the yellow markings on her head (we assume the markings mean male...we could be wrong). Anyway, yesterday, I was headed to let the ducks out. I frequently count the babies (who aren't babies anymore!) to make sure no one got away. I counted 5. Where was the other? She was sitting in the box with the Mamma (who's sitting on eggs). I let the ducks out and all left, including the Mamma, except for our little one. She did end up coming out and wandering around. When it came time for us to leave the house, we chased the ducks back into their pen, but I only counted 5. The little one was sitting under the slide of the swing set (in the shade). I only figured out where because of the loud peeping. She is much easier to catch than the others.
One of her eyes looks kinda funny. Since we are certainly not duck experts, we are really not sure what to think of it. She certainly is slower and smaller. At the moment, we have her separated from the rest to take a break, but I don't think we'll leave it that way. Not sure about duckie depression, but I would guess that it happens and isn't healthy (like humans.).
Some websites suggest getting "toys" for the duckies to play with...um...haven't done that yet.
OH! OH! Who needs TV when you have live entertainment in the backyard?!! We ate fruit for dinner tonight and had a few cherries and apple wedges left over. Not enough to bother saving so I took them out to our "pond pals." I said, "I've got apples and cherries. If you want 'em, you gotta come and get 'em." And I knelt down outside of the pen and held out the fruit in my hand. Three of the young ducks (gotta stop calling them babies, cause they are too big to be babies!) were very interested. They ate those cherries right of the ends of my fingers. Actually, they mostly just grabbed them, dropped them, and the nice Mamma duck would eat them. The little guys ate quite a bit, but she was always there to catch what didn't make it "down the hatch."
Daffy, our drake...not to bright. Of course he wouldn't come near us (Bill got to share the joy), but we'd try to be nice and throw them toward him. He'd back away, scared. Then the babies, er...young ducks...would gobble them up. Sigh. When he did get one once, he was just too slow, dropped it and the others ate it up. Oh well. We tried to be nice to him...even though he's a meanie.
A note about feeding duckies from your hand...try to convince them to nibble the FOOD from your HAND, not nibble your FINGERS as FOOD!!! It doesn't HURT at the first little slip. Kinda feels funny. But the start chomping down harder the more times they end up nipping your finger instead of a cherry!!! Still not incredible painful, but certainly not pleasant.
One of her eyes looks kinda funny. Since we are certainly not duck experts, we are really not sure what to think of it. She certainly is slower and smaller. At the moment, we have her separated from the rest to take a break, but I don't think we'll leave it that way. Not sure about duckie depression, but I would guess that it happens and isn't healthy (like humans.).
Some websites suggest getting "toys" for the duckies to play with...um...haven't done that yet.
OH! OH! Who needs TV when you have live entertainment in the backyard?!! We ate fruit for dinner tonight and had a few cherries and apple wedges left over. Not enough to bother saving so I took them out to our "pond pals." I said, "I've got apples and cherries. If you want 'em, you gotta come and get 'em." And I knelt down outside of the pen and held out the fruit in my hand. Three of the young ducks (gotta stop calling them babies, cause they are too big to be babies!) were very interested. They ate those cherries right of the ends of my fingers. Actually, they mostly just grabbed them, dropped them, and the nice Mamma duck would eat them. The little guys ate quite a bit, but she was always there to catch what didn't make it "down the hatch."
Daffy, our drake...not to bright. Of course he wouldn't come near us (Bill got to share the joy), but we'd try to be nice and throw them toward him. He'd back away, scared. Then the babies, er...young ducks...would gobble them up. Sigh. When he did get one once, he was just too slow, dropped it and the others ate it up. Oh well. We tried to be nice to him...even though he's a meanie.
A note about feeding duckies from your hand...try to convince them to nibble the FOOD from your HAND, not nibble your FINGERS as FOOD!!! It doesn't HURT at the first little slip. Kinda feels funny. But the start chomping down harder the more times they end up nipping your finger instead of a cherry!!! Still not incredible painful, but certainly not pleasant.
Type of Duck
Don't remember if I've mentioned this in another post or not...
The breed of our ducks is Khaki Campbell. It developed in England through some cross-breeding, or something like that. They are known to be good egg layers. YES THEY ARE! One website said that the average Khaki Campbell probably lays about 200 eggs a year. Some over 300. We've read on some websites that these ducks won't sit on their own eggs. Well, we don't know who made up that phooey, cause we've not had that experience!! Perhaps they don't sit on them as much as you would expect, but if you've read any more of the blog, you realize that we have young ducks (not babies anymore!) who were hatched outside without human intervention.
So - that's somewhat of a myth. Give them enough time and they will, eventually, start to brood. Our experience has been that they don't sit on them right away. Since they lay SO MANY, they seem to let them "build up" in the nest a little before bothering to sit on them more often. I don't know about their nighttime habits, but that's what I've noticed during the day.
The breed of our ducks is Khaki Campbell. It developed in England through some cross-breeding, or something like that. They are known to be good egg layers. YES THEY ARE! One website said that the average Khaki Campbell probably lays about 200 eggs a year. Some over 300. We've read on some websites that these ducks won't sit on their own eggs. Well, we don't know who made up that phooey, cause we've not had that experience!! Perhaps they don't sit on them as much as you would expect, but if you've read any more of the blog, you realize that we have young ducks (not babies anymore!) who were hatched outside without human intervention.
So - that's somewhat of a myth. Give them enough time and they will, eventually, start to brood. Our experience has been that they don't sit on them right away. Since they lay SO MANY, they seem to let them "build up" in the nest a little before bothering to sit on them more often. I don't know about their nighttime habits, but that's what I've noticed during the day.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
