Friday, November 11, 2011

Duck-o-rama

I know you all need a duck fix!

On Wednesday, the beautiful warm sunny day, I went down to change all the duck water and found this...


"Amy" (growing more suspicious that Amy is really a man!) and unnamed duckling sharing a bath and grooming session. Note the water! Ducks make a filthy mess of their water every day. They drink a lot while eating and get food and all manner of muck in their buckets and bowls. I give everything a good scrub every day, but as soon as everything is clean, the ducks leap in and make it all dirty again!



They were really enjoying the warm sunny weather. I think just about everybody ended up having a bath.


That's mama-duck Eugenia in the upper left-most bowl.


Warren, Charlie Sheen, Ronna and MacGregor took advantage of the open gate and went for a stroll, accompanied by one of the English muff hens (top left!) The muffs, as we like to call them, are excellent aviators and regularly take off from their run, which is not fully covered across the top. At night, they always return to the coop. They are wild and crazy and I don't bother trying to stop them. While they are more vulnerable to predators this way, they are way smarter and faster than the other chickens so I worry less about them getting caught. And most of the time, the muffs just hang out in the duck run! I think they like the ducks better than their own coop-mates. The ducks really are more mellow and less mean than chickens.


Charlie Sheen leading his entourage.


The ever-handsome Warren!


I love this photo. What do you think Charlie is saying?


MacGregor used to be boss until Warren came along.


The dogs are so good with the ducks and chickens!


Charlie's feathers are looking so beautiful. They are black and iridescent green and look gorgeous in the sunlight.



"Amy" and a girl-duck. I like Amy. She or he is very sweet-natured.

We've decided to build the ducks a "coop" in the barn, next to the chicken coop, so that they have a big indoor space in winter when needed. The two duckhouses we have are adequate but I want them to have more room if they have to spend time inside in really bad weather.

Yeah, the ducks definitely aren't paying for themselves, unlike those egg-laying hens! The roosters of course are deadwood. :)

8 comments:

  1. Eugenia looks no bigger than the ducklings now!

    How do you know the duck Amy is with is a girl but you're not sure about Amy?

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  2. Size and colour! There are several little white ones with light markings, and there is such a size difference, I know they are girls. Plus the boys are starting to act like boys! Some of the boy ducklings are now bigger than their Mama. One of the little girls looks just like her Mama, with pale grey markings on her rump and back. :) The ducks I'm confused about are the ones without a big, obvious size difference. Amy is sort of in the middle.

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  3. Give my love to all your duckies and the 2 doggies!!!!:)

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  4. They are all gorgeous - but Charlie is VERY handsome, swoon!

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  5. Anonymous9:17 pm

    Charlie: "What's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?"

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  6. Charlie is announcing to the world--in his best Cassius Clay imitation--"I'm so pretty! I'm so pretty!"

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  7. Awww, Nat, your little babies are all grown up! They are so pretty.

    I have hopefully returned to the blogging world - I had a vaca from blogging there for a while. And I missed you and Gordon and your critters! And so I'm back! :)

    ~Lynn

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  8. Bingo, I will. Thank you! :)

    Pear Tree, CHarlie is looking great these days. His feathers were a bit tatty earlier this summer but he looks wonderful now.

    CogDis, you nailed it!

    Nance, you nailed it too!

    Lynn, glad to see you're back. :)

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Thank you for all your comments, which I love to read!