As for the ducks..........

Nut Date…… Oct 18,2011

As for the ducks.....................well Holy Sh*t !!

.........pardon the language, but that’s all we are getting from them.

I guess that was part of the original plan, $3.00 duck, bug control and free manure, so far they are holding up their end of the manure part NO PROBLEM... as for the bug control, well they have just now found the field that holds the bugs that are eating hundreds of dollars worth of fruit trees, good timing, the bugs are sleeping for the winter, it’s Canada........... and all summer, rather than eating the slugs that attack my $13.00 Hostas, they ate the Hostas……..bug problem there solved, in their minds anyways.

So they stopped sleeping in the $1000.00 Quacker Box we built for them months ago, preferring the pond, spending the night floating about with their head tucked under one wing, looking really cute, but apparently filling it up with manure ALL NIGHT LONG. I’ve heard they have no sphincter at the south end, and I now don’t doubt that at all.

The reality is, that despite our best efforts at creating a nice calming eco – friendly, self sustaining pond, we now have to run hydro to pump it out. $$$$

So let’s just tally this up,

nine $3.00 ducks… $27.00,
bag of feed, $16.00 / month
Quacker Box with heat and lighting ( hydro ) $1000.00 +++
Pond pump, $30.00 ( I think, probably way more )
Pipes to access fresh spring water……….$ ??? another $30, let’s just say
Rental on mini excavator to dig hole for fresh spring water ( that was stuck in the mud for most of the rental, but did in the end dig the hole ) ..$50.00
Pond liner, sand, gravel, rocks, plants……salvaged, reclaimed or recycled from other jobs.

The whole system of sand filters, spring water and plant filtration, all for a duck pond, working wonderfully, till you make the fatal mistake of adding ducks………… freakin’ PRICELESS !!!


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Don't they all just look sooooo happy !!!
merrily pooping away

I’ve since learnt that this issue is called "Duckponics"

Whodathunkit??

Duckponics is actually a word. ??!! Well, probably not according to Webster’s ( yet ), but to anyone who owns a duck…………..it’s not just a word, it’s a reality that needs to be dealt with,
and to my relief, I’m not alone.

There is some comfort in numbers I guess.

Camera instead of keyboard

Apparently I took some time off from the keyboard and picked up the camera to keep track of these little guys...............here's a small photo log of their growth.

And as crazy as it seems to want to take pictures of your chickens.............. I'm not alone with that, and here's someone that is way better at it than me........I just can't get them to stay still long enough and fight off the dogs for attention to do any better than this.





see, we can all get along



stop wiggling...........



get down funky town



it's a big world out there when you're  this small



oh look............a bath!!



see now, if BatGirl would just stop lickin her lips like that, we'd let her go in



more dog patrol



you're still wigglin'



food, food,.....food............food, food



dog patrol on the newer bigger better bath



oh it really is a big world.............we'll have to mow this down!!!



Hosta.....I smell Hosta!!! food, food ......food........



sometimes being a teenager is not the best lookin time in your life



food, food......oh crap, we already ate all those hostas



Little Lucy.............tough decision, food or socialize



Citronella



and the boys are finally showing their colors



Day 2

Nut Date...................July 7,2011

The ducks had their first swim today, it was hilarious. Somewhere on the internet I found a site that said that paint trays work well for ducklings to start swimming. Mine graduated from the paint tray ( which I bought just for this ) in about 20 seconds. Oh, and we have an extra, not sure how we missed it till today, but we have 9 ducks....................so this one will be Citronella.
In the last 24 hours I have learned............
Ducks poop ALOT
Ducks drink ALOT ( 7 litres today................chickens, 250ml )
Ducks are hyperactive.
Ducks are shy, more so that chicks
Duck doo is VERY wet...............3 room service calls for bedding changes for them alone today.....................chickens, one since they got here.
You still can’t tell them apart.
Little Miss Mom has spent another 2 hours guarding dirty sheets and is now missing, so is the cat, who still needs to meet the new residents.

The package has arrived

Nut Date...............July . 6, 2011


The package has arrived. They are so cute, and I know full well that they won't stay that way. I've gotten them home and settled as much as possible after a full day in a 12" square box on a truck.

We have 13 birds in all, 5 chicks and 8 ducklings

the ducks are here for bug control and fertilizer, and there is, at this point, absolutely no way on earth to tell them apart.............
I know your thinking Huey, Dewey and Louis etc. but NO. It's

Raid
Off
Vapona
Muskol
Deet
Repel
Slugger
and
Guano

for the chicks we have 2 brunettes, 2 blondes and a redhead

so they are
Lucy as the redhead
Elvira and Joan ( as in Jett ) for the brunettes
and just to complete Bobs' fantasy of twin blonde chicks
Mitzi and Bambi as the blondes.

　

so 6 hours into it, I have learned.................
　

- ducks poop waaaaaay more than chickens.

- duck water dishes need water dishes under them, and then something to absorb the water............it’s a splash factory.

- they are friggin cute...........poopin like crazy, already chasing bugs and passed out for the night.

So 7 hours into it I have learnt

• they are not passed out for the night

The dog that is peeing, may actually be going through a " I need to be a mother " thing............she just spent 2 hours guarding a dirty sheet that I had out to dry.................but at least she's not peeing in the house anymore.......well for today anyways.

Tomorrow, I think the ducks need to have their first swim, I need to find out what little miss Mom is really thinking, new babies, or dinner. And then we need to introduce the cat to the whole scenario.

Duckumentary, Part One, a tale about free eggs and Sh ( poop )

Nut Date…………June 24, 2011

Day one of our newest and quite possibly the craziest new venture we have ever embarked on. The order is placed, and tomorrow we're off to the lumber store to start construction. Hoping to use up of the leftovers from the still unfinished deck to complete this project, we have a plan and a location decided on. The parcel arrives on July 6th, not the best timing in the world with Pitfest ( 30+ people with dogs and kids welcome ) being on July 9th this year, but that was our last chance for delivery this year. We're expecting 5 chicks of a
"layer variety" ( that means we have no idea what we are getting ) and 8 Rouen ducklings.............the domestic version of a Mallard, and flightless, like and Emu.

Chickens lay eggs, and poop. Ducks eat bugs of all kinds and poop. So the idea is to have free fresh organic eggs, fertilizer and bug control. Not to mention that the ducks are going to give the dogs some entertainment that they may not be expecting.


So, many hours spent on the internet to find answers to many questions. We've got some of it figured out but there's alot of confusing info out there. The jury seems to be out on whether you can raise chicks and ducks together, but hey, we've already got 2 dogs, a cat and fish, so why not add a few birds, just to mix things up a bit. In the end, and true to form, we will be breaking alot of the rules and muddling through this on a wing (pardon the pun) and a prayer. We figure by this time next year we will have it figured out as to how it should have been done.

So first clue as to how green we are at this,

..........this morning I go to get 2 of the farm fresh eggs that I've bought at a farm I visited, just to get a handle on what's involved and whether it's worth the effort. The woman there was very helpful and friendly, gave me some great tips, but her English was not the best yet and I'm sure if I'd brought a Polish or Ukranian friend, I would have gotten alot more out of the visit. But never the less, the hen house was much quieter than I expected and the smell was not nearly what I was dreading. $3.00 a dozen and the eggs are amazing. Did have an issue trying to crack the first one, seems these farm eggs need a bit more muscle to get into.

............anyways, back to the morning breakfast adventure.

I go out to the fridge ( we are keeping this dozen in the garage fridge because I already have a full tray in the kitchen fridge ) and I open up the carton, and there are 4 perfectly shaped, cracked and empty eggs in there. They were in the door of the fridge, so it's possible that it fell out and we broke them, but where's the mess ??? These things are totally clean, I can't figure it out. So I cook up 2 and eat them while surfing for ....."can chickens lay empty eggs" and no surprise, some people say they have had that happen and others say it's impossible. But everyone who says it can happen has found them in the chicken coop, not the refrigerator. So part of me wants to join the forum and say...."hey, yes it is possible, I just found 4 of them in the egg carton that way", part of me wants to go back to Polish lady and say " hey, you sold me 4 duds" and part of me is saying oh never mind, just forget about it. Luckily that last part was speaking loudest to me. When I got home from ordering the chicks, I mentioned this "strange phenomenon" to Bob the Builder. He looks at me like I'm an idiot and tells me that he put them there because..............HE COULDN'T FIND THE KITCHEN COMPOST BUCKET !!!!!

I mean really, I almost crabbed out the nice Polish lady, I almost went on the net and said it really does happen, I wasted an half an hour looking this up!!! Who the hell puts empty egg shells back in the carton looking like a full egg???? is it not natural to put the two empty halves inside themselves???.............removing all doubt that the chicken may have laid them with nothing inside???? all this because I left the compost bucket in the garage to air out!!! Oh, I so hope the chickens make more sense than the man..LOL