Ta-da

Miracle! On the first day of July, an egg appeared in the wood chips in the coop. Not as large as I was expecting, but delightful none the less. (I feel a little morbid celebrating an egg I'm going to eat, but the ducks didn't seem to lay claim to it, and it's not as if there's a baby duck inside.)  

When I first brought home my three little quackers, I had very little idea what I was doing. Books and videos gave me clues, but the ducks, who were born knowing what they needed to survive, were my teachers. I still don't know what I'm doing, but a trust has grown between us (except on the subject of the pond. We're still working on that). 

Rare occasions when a duck was standing still so I could get a picture.

The egg represents the milestone I was heading for--a sign that I tackled a crazy project and succeeded--with lots of help from friends. But there will probably be more adventures ahead. If so, I'll blog about it. If you'd like to know when I do, leave your email address in the box at the right. (Don't worry, I don't even know how to spam.)

The Journey of the Ducks

Ducks need ponds. Ponds need ducks. Since I have access to a pond, the next step obviously would be ducks. Obviously. This journey begins with a trip to a hatchery to pick up three just-hatched ducklings. If you would like to follow along chronologically, click HERE.

A Slow Day in Duckville

It was a slow day in Duckville--too slow. The ducks need an adventure, I said to myself. They need to go to the pond. 

So we started off. 

Not that way.

Not that way, either.

Nope.

OK, so I ended up carrying them, one by one, to the pond. But they liked it a lot once they got there. Here they are, at last:

In fact, they liked it so much . . . that they refused to come out. Pleading, bribes, nothing worked. They had found a banquet of frog eggs and green slimy plants, and they weren't leaving it. I went back to the house, hoping some solution would occur to me. 

When I checked back with them later, they had moved to the far shore of the pond, making themselves even more accessible to whatever ravenous critters lurked in the woods. But someone was watching out for them.

                                   

Look VERY closely, and you'll see a doe lying behind some branches, keeping an eye on the ducks.

Time passed. I swatted gnats. I went back to the house. Maybe they'd be OK in the pond overnight? Then I heard Eggatha quacking. She knew they should be back in their coop. I shanghaied my dear neighbor, Pam, and we returned to the pond. I tromped through the woods and herded the ducks back into the water. Pam waited on the opposite side of the pond with a branch to shoo them toward shore. Eventually, we all got going in the right direction. As soon as the ducks figured out where home was, they raced down the hill and into their coop. They got up very late the next morning.

What a hair-raising experience!

MAYBE we'll visit the pond again, but for now, slow days in Duckville are just fine!

Swimming Pools and Snow Showers

We love swimming!

The girls were delighted to have something deep enough to actually swim in. First, I had to figure out a way for them to get into and out of the tank, and they had to figure out how to use it. I love watching them learn something new. They inspected the stairs I built for them, dabbled at delicious imaginary food while they got a closer look, and finally one of them just casually tried it out--splash! Now they all race up the stairs as fast as they can. To help them get out, I used the paint tray strainer I had used with their indoor pool. They're still getting the hang of that. Usually they just flap and flop. But they spend as long as they can playing in the water. Maisy, who invented the flap and chase game earlier, came up with a new idea. She dives under the water and comes up under one of her sisters, causing astonished squawks. Very sorry not have pictures of that!

Rube Goldberg's Pool Stairs

Mom says it's time to get out.

Feathers everywhere, and the ducks have turned a paler shade of brown. They're right on schedule, too. They must have read the manual.

Look, Mom, we're molting!

And this happened:

Glad spring is back!

Opening Day

At last, the much anticipated moment! Well, actually, no. I took this the day after, when the ducks were finally used to this new hole in their universe. On the big day itself, during a small, socially distanced ceremony attended by Beverly, Tony, Jerry, and John, it took Beverly, laying an enticing trail of spinach, to finally get them to come out.

Decorations included a horseshoe Tony had dug up while building the pen. I would love to know how it came to be in the ground there. Beverly brought a festive garland to hang.

Pleased to find that this new dimension also contained food and water, the ducks settled down to enjoy the view. Now they hang out happily all day and return to their cozy coop at night. Again, not quite true. As I was leaving them to it on the first day, Eggatha announced loudly that they would also be requiring regular trips to the yard and dips in their blue snow-saucer pool.

The Latest from Duckville

Breaking ground for the new duck pen which Tony DiGeronimo is building for me, designed by him. It's going to be gorgeous! Note the fancy door, contributed by Jerry Ganyer, that will lead from their coop to the pen.

Here is the pen a little further along. PCV pipes make up the sides and roof, with boards reinforcing it. The ducks are pretty excited about it. In the distance is a stock tank donated by my neighbor Roger, which will be their swimming pool.  

They've nearly outgrown their blue snow saucer.

Here is Tony at work. The whole thing will be covered in chicken wire. In the background is a cool green door, which Roger also donated.

Look closely--one of them is exercising her wings--probably Maisy. She learned that if she flapped her wings and ran, she could make the other ducks run ahead of her. She invented a new game! Later that day, two of them actually got some altitude--about a foot. My understanding is that adults can fly a short distance, but aren't likely to take off for Florida. We'll see.

Such lovely faces!

And how are you doing? Well, we hope.

Slight Setback

Oh, my. On Monday, the ducks' five-week birthday, I went out to the shed to feed them. All three ducks were present and quacky, but I found a trail of blood everywhere. Daisy, at least I think it's Daisy, had cut the webbing on her foot. And web wounds bleed copiously, like head wounds. My friend Carol came over and helped me clean and bandage Daisy's foot. I'm sorry I don't have a photo to show you what a beautiful bandaging job Carol did. But I didn't know how Daisy's foot would heal all bandaged up, so I decided to take her to the vet. I put her into a cat carrier without too much fuss, seat-belted her into the car, and off we went. Pretty soon Daisy started quacking. I had noticed that the ducks quack back and forth to each other when they can't see each other, to keep in touch. I felt I should be Daisy's fellow duck, so I started singing, mostly animal-themed songs. She especially liked "Old MacDonald" and "This Old Man." Whenever I stopped singing, she began to quack, so I kept singing. It's a 45-minute drive to the vet.

The vet had never treated a duck, but she was game. We discussed options, and decided on doing nothing except cleaning the wound twice a day and giving her an antibiotic.

Singing and quacking, we made it back home.

The wound seems to be healing well. Thank you, John, for being an excellent duck holder. I imagine that Daisy has some impressive stories to tell Maisie and Eggatha, and has probably gained some status. She's a brave, sweet duck. She deserves it.