Bert the duck checking out the chickens in their run.
Month: June 2020
Ducklings day 5
Today in the duck house, I captured some interesting EcoGlow interactions, plus added some straw bedding.
Here’s a shot from the duck house cam showing the ducklings actually using the EcoGlow heater for a substantial amount of time; the first time I’ve seen that. Maybe that means it was too high before, and they’ve grown into it? The red light helps keep them more calm.
An animated GIF of a duckling drinking, going under the EcoGlow, then jumping on top of it:
A shot of the duckling on the EcoGlow:
The usual picture of the ducklings when I first opened the door this morning (the light is still red, but the sunlight coming in the open door overwhelms that):
Definitely time for some bedding. I just added a thin partial layer of straw bedding for now (the ducklings hid in the back nesting box while I added that):
Later I will add more, and in due course will remove the shelf liner layer from the floor, once they’re more steady on their feet.
The ducklings were very curious about the straw:
Afternoon visit:
Cutely watching me:
Slow-motion bees in the bee pool
We have a pool from which our bees can drink, filled with rocks for them to land on so they don’t drown. This is a slow-motion recording of bees drinking and flying above the pool.
Ducklings day 4
I didn’t spend much time with the ducklings today, as I was busy with another project (more on that another day), but I did get a few pictures during morning and afternoon rounds.
The usual first opening the door shot; the poop is building up, time to clean it out a bit and add some bedding:
On afternoon rounds; looks like the Buff has discovered the feeder tube:
Drinking:
Eating:
Ducklings day 3
Some trauma for day 3: today we removed the leg bands from the male ducklings (the females didn’t have bands).
Here are the ducklings when I first arrived in the morning:
An animated GIF of synchronized duckling drinking:
A couple of pictures around noon, after removing their leg bands; they were feeling rather hesitant about us after that:
And some afternoon rounds pictures:
A view from a nesting box:
Still avoiding me (they’ll get over it, especially once I introduce treats):
Cat update for week ending June 6
For Caturday this week… pictures of cats! I bet you weren’t expecting that.
Three cats snuggling in their house:
One of the ferals watching from atop the bench by the small pond, as Paladout walked away:
Mirrored cabin cats:
Porcini and Poppy outside their house:
Poppy looking concerned as I approached the cat house; she settled down again after I passed by:
Paladout sitting on the edge of the pond:
A closer look:
Another day, Paladout again:
Watching birds from a cabin:
Porcini watching me as I walked past her cabin:
Three cats inside:
Three cats arriving for breakfast:
Poppy on a path, watching me walk past:
Cute snuggles inside the cat house:
Ducklings day 2
Welcome to day two of the ducklings. They’ve settled into their routine: eat, drink, poop, scamper, sleep, and grow. That’s the life of a duckling, at least for the first couple of weeks.
Here they are when I first opened the top of the maintenance door; lots more poop than yesterday!
I built the aforementioned doors with a handy design with four doors, where I can open just one for a quick peek, the top two to let me access inside without the ducklings getting out, the left two if I need to get inside quickly, or all four for full access.
Here you can see the top two doors open, and the bottom two closed, with a glimpse of the ducklings and Bert:
I moved the EcoGlow out of the nesting box, since they didn’t seem to want to go under it in there. We’ll see if this place is any better:
They did go under it, though not for long:
Eating and drinking:
We’ll remove the leg bands in the next day or two. Those indicate the breeds and sexes of the ducklings. So in the meantime, I want to determine markings so I can identify them. The Buff female is of course obvious, being unique. The Blue Swedish ones are fairly distinct: those are the ones with light gray backs and yellow chests. The one with the red band is the male; I notice he has a more yellow chest and foot, too:
The Buff under the EcoGlow:
A disappointment is that we ended up with two male Rouen ducklings, as seen here; notice they both have green bands on their right legs, indicating they are both male. We had wanted one of each sex. Not sure if we’ll try to get a couple females to balance that, or live with it:
Another shot showing the Blue Swedish in the center of the picture, female on the left, male on the right:
Drinking:
Checking out a nesting box:
A male Khaki Campbell:
The male Khaki Campbell on the left, the female on the right (plus the Buff shaking her head); telling the former two apart is a bit trickier; I haven’t noticed obvious differences yet. I’ll have to take a closer look at them:
The two Blue Swedish again:
More pics again tomorrow!
Flock Friday for June 5
Yesterday I did a post about our new ducklings. I’ll no doubt do another post about them later today too. But in the meantime, a regular Flock Friday post about wild birds, chickens, and our adult duck.
Firstly, I saw what looks like a carrier pigeon on our driveway. It has leg bands, and didn’t seem afraid of me. I guess taking a pitstop:
While doing the gate post repair, I dug a couple of small holes in the new and old chicken runs, so the chickens could enjoy digging in the dirt:
The heron visited again; the decoy heron doesn’t seem to deter it:
I chased it off again (though it had been there a while before I noticed it):
Got a dirty bill there Bert:
The chickens watching me most intently, waiting for me to give them treats:
A couple of funny/interesting things in this shot: stretched neck, and eye in mid-blink (the chicken in the foreground) — fun fact, chickens have a third eyelid, a nictitating membrane, that protects and moistens the eye while still allowing them to see:
Rice treat scramble:
Buffy laying an egg:
Bert:
You may have seen this on the What’s It Wednesday answer; a closeup of Bert’s foot:
Bert:
Head close-ups:
And a couple more shots of him:
Stay tuned for more duckling pics later.
Ducklings!
An exciting day: today I picked up the new ducklings from the local post office.
As I always do, I strapped the box of ducklings in the car seat for the ride home:
Here are the ducklings huddled together in the box:
The list of ducklings we purchased:
And care and identification info on the back:
I carefully lifted each duckling out of the box, and dipped their bill in the water, to show them how to drink:
They all figured it out quickly, and were unsurprisingly thirsty, having never had water to drink before (they survive on hatching stores and some gel in the box during transit):
They’re too small to need bricks under the waterer yet (that’ll change!), so I moved it directly to the floor:
I added a feeder, and sprinkled some food on some bricks so they could see it. Here’s the first one to eat:
The others caught on:
Then figured out that the feeder had lots more available:
They tilt their heads back when drinking:
More eating:
Checking on them a couple of hours later. About 90° F (32° C) under the heat lamp; they are on the edge of that, so seem comfortable:
A couple of hours later after that, more eating and drinking:
Brace yourself for daily duckling pictures for the next few weeks. They grow quickly!
(Plus, of course, the usual Flock Friday post of Bert and the chickens; I’ll keep posts about them separate, at least for now.)
Chicken coop shelf and chicken run fence repair
Yesterday I did some smaller homestead projects, including building a shelf above the door in the new chicken coop, and repairing a gate pole of the old chicken run.
Since getting supplies for the ducklings in early May, the storage area of the new chicken coop has been a bit crowded:
The coop has a fairly high ceiling, so I decided to utilize that vertical room by adding a shelf in the empty space above the door:
The shelf is simply a bit of OSB, cut to fit the space (25×48″), with notches to fit around the studs, supported on the existing 2x4s of the walls on two sides, with a new one across the front:
Here’s a view from outside, showing the underside of the shelf, a block to support the new support 2×4 on the left, and another block on the right (that one isn’t needed for support, but attaches the support to the wall). You can also see a similar existing shelf at the back of the coop:
A fun glimpse of the chandelier in the coop:
A view of the shelf from inside:
The shelf is now a “hay loft” — actually straw storage (fun fact: straw and hay are different: straw is a waste product of grain crops like wheat, used for bedding and mulch, whereas hay is feed for horses and cattle):
Straw is messy stuff; I got a bunch in my beard (this was after brushing off some):
Next up, I did a repair of the old chicken run. Once upon a time, I used to hook Rory’s leash on the pole next to the run gate while I went into the coops to collect eggs. Well, one day she saw something exciting (probably a rabbit) and pulled on it, snapping the post off at the ground (it was probably weakened from rotting anyway). So for several months it has been propped up by a couple of concrete blocks. (I now have a metal post in the ground to hitch her leach to during rounds.)
Yesterday I finally got around to repairing it. I considered replacing the post, but it used to be embedded in a big chunk of concrete, which I couldn’t be bothered digging out:
So as a slightly hacky solution I attached some recycled boards at the top and bottom between the post and the coop, which that fence should have had anyway. Here the bottom one is attached, and the top one is resting on the top of the post and being held by clamps on the coop end:
A view from inside the run:
Both boards attached:
This isn’t an ideal repair, but it’s sturdy enough.