Read an interesting blog post about ducks this morning, where her advice was to have only one or two male ducks and more females. Oops. As she said, male ducks can be real jerks. Not looking at anyone in particular, Bert.
Morning ducks:
Treats on the bank:
They enjoy this grassy patch:
Heading into the house:
Breakfast time:
Poor Sven keeps getting chased away by Bert:
As mentioned yesterday, Bert really doesn’t like Sven. I don’t know what his problem is, but he keeps chasing Sven.
First, some glowy Rouens:
Looking at them from across the pond:
Resting in the duck house; that’s Sven on the left at the back, and Betty next to him:
Sven with a Rouen:
Then along comes Bert:
And Sven quickly retreated:
A GIF of Bert chasing Sven across the pond:
A somewhat more clear picture:
They’re just going to have to sort that out themselves.
Sixty days sounds like a lot, but is only about 8.5 weeks.
The ducks swimming and/or sleeping on the pond at night (they can swim with half their brain and sleep with the other half):
Greeting the ducks in their run in the morning:
Leafy treats:
Ducks jumping into the pond:
Hmm, the pop door didn’t open on the duck house this morning; the opener had an error, so maybe needs more attention. I recalibrated (again), and will see if it opens tomorrow:
Afternoon treats from the pond deck:
Bert seems to have taken a disliking to Sven; he chased him away from the treats:
I’ve seen Bert chasing Sven several times. He doesn’t chase any of the other ducks. Sven will be bigger than Bert when fully grown, so the tables may turn on that.
Let’s take a brief digression from the usual cute ducks and other animals to talk about a nemesis of mine: bamboo.
We had a stand of bamboo between the propane gas tank and the deck at the back of our workshop, planted by some previous owner of our property:
If it had contained itself to that location, I’d be fine with it, but bamboo has a tendency to send out runners, spreading to unwanted places. For example under the gas tank:
Under the driveway, pushing it up:
And even between the deck boards and behind the shop siding:
So it was time for it to go. Today, I took on that project, cutting the stalks to the ground using our heavy-duty loppers (one of my favorite tools; works better than most others).
Here’s the state partway through:
That square on the wall is where a fireplace vent used to be; another project on my list is to patch that, which I’ll probably do soon, now that it’s more visible.
All cut:
A view of the side of the shop; much more open with that bamboo gone:
In due course we’ll probably plant some shrubby things in that area.
The cut bamboo on the burn pile (which won’t actually be burned for several months at the earliest):
This battle isn’t over; the bamboo will continue to sprout for several months. I’ll need to spray it and continue cutting it for a while, until it eventually admits defeat.
We also have another stand of bamboo on the other side of the shop, which is also spreading, and needs to go. A project for another day.
We have one more large stand of bamboo by the pond, but it is fairly well contained (using heavy duty pond liner), and not near any structures or driveways, so it can remain.
Don’t plant bamboo, people. It’s nasty stuff.
Today I mucked out the duck house.
But first, sleepy ducks:
Approaching for treats:
Eating treats; check out those tongues!
Mucking out the duck house; it had many layers of compacted straw:
I took several loads of dirty straw to the compost on my cart:
The straw added a lot of volume to the compost bin:
Empty duck house:
Fresh straw:
I probably won’t need to muck it out again for a while, now that they aren’t living in there anymore.
I also refilled their food, in the inverted jug at the top of the feeder tube:
Swimming:
The ducks visited the duck house to eat; here Bert and Betty seem to be comparing notes:
Bert with a dirty bill, while others eat:
An animated GIF of ducks eating:
As is usual for warm weather, the feral cats haven’t been hanging around as much in the last week, so I only had 16 photos from which to choose; perhaps a new low for me. I picked 10.
Poppy and Porcini inside their house:
Porcini and Pommie outside:
A mother and two young raccoons looking at the cabins (no cats were home):
One of the twins in the breezeway cabin just before dawn:
Waiting for breakfast:
Breakfast dispensing:
I startled Porcini when walking on the path near the cat house (her mouth is open licking her lips after eating, not reacting to me):
She retreated to behind the cat house (lots of lens flare at that time of day):
Two on the deck:
Pepper in the shop:
I still haven’t decided what to do about my duck posts; as mentioned in today’s Flock Friday, I will probably roll them into the Friday post, but am tempted to continue daily posts, perhaps with just one picture, though that doesn’t really fit the format of this blog. But hey, why decide now when I can put it off another day!
So, on with today’s pictures… starting with some night cam shots from last night; looking alert about some noise or something:
Some in the water:
Everyone swimming:
Morning ducks:
Below the pond deck:
On the bank:
A GIF of wing-assisted jumping from the pond to the bank:
Next to the lawn, with Bert shaking his head:
This afternoon, ducks on the bank enjoying mealworm treats, with Bert in the water heading for the koi food:
Some on the bank, some in the water:
Some sad news this Flock Friday: a raccoon got into one of our chicken coops, and killed two of our chickens. (Don’t worry, there are no graphic pictures in this post.)
I’ve had some issues with a couple of the pop door openers recently, where they sometimes don’t open or close. I wasn’t too concerned about the one on the new chicken coop, as the run is fully enclosed, even with netting on the roof; just a small opening into the old run. I’m not sure if the raccoon got in via that hole, or over the fence and through some small gap in the roof netting, but it did.
When I did my morning rounds on Monday, I saw a dead chicken in the run: Lola, the introverted chicken (a Blue Cochin). Looking around, I saw a second dead chicken elsewhere in the run: Tilly (a Double-Laced Barnevelder).
Reviewing the cam footage, I saw the raccoon in the coop shortly after midnight on Monday:
The raccoon looked at the seven chickens roosting on top of the nesting boxes:
But went after the easy target, Lola, alone on the main roosts:
Not a nice way to go at all. I don’t know what happened with Tilly, though; I only saw the raccoon in the coop once. Perhaps she was on the outside roosts, which attracted the attention of the raccoon? Unfortunately, the run camera doesn’t record, so I couldn’t see what happened there.
I feel really bad that I hadn’t manually closed the pop door. I have been checking it each night ever since, and working with the manufacturer to diagnose its issues.
Still, it could have been much worse, if the raccoon had gone back for more.
Sorry if this sad news brings you down; it’s all part of life on the homestead, but not a pleasant aspect.
For the other chickens, life goes on. Here they are with leafy treats:
Buffy in a nesting box:
As for the ducks, I’m continuing my daily duck posts for another few days, while there are frequent changes, though will probably stop sometime in the coming week, and roll the duck pictures into the Flock Friday posts from next week. Though I’m tempted to do a “daily duck” post, restricted to one picture per day, or something like that. Let me know what you think.
So for now, let’s suffice with one last picture of Bert before the new ducks joined him, stealing the koi food:
More duck pictures tonight.
The ducks all spent the night outside again, as I expect will be the norm going forward. They slept on the pond and on the bank by the pond deck, which is one of Bert’s favorite spots.
I gave them treats from the pond deck again last night:
When I visited on morning rounds, I found them all on the bank by the pond deck:
I rearranged the run a bit to provide more shade without having to move the shade panel to access the duck house, which was probably a waste of time, since they’ve found their own shady spots:
I’ll probably remove the temporary run this weekend, if they’re done with it.
The ducks on the bank from above:
They explored the back lawn a little:
Hunting for tasty bugs:
Enjoying the afternoon shade:
A view of the pond, back lawn, and brown gazebo, with the ducks by the grasses:
Mealworm treats on afternoon rounds:
Last night the ducks all spent the night outside for the first time.
A cam shot from the previous night; maybe the last night they will spend inside their house:
Yesterday morning, eager to be let out:
A swim yesterday evening:
Evening mealworm treats (did you see the video posted earlier?):
When I went out just before sunset to close up the duck house for the night, they chose to stay outside. I closed the maintenance doors, but left the pop door open, so they could go inside from the pond if they wanted. Here they are just after sunset, maybe regretting their choices, but I’m sure Bert was reassuring them that it’ll be fine — he’s slept outside since he first went into the pond a year ago:
They spent most of the night on the bank in or near the run:
Nobody home:
Morning ducks:
I decided it was time to remove the pool in the temporary run, since they haven’t used it other than for drinking since going in the pond:
I replaced it with the paint tray as a water dish, though they can also drink from the waterer in the house during the day, or the pond anytime:
Swimming this morning:
We had lunch on the pond deck, and watched them slowly moving further amongst the grasses on the pond edge as the sun moved:
Later, they took advantage of the shade in the run:
