Duck island: more dirt

On Saturday I added some more dirt to the floating island in our pond. It was floating a bit too high out of the water, and not looking as nice as it could be with a fairly hollow bowl inside, which also made it more difficult for the ducklings to navigate, as shown in the most recent Flock Friday post. So more dirt solved those issues.

Here’s a wheelbarrow of dirt; I added about two of these to the island:

Wheelbarrow of dirt

Rather than detaching the island from its anchor, I used a mucky bucket to transport several loads of dirt from the wheelbarrow to the island:

Bucket of dirt

I waded in the pond with the bucket (here it’s empty, floating on the surface):

David in pond with bucket

Some new dirt on the island:

New dirt on island

Me wading in the pond again, this time with a full bucket of dirt; it still floated, so easy enough to move, though the top of the bucket was just above the water level, so I was careful to avoid getting water inside:

David in pond with bucket of dirt

A picture Jenn took of me in the pond:

David in pond

That’ll do:

New dirt on island

The island with new dirt, floating at a better level:

New dirt on island

That evening, the ducks enjoyed re-exploring the island:

Ducks on island

It rained overnight, resulting in puddles on the island, settling of the dirt, and floating a bit lower from the weight of the water, but it’s still floating:

Puddles on island

Puddles on island

It’ll dry out again once the rain stops.

Cat update for week ending June 12

Some pictures of cats in the cabins and their house, and outside. And one not-a-cat.

Sleepy cabin cat:

Cabin cat

Inside the cat house:

Cat inside house

Two cats inside:

Two cats inside house

Pommie watching Paladout in the tree (behind the timestamp):

Cat watching another in tree

Not a cat; unusual to see a possum in daylight hours. Watched by a cat behind the house:

Possum and cat

Porcini enjoying a cabin:

Cabin cat

Two cats:

Two cats

Spud and Porcini:

Two cabin cats

Sitting in front of the cabins:

Cabin cat

Porcini watching me:

Cabin cat

Relaxed:

Cabin cat

Cat-loafing outside:

Cabin cat

Unusual to see Bella in the house:

Bella in the house

Flock Friday for June 11

Time to check on the ducks and chickens again.

Here are some ducks by the chicken coop, curious about me mucking it out:

Ducks by chicken coop

And on the lawn:

Ducks on lawn

Peeking at Sonja nesting, while refilling their food; her ducklings should hatch in a week or two:

Sonja nesting

Ducks on the path to the duck house:

Ducks on the path to the duck house

A token picture of some chickens:

Chickens

Betty and her ducklings on the floating island; they’ve been making good use of it as a safe place to sleep, which makes me happy:

Betty and ducklings on the island

Betty left to grab some treats, and the ducklings struggled to follow; I really need to add more dirt to fill in the interior, and make it sit lower in the water:

Ducklings on the island

A GIF of ducklings struggling to get off the island:

Ducklings on the island

Last one:

Duckling on the island

Looking down at Betty and ducklings below the pond deck:

Looking down at Betty and ducklings

Looking down at Betty and ducklings

Cat update for week ending June 5

Hey cat fans. Just seven pics for Caturday this week.

Cabin cats Porcini and Pommie:

Cabin cats

Porcini relaxing in the shade of grasses under the bird feeders. And if a bird happened to fall into her mouth, she wouldn’t object:

Porcini under bird feeders

Porcini under bird feeders

Porcini is an expert at relaxation:

Porcini

Porcini

Bella and Spud at the cat house:

Bella and Spud

Porcini:

Porcini

Flock Friday for June 4

On last week’s Flock Friday I announced the hatching of Betty’s ducklings, and followed up with three days of posts featuring the ducklings. I may do that again once Sonja’s ducklings hatch, expected around mid-June. But for now, it’s back to a more normal Flock Friday post, with some duckling pics included.

Starting with a few token chicken pics on a wet day:

Chicken

Chickens

Chickens

Bert about to hop into the pond:

Bert

Ducks in the pond:

Ducks in the pond

Ducks on the path to the duck house (time to remove those gates; don’t need them with mothered ducklings):

Ducks on the path

Betty and a duckling on an upturned pot island:

Ducks

Ducks enjoying mealworm treats; it didn’t take the ducklings long to learn how tasty they are, and come zooming over when they see me on the pond deck:

Ducks enjoying mealworm treats

Ducks enjoying mealworm treats

Ducks on pot islands:

Ducks on pot islands

Ducks on pot islands

Ducks on pot islands

Betty and ducklings:

Betty and ducklings

Duckling

Ducklings

Betty and ducklings

Beehive honey harvest in May

A quick post about our honey harvest yesterday. We noticed that the Flow hives were getting full, so harvested over three gallons of honey from them:

Flow honey harvest

The bees on the cedar hive were bearding quite impressively; I guess it was too hot in there (GIF):

Bees GIF

I also took the opportunity to move some of the spare beekeeping equipment into the recently-completed bee shed:

Beekeeping equipment in the bee shed

Jenn double-filtered the harvested honey, and transferred it into 24 pints and 5 smaller jars:

Honey

Not that we needed more honey; we’re still working our way through last year’s harvest. Everyone who visits our homestead has to take home a jar of honey and a carton of eggs!

Betty’s ducklings on May 30 and 31

Are you enjoying the daily updates on Betty’s ducklings, or is it just too much cuteness for you? Let me know!

Yesterday evening the ducklings had their first taste of mealworm treats… and they really liked them, unsurprisingly:

Ducks and ducklings with mealworm treats

Ducks and ducklings with mealworm treats

Ducks and ducklings with mealworm treats

This morning — Bert, Betty, and ducklings:

Bert, Betty, and ducklings

Bert, Betty, and ducklings

Betty and her ducklings; yes, there are still five; four together and one further back:

Betty and ducklings

One on a pot island:

Betty and ducklings

Betty’s ducklings on May 29 and 30

Some more pictures of Betty and her ducklings!

I mentioned in my post yesterday that I put a duckling that was struggling in with Sonja, who was also looking after another of Betty’s ducklings. Here’s a GIF of those two from yesterday afternoon:

GIF

Later they joined Betty; here she is next to the duck house with six ducklings (a little hard to see them all, but they are all visible here):

Betty and ducklings

Betty and ducklings

Yesterday evening she led them back into the duck house for the night; there are three visible here:

In the duck house

Though I think one didn’t make it back in, or didn’t survive the night, as we only saw five ducklings this morning. Attrition is a natural part of having ducklings; that’s why the ducks lay 15 or more eggs.

Here are a bunch of pictures of Betty and her ducklings swimming in the pond today:

Betty and ducklings in the pond

Betty and ducklings in the pond

Betty and ducklings in the pond

Betty and ducklings in the pond

Betty and ducklings in the pond

Jenn captured some pictures of Betty and ducklings on one of the upturned pot islands:

Betty and ducklings in the pond

Betty and ducklings in the pond

A view from the pond deck, with the other ducks rushing over for treats:

Betty and ducklings in the pond

Betty and ducklings in the pond

So cute. Stay tuned for more pictures tomorrow.

Betty’s ducklings on May 28 and 29

Lots of activity with Betty’s ducklings today!

We start with some GIFs and pictures from yesterday afternoon.

An animated GIF of a duckling going into and out of the dish under the feeder tube:

GIF

Duckling in food dish:

Duckling in food dish

A photo of Sonja half-buried in her nest:

Sonja

Me adding a duckling food dispenser:

David adding duckling food

A photo of Betty and four ducklings; I later saw a total of six:

Betty and four ducklings

A GIF of Betty gathering in a duckling with her wing:

GIF

A GIF of Betty flapping her wings; it’s good to stretch:

GIF

A GIF of ducklings exploring the food:

GIF

A GIF of ducklings eating:

GIF

A picture of ducklings eating:

Ducklings eating

Ducklings about to explore the ramp:

Ducklings

Betty chasing the ducklings back inside:

Ducklings

A GIF of Betty chasing off another duck, as one of the ducklings was exposed in the middle box:

GIF

A GIF of Sonja moving around in her nest, and ducklings exploring:

GIF

Ducklings:

Ducklings

A GIF time-lapse:

GIF

Ducklings by the door:

Ducklings

Ducklings

A GIF of Betty and her ducklings going into Sonja’s nest:

GIF

A GIF of Betty and her ducklings heading out the pop door on the way into the pond:

GIF

A bunch of pictures of Betty and ducklings on the ramp then their first swim in the pond, with other ducks nearby (thanks to Jenn for capturing most of these):

Ducklings on the ramp

Ducklings on the ramp

Ducklings on the ramp

Ducklings

Betty and ducklings

Betty and ducklings

Betty and ducklings

Check out the video on YouTube, if you haven’t already.

One of the ducklings was struggling, looking like it might drown, so I fished it out of the pond and put it back in the duck house:

Duckling

I put it in Sonja’s nest, as I noticed another duckling in there, probably from when Betty went into that nest:

Sonja

Here you can see Sonja and one of the ducklings:

Sonja and ducklings

The other four ducklings took a breather on the edge of the pond, while Betty was quacking nearby:

Betty and ducklings

Betty and ducklings

Hopefully the ducklings won’t overtire themselves, and will be able to find their way back into the duck house tonight, or some other safe place.

Stay tuned for more updates!