This was an unlikely pairing to me,kind of like joining together a closed umbrella with a toy duck. The tall, skinny duck is a female Indian Runner. The little guy is a Call Duck. He quacks louder than most big ducks, and he flies. She does not. She runs a little faster than the average duck, she leans forward and runs..looking like a closed umbrella with legs, running fast!
I did not think they could actually mate and produce ducklings. Watching them join together on the pond was like watching a ship with a little dinghy on top....it took quite an effort on the little guys' part, but he was persistent!
Mama duck laid many, many eggs and was diligent in her nesting.
The little guy waited , watched and and fretted around her. I could tell he wanted to go swimming in the pond and forage for bugs and slugs, but he stayed close to his sweetie pie. Then came the nightly raccoon raids. We could tell the raccoons were trying to grab the ducks and eggs through the pen wire and finally, for their own safety the pair of ducks left the nest to sleep in the middle of the pen where raccoon hands could not grab them.
I ended up putting a few duck eggs under one of my bantam hens, believing the little guy really could not possibly have fertilized the eggs.....but look! He did and here is one of the two ducklings. I was happy for this! First , because I wanted to see what a pairing like that would produce, and second, the Odd Couple were the only 2 survivors of the coyote attack last winter that killed all the rest of my flock, so any ducklings to survive and grow should have good survival instincts.
Here is one of the ducklings, grown up. They both look similar, and are smaller than most of my ducks, a little bigger than their father, and as loud as him. They both fly too. They are pretty nice ducks, I am thankful to the Odd Couple! By the way, they stick together pretty closely, and Mama Duck seems to be the leader in the duck flock, with Papa Duck chasing away any male duck that approaches his gal! They really are The Odd Couple.
Mama and Papa Duck. They are the sole survivors of not 1, but 2 coyote slaughters. They also mated, and nested a clutch of eggs that were preyed upon by raccoons and possums and coyotes. I took 2 of the eggs and had them brooded by my silkie hen, and those babies are still in the brooding shed. However, the ducklings I bought from a hatchery and raised up have graduated from the brooding pens to the pen by the pond. This is the pen near the pond where I train the ducks to pen themselves up at night, and thus , will hopefully keep this new flock safe from predators. The young ducks have been penned up with the older , wiser ducks for a week now and it is time to release them out into the world, Cedar Pond. Mama and papa Duck will show them the ropes of life around here for a duck.......
Mama Duck is excited to be free, and she rushes out into the pond...but ducklings AND Papa Duck stay behind. Not too sure about this freedom. The world is a scary fearful place you know. "Fear imprisons; faith liberates; fear paralyzes; faith empowers; fear disheartens; faith encourages; fear sickens; faith heals; fear makes useless; faith makes serviceable." Harry E. Fosdick
Quite awhile later, they tentatively venture out...not too far! "Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold. " Helen Keller
Then, they stand around in a clump of fear. All that water and fresh grass, yummy slugs and bugs to be had for the taking, but- they are afraid! "Fear, if allowed free rein, would reduce all of us to trembling shadows of men, ( ducks ?) for whom only death ( coyotes) could bring release." John M. Wilson
Mama Duck comes quacking back from the pond where she had been bathing and swimming, quacking all along for them to join her. "Hey, you guys, come on! The water is fine, the bugs are plentiful.....what's keeping you ? " The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, yet notwithstanding go out to meet it. " Thucydides
The ducklings follow Mama slowly down to the pond, in their little clump of fear. "Every tomorrow has 2 handles. We can take hold of it by the handle of anxiety or by the handle of faith." Unknown
Mama jumps in the water and begins to splash with joy and ....it SCARED the ducklings! They ran ( waddled) fast as they could up the grassy lawn heading for their pen! Well, at least I know THEY know where to pen themselves up. Mama and Papa Duck took the lead and tried to head the ducklings back to the pond. As they would venture closer the ducklings would turn en-masse and head this-a-way....."Panic is a sudden desertion of us, and a going over to the enemy of our imagination." Chrisitan Nevell Bovee
...and that-a-way.... "Fear cannot touch me. It can only taunt me, it cannot take me, just tell me where to go. I can either follow, or stay in my bed. I can hold onto the things that I know." Christopher Rice
Finally! The ducklings made their way , albeit , circuitously...to the pond's edge. "Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear." Ambrose Redmoon.
The ducklings quacked amongst themselves a bit and decided to just sit on the edge awhile, because you know, the pond is a scary place! "Never fear shadows...they simply mean there's a light shining somewhere nearby." Unknown
Mama and Papa Duck splashed, swam, and had a feast. The ducklings, not realizing Mama and Papa's wisdom and experience, and not trusting ME, who wants what is best for them and have provided a perfect duck home for them...2 days later...still choose to sit on the bank and watch ( fearfully ) as the older ducks take joy in Cedar Pond.
"But if God so arrays the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow thrown into the furnace, will He not much more do so for you, O men of little faith....Therefore do not be anxious ( or fearful ) for tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough troubles of its own." Matthew 6: 30 , 34
TREAT # 1: A new bird bath !I love my new bird bath. It is just what I have been looking for, a blue glazed terra cotta bird bath that is perfect for my herb garden. It was on sale too! 25% off, which made it just the right price. As I was leaving K-Mart with my new prize I suddenly felt sharp prickles on my back and from the corner of my eye I could see something flapping...I screamed loud as my first thought was this was some kind of huge insect stinging me, but as I reached back to dislodge the creature .......
TREAT # 2 : I realized it was a parakeet !I pried him off my back ( he was hanging on pretty tightly, boy those little claws did hurt! ) and decided to take him home. I had an empty box in the car and that is where he rode home. Chirping every once in awhile from the depths of the box. Here he is in a cage I have on our front porch that I often put doves in. This little bird seems to like me very much and chooses to sit on my finger and chatter away at me. He does not like to get off my finger, and he does NOT like my husband.....I am positive this little guy is also saying half formed words, you have to hear the sounds he makes. I named him BOB. ( Bird On Back )
TREAT # 3 :And looky here! This is one of 2 ducklings hatched from my call duck / runner duck cross.The little ducks were hatched by a Silkie / Frizzle hen. It is a good thing I put 2 of our duck eggs under bantam hens because the mama duck was faithfully sitting until 5 days ago. She left her nest and I saw that she and her mate were sitting away from the nest, as close to the door of the pen as possible, and the eggs, just a few days from hatching were stone cold.We are pretty sure it is because we have had raccoons and coyotes skulking around the pen every night, trying to get at the eggs and ducks from the outside of the pen. My husband has had to go out and scare away the predators. I am so glad we built the new pen. The predators are very bold.
TREAT # 4 :While I was gone my Ruth had a lamb. This is one of the teeniest little lambs I have ever had survive, and she is a healthy and feisty little girl. Here, her little tail and bottom are shaking as she nurses.
TREAT # 5: Perfect Sunday weather. Here my Hubby reads by the pond. His dog Hawk sits with him, and Hubby keeps watch from this chair for the possible sighting of the wood duck and maybe her young, emerging from the big cedar snag.
TREAT #6 : Time and good weather to work in my beloved herb garden. My blue bottle trees, my blue bistro table, my blue roofed dove cage, my blue weeding bucket, and my new blue bird bath. But this does not make me blue, it makes me appreciate God's bounty, and good enough health to work in the garden until.......
Evening comes. TREAT # 7: A beautiful evening.
~With the arrival of spring and warmer weather we have the always present mosquito larvae in our animals' water troughs. When life gives you larvae, why feed the fish! That is what larvae are good for! Here is one of my Bettas. I have 3. They are like keeping exotic, living art in the house. My Bettas live a long time , at least 2 or 3 years..and I think the last one that died had lived here for 4 years. They are just beautiful. I put them in glass bowls or containers with rooting plants. It is relaxing to watch them. Often I find them cradled in the nook of a root, and though books tell me fish don't sleep, they appear to be thoroughly enjoying the fish equivalent of a recliner! Anyway, back to mosquito larvae. Now that the mosquitos are enjoying the weather by using every possible water source to leave their young in, I am scooping the abundant supply of larvae in my net to feed my Bettas. If you click on this picture ( above ) it will enlarge and you can see the larvae this Betta is about to snap up!
~Quacker update:They are growing so quickly! Remember the ducklings ,all16 came in this litle box?~
~Then all 16 were moved to this plastic bin in the bathroom?~
~The ducklings grew quickly and were moved to my brooding shed!~
~Now, observe the same waterer in the previous picture with above picture in comparison with the size of the ducklings.They are as big as the waterer! These little quackers are always at the water! It is near impossible to keep them dry, and you can see the splashing of food mixed with water all over the outside of the waterer. I clean and refill the water several times a day. I am excited for the day I move them near the pond in preparation for them to start life there...they will be happier about this than me.
~Another Betta, isn't he gorgeous? A living centerpiece, complete with color and greenery.~
~Planter on front porch (above)~
~Hawk is giving me the 'look', the look that says there is something behind these doors he is especially interested in and won't I please open the door and let him inspect?
~"Please? I can smell it from under the crack. I can hear peeping!"~
~"See! I knew there was something in here I would love. They look scrumptious!"~
~After 3 days in the bathroom , no amount of cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, can keep the smell of wet bedding and duck food from permeating the near by surroundings. So after my dear Hubby cleaned out and prepared the brooding shed for me I was able to move the little cuties outside, into a shed that had fresh shavings and heat lamps and room to move about and splish water and eat all they desire without stinking up the entire house. Until they are a little bit bigger they will reside in a kiddie swimming pool...still plenty big for them
~Ducklings are so cute. And they don't quack! They "peep"!~
~I had planned to attend a little tea party at the state capital today. Put it on my calendar and read up on tea party etiquette on capital steps....thought about bringing my own party favors too. I had all kinds of ideas for a really artistic and bold sign to decorate the capital steps. But the local post office called and said my ducklings were in. I am hoping there will be another tea party soon. Off I went to pick up my little quackers.
~Look at this! 18 fuzzy quackers in this little box. 18 healthy and cute little quackers!~
~I put them in the most practical place. My chicken bathroom. No, no live chickens live in the bathroom.This just happens to be my most kitschy room, full of chicken decor...and my poultry magazines and catalogs are in a magazine rack right next to the ...ahem....where they can be read during lengthy visits to this room
~For awhile the quackers will live in this room because it is warm, easy to clean, and I can keep the door shut to prevent Miss Marple from dining on my new ducklings. Above, you can see the little cuties excited about their first taste of water. They are so excited about the water that I will be cleaning their box frequently to keep them warm and dry.I also put little blades of grass , cut short into the bin for the ducklings to eat and play with.
~Here is the outside view of the bin the ducklings are living in, and I have a light above the bin to keep the quackers warm.~
~PORK ? Where's the pork the title hinted at? See?! I stepped outside to get something from the garage and THIS is what i saw! In my yard, next to the garage! I do not know where this pig came from! I have never seen this pig before! Doesn't he look cranky?I ran and got my camera and he looked annoyed....but I got his picture.
~He doesn't like me being near him, and I am glad..because you never know if a pig in your yard is friendly. Especially a porker who might have a hunch you ( me ) were going to a tea party to protest PORK ! I mean, really. A pig, in my yard, for the first time ever...on TAX day, Tea Party day! What are the chances? Well, 1oo% today apparently. "Pork is the inevitable feature of the democratic process." Kevin Hassett
~I slowly walked towards him and he turned his curly little tail and ran pretty durn fast up our driveway and out of sight! Now if only the pork in government would....."Pork: slang-U.S. Money, position, or favors obtained from the government, as a result of political patronage." Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary ( 1941)
"..pork has been used by both parties as re-election currency. They use these projects to get re-elected every two or every six years. There is no moral high ground here when it comes to pork barrel spending because most of Congress partake in this process " CAGW Vice President David Wilham ( citizens against government waste)
