Ducked out

Last year we purchased what we were told were two female ducklings - to keep the two male ducks that had adopted us company.

It turned out the females were males...

Four male ducks is not a good combination.

Those little ducklings took some punishment from the old males - the back of their necks being the main site.  No bad punishment, but enough to make me feel guilty.

I just didn't know what to do with them.  The lady who sold them to us, had given us the last two of three ducklings - and the remaining one was also a male.

So - I vacillated.  For too long.

The two ducklings gobbled up their feed, spent their days trying to evade the older two, and when they were good and strong, they, obviously after some discussion, and weeks of discontent, took flight and departed for calmer waters.  Overnight.

Which left the two original males.  One of them developed a limp - we renamed him Hopalong - and although we gave him a good going over, we could find nothing wrong.

One night he, too, disappeared.  I reckon it was either the rooikat, or an otter.  But nary a trace did we find - no loose feathers, no scene of protesting capture.  Nada.

That left just the one.

He was a bit grumbly when he discovered he was all alone, but we made sure to spend time with him everyday - having a quacking good conversation together.  His appetite improved and all appeared good.

I have had adverts up on Gumtree - had written to duck owners in our area - all to no avail.  He remained our solitary duck.

And what pleasure he gave us with his antics.

After the recent good rains, our dam filled up overnight.  Finally, a duck discovered the pleasure of frolicking about in the dam water - spending each and every day - all day - paddling, ducking, digging for insects at the now soft soil at the waterline.

These are some pics I took of him in the early hours of the morning earlier last week...

Good boy - he's cleaning behind his ears... :)

At the end of every day I called him "Quaaaack.  Quaaaaaack" and he'd get out of the water, give himself a shake, take a few steps and then launch into flight.  After gracefully landing in the alpaca paddock - taking three running steps to come to a standstill - he'd duck under the gap at the bottom of the fence, and waddle to where I was standing with the bowl of duck food in my hand.

Heading towards the food bowl...
It's not easy to take a pic of a duck in flight

Unfortunately, his newly acquired skill in flying obviously spurred him on, and two days ago he, too, disappeared - flying off to greener pastures.  The last time I saw him was when I fed him, and he waddled to his water bowl to take a drink.  Maybe he found a wild duck he fancied...?

Sad - he brought us joy - and smiles.

There's nothing nicer...

... than the smell of dust, and then wet ground, as long awaited rain begins to fall...

Wet, wet, wet :)  It's just started raining

Our dam level is very low, and we've had below average rainfall this past winter.

The dam level is very low, but not too low
for the ducks to have a waddle.  They've
taken over the dam in the past weeks -
which is exactly where they should be :)
I have a feeling that this gully is going
to be deepened with the gorgeous heavy
rain which is falling as I type :)

With the 30 - 40mm of rain which is predicted over the next day or so, all the plants and trees will get a good soaking, the grass in the paddock will be allowed to sprout and provide feed for the alpaca's, the rain tanks, which are all less than 1/4 full, will be filled, and the air (and solar panels) will be cleaned and refreshed.

Thank God for some rain :)

In spite of the drought...

... my garden is slowly springing to life :)

This photo was taken two - three weeks ago - the
water level is even lower now.
As you can see from the exposed white paint on the
jetty supports, the dam level is very low.
Thank goodness we coated the dam with bentonite -
I am convinced that if we hadn't, it would not still be
holding water.

 Guess you can't keep Mother Nature at bay LOL

A tiny strawberry - the
first of the season

This is the first tiny strawberry that I harvested this week.  But, I am not discouraged...

This one (of about 70) plant is covered with
flowers / minute strawberries - it looks like it
is going to be a good strawberry season this year.
It would appear that the load of alpaca poo
 and straw that the strawberry beds were dosed
with at the beginning of winter has worked
a treat :)

... as the strawberry plants are well covered with flowers / tiny strawberries in the making :)

Having googled how to prune a berry bush, even
our youngberry bushes are full of emerging flowers.

Last year we had a very disappointing youngbery harvest - addmittedly the bushes were still young, and incorrectly pruned by moi.  This year I got clever and googled pruning fruit bushes.  The apparent results speak for themselves :) But, it is a thankless chore- the tiny thorns are hectic!!  I even had one work it's way deep into my finger and go septic.  Ah, the pleasures of gardening LOL

My pumpkins / butternut and tomatoes are all slow - but I think the ducks have been digging up the pumpkin / butternut seeds - it was a nice, wet, straw-filled hollow and just perfect for ducks to forage in...  So, (for the third time) I've started them off in seedling trays - well away from the ducks.

What a sight for sore eyes

Although, at the moment, I am madly harvesting broad beans, I'm not able to get into the garden as much as I want to - we have been so busy with work.  (As a side note, there is nothing nicer than cooked, (inner) peeled broad beans with a dab of butter and a splash of lemon juice - I'm salivating just writing it LOL)

But, I think I am keeping on top of the planting.  I have restricted the produce I am going to grow this year to what we enjoy eating the most - peas, beans, swiss chard, tomatoes, peppers - sweet, chilli and piquanté peppers (all three types of capsicum have, amazingly, survived the winter and, after a pruning, are already producing flowers), potatoes, carrots, garlic, onions and aubergines (once the seedlings are available in my local nursery) and, hopefully, pumpkins and butternut.

That should give us a good variety - and a good mix of the necessary orange and dark green vegetables recommended for healthy bodies :)  And all are preservable so we can continue to enjoy them next winter.

The grape vines have barely any leaves,
but they are already producing grapes :)

Fruit - well we have that covered with strawberries, youngberries, plums, apricots, apples, pears, granadilla's, pomegranates and grapes.  Lots of fresh picking / eating, and jams / preserves in that lot, plus, once I've googled "how to make cordials", and souced the necessary bottles, they'll provide for that too ;) 

I also pruned the pomegranate trees correctly
this year (thank you Google) and they are
producing flowers too :)

For me, it's completely pointless using precious water to grow masses of food we don't eat / enjoy, and which would therefore be a waste - of time, water and effort.

Early tomorrow morning - it's weeding time...!

Wild thing...

Early last week, when we went through to the nearby town for Mike's birthday, as we were leaving after the party our daughter had a request.

Could we please adopt another feathered friend - a Cape Turtle Dove.

Only that morning she was working in the kitchen when she heard a noise and turned round.  There, walking on the floor, was this little dove.  As it was tame it was obviously someone's pet.  She shooed it outside, but it just came in again.  

This tame little creature wouldn't last long there as our daughter has three boisterous dogs and a cat.

So, with Mike's help she had placed it for safekeeping in their garden shed until Wayne came home that evening.  But she was at her wits end as to what they were going to do with it.

So, we agreed - although I was reluctant...

Here - I have to stay here...?

The little thing is so cute.  As soon as we got it home I placed it near the duck enclosure (birds of a feather, etc LOL)

Okey-dokey - I'll start by having a munch...

But, it wasn't happy there.  It had a quick munch of duck food (crushed corn), and a long slurp of water, and then flew up onto a nearby rain water tank.

It stayed there overnight - I was worried that the owl that frequents our fieldmouse-laden property would go for it that night.

The next morning it was still on the tank.  So I served it breakfast in bed. 

During the course of the day we checked on it and it was nowhere to be seen.

Then we heard an "Ooooo" from the backyard area.  (It makes a deep "Ooooo" sound when you're nearby).

Can you spot it?  Look on the far left handlebar of
the left quaddie
(btw, the numberplate does not make the quaddie
road legal - it was juts me having a bit of fun with
an old numberplate)

On further investigation we spied it sitting on the handlebars of my quadbike - in the shade.  Clever bird :)

Hmmmm, not too shabby.  Iguess it'll have to do

It seems to have taken up residence there, so I have secured a small bowl of water and one of duck food against the strong south easterly wind, and have provided it with a bed (a cardboard box filled with hay and weighed down with bricks) - I have no idea how it was housed previously, and I don't want to make it feel unwelcome...

I reckon that it is used to having easy access to it's owners house though...

... as it even waddled into our lounge from the front patio last night.  RMan and I were busy at the dining room table, Scallywag was sleeping on the floor, and all we heard was this close - very close - "Oooo".  (I had to distract Scallywag with skins of the cooked broadbeans I was shelling whilst RMan picked it up and took it back outside - I don't do bird poo in my house LOL)

So tame it happily goes to RMan's hand,
and then up his arm, and onto his shoulder,
finally settling on top if his head!

But, it's presence has been gnawing at me.  This little turtle dove is someones pet. Yes, it is illegal here to catch and cage wild birds, but someone has - maybe they hand reared it?  And they are probably missing / worried about their pet. So, last Friday, when we went to town for our weekly groceries, I asked Mike, my grandson, to visit all their neighbours and find out if they are missing their pet.  Although it is able to fly, it doesn't fly far, so logically, it must have come from a neighbours property...

Also, I have placed notices on the boards at the local supermarkets to advise that I have a "bird" - they must identify what it is before I hand it over to just anyone LOL

I hope it gets reunited with it's owners - we must be a strange set of people and circumstances that it now has to adapt to...

Thwarted

Oh, my...

Even the best laid plans can be thwarted.

Back on the 8th of July I introduced you to the latest additions to our farm animals.  In this case, it was Dilly and Dolly.

So cute - Dilly & Dolly

I was so excited - finally the possibility of having tiny new born ducklings was within a few months grasp.

I have tended them well - catered for their every need, protected them from the bullying drakes, and ensured that twice a day they have fresh water and food. Never mind cleaning out their filthy bath (ducks are not the cleanest of creatures).

What is the thanks that I get? 

There are defintely curly tail feathers on all four

They're all bloody drakes!!!!  Dilly & Dolly are, in fact, Donald & Daniel.

I ain't gonna get no ducklings from this lot.

From another angle - there are still curly tails on
them all

If, and when, I find some more Pekin ducklings for sale again soon, how can I introduce any baby hens - given that there should be 3 - 5 hens / drake?  I have no wish to have an instant duck family of 16 minimum.

RMan and I are unable to slaughter anything (except a field mouse or a snake) so it's not as if we could enjoy three duck l'orange meals in the near future either... (sigh)

Hmmmm, perhaps I can barter the well fed potential meal(s) for a couple of hens... :)  Let's see.

Sharing the love

I wrote here about feeding the ducks their grain / oat seed under water.

This was in an attempt to prevent my feeding the entire valley's rodent population - which would be an expensive exercise, and would encourage them to take up residence close to their convenient food source - just what I don't want.

It is amazing - even the wild birds watch out for me.  As I walk towards the bowls in the duck enclosure they arrive en masse and perch wherever they can until I leave and they can get to it.

The wild birds look out for me too - and all line
up in anticipation of a good munch

The other day as I was walking away from feeding the ducks I happened to glance back to see if the ducks had settled into muching and I spotted this...

Cheeky things - they barely allow me to
leave the enclosure before they climb into
the contents of the food bowls

 Birds, birds and more birds - of all descriptions...

I spy birds, and someting else...

... and not only birds.  Can you see what I spied in the bottom right corner of the photopgraph?

As the wild birds were busy with the one bowl, this ruddy field mouse proceeded to the second bowl, and, maling like the bird in the 2nd photo above, it proceeded to straddle the edge and reach down to the water to get the sunflower seeds which were floating on top.

Yeah, it's cute -
but it's still a rodent.
And it eats my veggies!

No wonder I found empty sunflower seed shells scattered round the bowls.  I thought it was strange that ducks would shell the seeds, and figured that the birds weren't big enough to do so.

All is now clear.  I have said before that sometimes I am slow - this is just another example ;)

So, when I go to town at the end of the week I am going to have to find some bowls which are shallow enough for the ducks to reach into, but too deep for the mice...  (and may I add, I have no problem if they do try, and they happen to plunge in and drown because they've stretched too far - there is absolutely no danger to the mouse population and any that do meet their maker will do so without poison and are thus safe for other wildlife to munch!)

I will not be thwarted in my fight against the rodent problem LOL

Introducing Dilly & Dolly

Boy - are we having frost this year.

Check out the layer of ice which formed in a puddle of water on RMan's trailer this morning...

Scaallywags inivestigating this new phenomenon in
his life...

.. that ice is roughly 1.5 cms thick!  It has wiped out my sweet potatoes, and is even affecting my peas - for goodness sake!!!!

But, I love the cold :)

On to other things...

I have discovered that I am very slow on the uptake.

Very, very slow.

And I have proof positive.

I first mentioned that we had been adopted by a pair of fully grown (adult) Quacker (or Peking) ducks back in November 2013.

Well, it has taken me all this time to realise that they aren't "ducks" per se, more drakes.

No bloody eggs is how I figured it out.  And given that they are sexually mature at 18 - 24 weeks...

The past (almost) year has scuttled by at such a pace - I still thought of them as ducklings.  Until I suddenly thought, hang on, they've been here a while - how come they're not laying eggs?  So, naturally, I Googled at what age are quacker ducks fertile.

Curly tail feathers indicate that both of the ducks
are, in fact, drakes!
No wonder they didn't produce any eggs.

I discovered that our two ducks, who have curly feathers at end of their tail feathers, are, in fact not ducks, but drakes.

Idiot.

I need some female ducks.

Our ducks have given us so much pleasure - they made us smile at how they greet us so vocally every time they see us, they've made us laugh out loud whilst watching their comical waddling round the yard and they've helped contain the insect population.

So, what's not to love?

So, the word went out.  Where can I buy some female quacker ducklings?

In May I finally found a lady who lives in the nearby village of Suurbraak. Suurbraak was established as a mission station back in 1812.  The land around the mission station was given to the locals by the Moravian Church and the village that sprang up around the mission station is now inhabited by the future generations of those early members of that mission.  It is a very quaint village - in an extremely scenic setting.  And, as there is very little work / industry nearby, it is a very poor village - with most of the villagers living from hand to mouth.

Anyway, the "duck lady" told me her duck was sitting on eggs, and that they should hatch shortly and be available in June / July.

I booked two immediately LOL

Sure enough when I mailed her, she told me that the ducklings were ready to go to their new home.  We organised to collect them last week on Monday.

Arriving at the "duck lady's" home - this was the
view which greeted us as we stepped out of the car.

The "duck lady" (she also has rabbits) lives high on the north facing hill above the village.  And has a stunning view from her front gate.

This is the duck lady's chicken coop -
quite cute, I thought :)

Just to the left of her chicken coop I spied our future ducklings - nestling in the grass.

Three little Quacker ducklings catching some
rays whilst they nap

I noticed that the one had black spots on its tail feathers.  Ha!  Apparently that is how you identify the male Quacker ducklings from the female ducklings.  And, when the ducks are fertile, they get a black spot on their beaks.

The duckling on the right has the black tail
feathers - so he's a future drake.

Oh man, they were just too cute.  I wish we could've taken the male, but apparently too many drakes round ducks means drake duck fights.  And we have two drakes already.  I hope they remember their long sabbatical and behave themselves in future...

Time will tell.

As soon as we got the ducklings home the drakes were immediately inquisitive.  Walking round and round, and up and down the outside of the duck enclosure - quacking, quacking, quacking...

"What is this?  Oh, my, they are ducks, just like us" seemed to be the translation of all the quacking that was bandied back and forth.

In the meantime, the ducklings weren't fazed by the drakes, and whilst they quacked ever so softly in reply, they acquainted themselves with their new surroundings.  I have been advised to keep them within the enclosure for 7 - 10 days - to acclimatize them to the enclosure, their surroundings and to me.  And to being fed in there - that is so that they happily return to it every night ;)

Inquisitive drakes outside and two curious
ducklings inside

But the drakes - they couldn't get enough of these two new arrivals.  They settled down for a ducknap outside the fence right next to the ducklings and didn't budge - even when I fed them.

Travelling from their old home, arriving at their new home,
and having a quick welcome munch made them thirsty

And the ducklings - they had a munch, they had a slurp - and then a swim, and then they settled down for the night...

On the first night the ducklings refused to even
inspect their shelter, and just settled down
on the straw I had place inside and in front of it.
But, at least they are under cover and protected
from the rain and wind

It feels good.  And it feels right :)

This is where I found them on the second night
- floating in the small pool made out of the
repurposed stainless steel kitchen sink that
we scored off Freecycle so many years ago

Last Sunday I let the ducklings out of the enclosure.

Did she mean to leave the gate open, should I
go outside...?

 At first they were a bit tentative...

Hmmm, it doesn't smell too bad, perhaps we
should venture out...

 ...can I, should I, may I...?

The drakes rushed up to finally meet and greet the
new ducklings

 But, the drakes came to "welcome" them, so they couldn't resist.

...and then proceeded to start nipping at
their tail and neck feathers!

I reckon they thought they had made an enormous mistake...!

The drakes proceeded to make their lives hell for the first 24 hours.  So much so, that I didn't allow the drakes into the enclosure that first night.

Settling down (hopefully) before their insect
hunting jaunt

This morning?  Well, after a nip or two from the drakes, they all seemed to settle down and are travelling all over the land searching out insects...

The drakes are in the front, and the ducklings
are against the fence at the back

...and, after their forage, have even taken up voluntary residence in the enclosure together.

Peace reigns - for now.  But, from what I have read, one of the drakes is probably going to have to find a new home...

And, within the next 3 - 4 months we will (hopefully) have some real (yellow) baby ducklings waddling round the farm :D

Duck and dive...

Look what we woke up to this morning... :)

Thick snow covering down to the lower level of the
mountain ridges
(by the way, the bentonite we added to the
dam has definitely helped the dam to retain
water and to prevent it from drying out
completely as it did previously!)

The sun is shining now and the reconfigured solar panels are performing perfectly at our current outside temperature of 6°C with no over-voltage occuring whatsoever - the power input at the moment is 710 watts - and I'm sitting at the dining room table with my back being gently warmed by the roaring, crackling Rosie behind me.

Life is good.

But, on to today's post...

The ducks that adopted us a while go are happily waddling round the property - munching on all the available insects (and my strawberries when they are in season) - and run up to us quacking madly for their grain twice a day when we go out to feed the alpacas.

But, I noticed that when I scattered their grain on the ground in their nighttime enclosure I was also feeding what they didn't finish to all the wild birds, not to mention the field mice, who have, naturally, taken up residence nearby.  Very nearby.  Like in the straw I have given them for bedding...

I then tried feeding the ducks the grain out of a container - but ducks aren't the tidiest of creatures when it comes to filling their stomachs, and as much went into their stomachs as landed on the floor.

More wild bird and mouse food.

Also, on a couple of occasions I noticed that they gobbled the food so quickly that they almost choked.

So, Google to the rescue.

Searching for "Duck feeders" brought up this pic.

http://poultrykeeper.com/duck-keeping/
beginners-guide-to-keeping-ducks

I quite liked the concept, so I've adopted it :)  On that same site, I also found out that ducks have no tear ducts, and they have to put their entire heads under water in order to clean their eyes.  I didn't know that.

I understand, especially in summer, that the submerged food could start fermenting in the water, so I am making sure that I feed them only as much as they wolf down at one sitting right from the start ;)  After all, their raison d'etre at Foothills Organic is to also to eat as many insects as they can find...

Duck food in a bowl of water

I gave them their first meal in the bowl (a re-purposed plastic ice cream tub) full of water and hung around to see if they would get the gist.

No problem.  They ducked their heads straight into the water and had a field day.

Yum, yum
Isn't there one last speck...

Because the food isn't dry anymore, they're not choking on it either.  In fact, the one just wouldn't stop and spent an extra 5 minutes making sure that there wasn't one last scrap that he could find...

The wild birds are only managing to scrounge the few seeds that float on top of the water, and the field mice - well, there's nothing for them, so they'll just have to relocate back to the fields.

You gotta love it when a plan comes together :)