Yesterday the boys and I let the ducks out to roam the yard for the first time. We stayed very close - actually the ducks stayed close to us - to see what the cats and the dog would do to say “hi” to them. The dog is old but, still, her ears went up when the ducks would stand high and flap their wings… the cat (don’t know where the other one was at the time) stalked them. Then she got right up to them and action began. I just love to see them wag their tails -er- tail ends.
A VERY good friend of mine came over this morning and we put some real Girl Power to work. I am trying to build a duck house/garden bed/wash dam with some railroad ties, rocks and lots of dirt. We got most of the foundation for the duck house part done. My chainsaw would only cut one tie because I need to take it in to be sharpened. So, we got all of the uncut ones laid - oh, and the one that we did get cut. The two short ends are laying near where they will be placed, with an end up so that I can get it cut when I get the chainsaw fixed.
Taking a railroad tie from the main pile - we had 40 of them delivered.
Oops, this one didn’t want to fit since it seems to be warped!
So, we took it off and traded it with a lower one and then put the “funny” one on top
Two hours later, this is what we had
We were filthy and tired. I still have to cut a few to fit. Then I need to build a structure from the railroad ties to make it all about 6ft high (so that I can walk in it), put the fencing around the structure, fill the spaces between the railroad ties, make a “roof” of plywood over about half of it, build the pond and make a hole in the shed that it is built next to so that I can make a small wooden “house” inside to protect them from the snow and ice we get here. It will have a heating lamp to warm the “house”.
When the duck housing is done, we will use the rest of the railroad ties to make a dam for the wash that runs through the yard when the snow melts. Between the dam and the duck house will be about 8-10 feet which we will have filled with dirt so that I can have a veggie or flower garden. Hopefully, this will harness Mother Nature to control the amount of water and mud in the horse corral.
THANK YOU, Nicole, for all of your hard work today. It is VERY MUCH appreciated!!
I got some Fly Predators this year. I have heard about them on RFD-TV, talked to people who have used them and searched them on the internet. They are little bugs that eat the fly larvae. They are very reasonably priced also. This is what they look like now…. in 2-7 days they will hatch and I will let them go on the manure piles. The bag of stuff looks like I cleaned a mouse cage lol!
The other night at about 11pm, I heard a blood curdling scream from my son - “There’s a RAT in the house!”. As I jumped up in bed from my sleep, I saw a baby bunny hopping into my room….. thankfully, it was not the imagined elephant-sized rat that Luke thought he saw :-) I am pretty sure that one of the cats brought it into the house - I just don’t know when, if it was days or hours before. Then the cats proceeded to chase the screaming bunny around the house most of the night. In the morning the boys caught it and put it into a cat carrier so that it could recover from its ordeal. His dad and I tried to tell him that the bunny needed to go back out side to live a wild bunny’s life. He resisted until his older friend came over today and told him the same thing. They found a place where other bunnies have been spotted and bid it a fond farewell. She was so cute, I was even tempted to keep her but we just don’t have the room/cage or the time for another critter right now.
They get bigger every time you look at them! They are both getting real feathers all over but the Crested’s pompom (on its head) is getting pin feathers - pretty soon it will look like a Vegas showgirl!… They swim and tweet/quack (their voices are changing - like a teenager!) all day. I am glad that we got the pen made and that the weather has warmed a bit so that they can stay outside all day and, now, all night.
The boys each got a duck for Easter. One is a Crested and the other is Rouen. We are virgin duck raisers. I thought they may die before now, but they are thriving. They are getting real feathers now and one of them is quacking - finally! When they first got here, all they did was cheep cheep. They started out fitting in the boys palm -
Now it takes two hands to be able to pick them up….
When they first got here, they lived in an old rat cage in the boy’s bedroom.
Last weekend we went outside and found enough scrap lumber to build them a proper house. The only thing I had to buy was the netting.
We gave them their first bath in the kitchen sink last week. They had a messy messy blast!
Now they have a swim tub outside
They still come in at night to sleep in that cat carrier you see in the background and the boys take them back out in the morning. The red light next to the carrier is a heat lamp to keep them warm in the cold wind that blows through here nearly constant now.
Talina
Nicole
yarmi74
kaylee
