RIP Snowball

Summer 2011 - September 2013

Saturday morning I was awoken by a teary 11 year old, who told me one of his ducks had died.  He found her in the duck house that morning.  She was one of our original four ducklings that we got from Clem's (along with Nibbles, Sweetie and Ducky).  She didn't appear to be sick, but she hasn't been laying much lately and we think she may have had an impacted egg, which can be deadly.

Snowball, we will miss you and that goofy feather tuft on the top of your head.  Even Sweetie appears a bit bereft.  We buried her in the yard by the old shed, where Lucy (a previous owner's pet) was laid to rest.

H-A-W-K

About this time last year we had a visit from a very big Hawk, named Dave, who tried to carry off one of our ducks and  nearly succeeded.  He hung around until about the beginning of winter and we haven't seen him since...

Now there is a new hawk in town, two actually.  They showed up when the husband and I were on duck duty.  Daisy sounded a loud quacking alarm and all the ducks hid under a bush (we had trouble finding them).  We safely locked everyone into the put under the bird netting (an essential item if you have poultry or water fowl).

The next morning the little bugger was sitting on top of the duck pen, waiting for his breakfast.


He is quite fearless (or should I say young and doesn't know better), and lets you get pretty close.  He has been hanging about the duck pen, so we got some reinforcement...



Yes, he is plastic, but seems to be doing the trick so far...haven't seen the hawk since we put him up.  Of course that could be coincidental...

Meet Henry...

We are down to one unhatched egg and one duckling.  Isn't he adorable?!  Daisy has no idea that he is not biologically hers.  I say the duck that spent four weeks sitting on the egg, definitely deserves to be the Mother!

We won't know for awhile the gender, until it starts quacking.  Girls  have a loud duck quack and drakes a low pitched mumble.  Very distinctive, but right now it just does baby peeps.

We are hoping that we don't have an only duckling...  The other egg is getting darker, showing signs of black feathers under the egg shell.  If we do have another duckling hatch, then the name might change...  East Indie Anna & Jones baby  is named Henry, after Indiana Jones son.  If there end up being two of them I hear we may have instead Chocolate and Rain...  

The Mysterious Case of the Disappearing Duck Eggs...

This summer my son has decided to try and let some of his duck eggs hatch.  The trouble with this plan is that some of the domesticated ducks will not sit on their nests.  Ducky, our mallard, will sit on her nest, but complains loudly and gets bored and leaves to go play with the other ducks.  Anna, our East Indie bantam, makes nests and lays eggs around the yard, will sit for a few minutes and then abandons the whole project.  Snowball, our Pekin, just doesn't care about any of it.  Thankfully, there is Daisy.  She is some kind of Pekin hybrid who seems to still have an intact mothering instinct.

We noticed Daisy making nests in the duck house and also in the hay in the pen.  We need the nest to be protected within the pen.  Ducks lay one egg a day and once they get enough eggs they will start sitting.  We didn't want to hatch a bunch of the big ducks for space reasons, so we smuggled Anna's eggs into the nest when Daisy wasn't paying attention.

Once there was one Daisy egg and seven Anna eggs in there, she happily sat on them.


Ducks eggs take about 28 days to hatch (which is 7 days longer than chicken eggs).  We have all been patiently waiting, but then we noticed eggs disappearing.  The first egg that was missing was Daisy's big egg.  She was still sitting on the 7 of Anna's though.  After another few days we were missing two of the little eggs...  Finally we were down to four.  We had no idea what was happening to the eggs..

Then yesterday, the husband noticed a little black puff running about the pen and lo and behold we had a duckling!



So far the other three eggs have not hatched.  Today we noticed a bit of a stink.  The boys said it smelled like tuna fish.  Then we saw Daisy pick up the stinky egg and chuck it out of the pen!  Unfortunately, it was a almost formed duckling that just did not survive.  The egg disappearing mystery solved.  Somehow ducks must know when the eggs are viable and get rid of those that are not.  Jack said that he did find a few eggs outside the nest that were squishy...

We are down to to two eggs...waiting to see what happens with those...they are hoping the other two hatch so then the boys can name them Mo, Larry and Curly.  Mom is hoping they are all female!!!

Up a Tree

This morning we noticed a strange nest high up in the tree by the driveway.
Upon closer examination it seemed to be a very large raccoon!

According to MassWildlife, "Raccoons are mostly crepuscular (active at dawn and dusk) and nocturnal (active at night), however they may be active during the day if food is available. Daytime activity does not mean that the raccoon is diseased." MassWildlife Racoons

I wonder what "food" it might be looking for...according to Yahoo and Wikipedia the answer to "Will a raccoon eat a duck" is a resounding "YES!"...

Here is an article from a Walla Walla Park blaming a raccoon for eating chickens, ducks and peacocks!

According to Mass Audubon, Raccoons are omnivores, eating both plant and animal matter, and opportunistic in seeking their food. During spring and early summer, insects, aquatic animals, mice and other small mammals, and bird and turtle eggs typically make up a large part of their diet. In the late summer, fall and winter, raccoons tend to consume more plant material such as seeds, grains, and wild fruits. Actually, there is very little a raccoon will not eat. Consequently, raccoons inhabiting suburban and urban areas often become night raiders of garbage cans and backyard gardens.

The ducks complained loudly, but we kept them inside their pen!

Duck update...

[caption id="attachment_963" align="alignnone" width="300"] Snowball and Sweetie grazing in the yard[/caption]

My friend Cora tells me that I left her hanging with the duck situation. Back in April I was complaining about our over-loved hens and over-amorous drakes... See here to catch up .

We got a new female duck, Daisy to help with the ratio, but it just made things worse...  The two males turned their attention to the new duck.  She couldn't move without one of them pinning her to the ground.  They were so mean.  It wasn't long until her neck was going bald and bleeding from duck "love" bites.

So we spent most of the summer scolding boy ducks and rotating the males from the females. It was a lot of work, we had to section off the pen and be vigilant about who we let out when. We knew this was a temporary solution because winter was coming and at some point they would all need to go in their house...together.

We decided instead of adding more hens we should subtract one drake.

We had a few offers from people to take one of our male ducks. One wanted to eat him. Another needed a companion for his other duck who had lost his partner and someone else had a big flock of drakes (no females) and we weren't sure if he would be happy there...

As it turns out, the neighbor behind us got ducks. She had four females and one male, but her male had recently died. The ducks weren't the same breed as ours (Pekin), but they were also heavy breed (big) ducks. So we dumped Nibbles over the fence and he happily became an alpha male duck to his new harem, I mean flock.  We can see him happily swimming in his pool with his new ladies.  Sweetie has been much better behaved around Daisy now. Apparently the two boys were fighting over her and neither wanted the other to win so they worked this out in true boy fashion, by beating on her.

Peace had been restored to the duck pen. Sweetie has his three girls and Daisy's neck feathers have started to grow back in. Since things were going so well we decided to go to a poultry swap and came home with two new ducks. A male/female pair. They are light weight, black east indies ducks that are iridescent green and blue in the sunlight.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="183"] Black East Indies Duck[/caption]

J named them Ana and Jones (get it - East Indy Ana - Jones). Thankfully Sweetie is not threatened by this small drake. The Pekins seem to have accepted them into the flock and while they keep a bit of a distance from the bigger ducks, they all fit comfortably in the duck house.

[caption id="attachment_957" align="alignnone" width="300"] Ana - who almost didn't make it onto the blog...and looking a bit rattled after her morning encounter with a hawk.[/caption]

Lately our biggest problem is hawks. We have a juvenile hawk that keeps attacking our ducks. This morning was the closest call we have had yet. My daughter actually saved Ana's life. She looked outside and saw a hawk next to the ducks pool (while all the ducks were in it). J ran outside yelling at the hawk. It had picked up Ana and was trying to fly away with her.

Thankfully J caught up to it in time and the hawk dropped the duck. She was unharmed, but a bit rattled. Her mate, the drake had hidden behind the pool.  Coward!  Sweetie and the other ducks just sat in the pool and watched the whole thing.  These ducks run in their house when a plane flies overhead, but they sit and watch a hawk attack.  Odd.  I believe there comments were, "well at least it's not me..."

We may have a Red Tailed hawk looking for a duck dinner.

Diet (from wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-tailed_Hawk)

The Red-tailed Hawk is carnivorous, and an opportunistic feeder. Its diet is mainly small mammals, but it also includes birds and reptiles. Most commonly reported prey types include mice, gophers,voles, chipmunks, ground squirrels and tree squirrels.^[22][23] Additional prey (listed by descending likelihood of predation) include lagomorphs, shrews, bats, pigeons, quail, corvids, waterfowl, other raptors, reptiles, fish, crustaceans, insects and earthworms.^[4] They can also prey on marmots, White-tailed Jackrabbits, small domestic dogs, domestic cats, or female Wild Turkey, all of which are easily double the weight of most Red-tails.^[4]





It looks like we may be building an outdoor bird pen and covering it with netting to keep the ducks safe while outside in their pool - so much for free-range ducks  (sigh).

[caption id="attachment_958" align="alignnone" width="300"] the current flock - Sweetie, Snowball, Ducky, Daisy, Ana and Jones.[/caption]

Ducky takes First Prize

House progress is moving slowly...but we did have some exciting news on the agriculture/animal front...

Ducky our female mallard, won first prize in her division for size and Nibbles won a second prize ribbon for color.  Ducky went on to the next round to win a second first prize ribbon for her class.  My son was thrilled with his prize winning ducks!  My husband won Fair Champion for largest cornstalk.  Yes he did.  My youngest son took a second place ribbon for his lego creation and my daughter scored some cool prizes playing games.  Overall it was a very fun and rewarding weekend at the Sterling Fair.

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SWD ISO SWD to share SMD affections

We started the week off on a duck hunt.  We let out four ducks and when we went to put them back in their pen there were only three...  They have been wandering lately, but they always travel as a flock.  The kids and I searched all over the yard, the neighbor's yard, the pen, the stream with no luck.  I had to put two worried children on the bus while I called in late to work to make a final sweep of the perimeter.

I let the rest of the ducks back out of the pen to see if they offered any clues.  They did not seem particularly agitated.  All two males were accounted for which means that either they were not doing their job of protecting the females or that duck was around here someplace...  I finally found her in the old shed crammed in behind the hay bales.  I had to move the bales so she could squeeze out.  Apparently this is normal adult female duck spring behavior.  They go "broody" and look for someplace to make a nest to hatch their eggs.

Still, we are a little worried about this duck.  The two boy ducks have been very amorous (T has had to give them several time-outs) and she is not particularly fond of all their affections.  She is refusing to go into the pool with them and has become quite scraggly and dirty.  She is also missing a few neck feathers.  I actually took out a personal ad for her today on craigslist.  It goes something like this:

SWD (single white duck) ISO SWD to share SMD (single male duck) affections.  Wanted, a large female duck (color, breed not important) willing to endure the constant attentions of two young males and give me some peace.

We have found the ratio of two boy ducks to two girl ducks to be inadequate.  We went to Tractor Supply Company and ogled the baby chicks and ducklings.  The trouble with the ducklings is that the adult ducks will bother them (they need a mother to protect them) and we need a full-grown female NOW.  The store also had this weird MA policy that you had to buy a minimum of 24 ducklings at $4.29 each.    Last year at Klem's we only had to buy a minimum of four ducklings...

After some Internet scouring I found this: MA General Laws: Chapter 272, PartIV, TitleI, Chapter272, Section80D - Ducklings

Section 80D. No person shall sell, offer for sale, barter or give away as premiums living baby chickens, ducklings or other fowl under two months of age.

No person shall sell, offer for sale, barter, display or give away living rabbits, chickens, ducklings or other fowl which have been dyed, colored or otherwise treated so as to impart to them an artificial color.

Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit the sale or display of baby chickens, ducklings or other fowl under two months of age by breeders or stores engaged in the business of selling for purposes of commercial breeding and raising; provided, however, that prior to May first in any year, such ducklings may be sold or purchased only in quantities of twenty-four or more.

This section shall not prohibit, however, the sale or donation of such chickens, ducklings or fowl to schools for use in classroom instruction.

Whoever violates the provisions of this section shall be punished by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars.

Maybe since we bought our ducklings after May 1st we only had to purchase four.  I guess it makes sense, prevent people from succumbing to Easter cuteness.  But still, who is going in and dropping $117 on 24 ducklings?  You only have to buy SIX chicks by the way and honestly they are less messy and will sit contentedly in your hand.  My son's poultry obsession however only extends to ducks.

I will keep you posted on our female duck search...  I never thought I would be arranging a duck escort service.

Our first egg.

While we were in Maine for the weekend, the ducks started laying eggs.  Jack had a huge grin on his face when he came in from his morning duck chores carrying the two orbs.  We have been getting almost an egg a day, but we are still not sure which one of the two female ducks is laying it.

They made a little nest in the corner of the duck house and lay the egg sometime after they go to bed for the night.  Jack insisted we cook them up and have a "taste test".  So I hard boiled some chicken and duck eggs and guess what...you can't tell them apart - well, at least we couldn't.  Our duck eggs are small (the mallard?) and were harder to peel, but otherwise it seems an egg is an egg...

Luv those Ducks

[caption id="attachment_266" align="alignleft" width="224" caption="Jack and Sweetie"][/caption]

The ducks are so big now.  T actually admitted that he likes them.  I caught him up in the middle of the night checking on them because he thought he heard a predator.  He went outside and saw two glowing eyes, but all ducks were safe in their pen.

Jack did have one scare.  He was watching a movie with his grandmother and did not go to put the ducks in until 9 p.m.  When he went outside he could not find them anywhere.  He came back in in a panic.  My Mother found him a flashlight and he finally located the ducks.  They were fast asleep in their duck house and had apparently put themselves to bed.  Crisis averted!!

[caption id="attachment_263" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="One of these things is not like the others"][/caption]

We have seen them fly recently.  Ducky (the mallard) flies out of the pool onto the ground.  The Pekins flap their wings, but don't get far.  We haven't clipped their flight feathers.  They are very bonded to each other and do not go far from their pen so I don't think they will be flying off (unless of course under attack and then maybe they should be able to try and get away?)...

More Baby Duck pics

The ducklings are so cute.  The kids have taken turns sleeping in the room with them.  We had to get a taller tub because Cassie was up at 3am to tell us that they figured out how to escape and then couldn't get back in the box.  They take care of the smaller mallard duckling "Ducky" and will circle around him/her if we try to pick him/her up.  Here are some pictures taken this morning at about 5 days old.

I had to inform T that we have three "Pekin" ducks.  He thought they were "Peking Duck" but that is certainly not the same thing, especially in chinese restaurants!!! 

The new babies...

Pile of Sleeping Ducklings

Here they are - the new babies about two days old.

The mallard (black and yellow one) is "Ducky".  One yellow one is "Nibbles".  Rory's yellow one is "Sunny".  And the third yellow one is nameless - any ideas?  And no I can not tell them apart but I think Jack can...

The ducklings are coming!

So...I know you have been anxiously awaiting more duck news.  I would hate to have you suffer in suspense.  The verdict is in and we will be getting ducks!!  There are somethings you just can't get in the way of.  I used to think it was a boy and his dog but in our house it's a 9 year old boy and his ducks!


Let me begin by cautioning you that it's not altogether easy to get ducks.  Especially if you want ducklings.  Sure you can order fertilized eggs online but then you've got shipping costs and an incubator to purchase.  The trouble with ordering ducklings online is you usually have to buy at least 12 and the 1-day shipping is $35.  We have scoured craigslist and the internet, talked to the owners of Davis Farmland and everyone said "Klems".

Klems  is a farm supply store in Spencer that carries everything from toys to tractors.  They also have chicks and ducklings in the spring.  We were originally told that they come in around Easter.  We took a trek down there (about 45 minutes) the Friday before Easter only to find a handful of chicks and an anticipated due date of May 1st for the ducklings.  Well, May 1st came and the ducklings still hadn't arrived yet.

I have become good friends with Ralph who is in charge of the birds.  He works 8-12 M-F.  He told me that Klems receives their shipments on Thursdays and Fridays each week.  He said the ducklings should be there at 9 a.m. on Thursday (today).  They were flying in from somewhere.  He ordered a few different kinds but couldn't tell me which would be there until they arrived.

Today is Thursday.  I called at 2:30 to confirm that the ducklings had indeed arrived.  I was told that they had, but that half had been sold already (!).   They had about 30 left.  The person on the phone thought they had Pekins and Indian Runners.  No you can not place a hold on the ducks.  She had no idea if they would have any left by Fri afternoon when we were planning on going down there.

So I relayed the information to T who said "What?!  Do I have to go down there?!".  I told him that he didn't have to do anything....  It helped that it was pouring rain and he was unable to do his planned yardwork.  It also helped that Jack was sitting at the table doing homework with a big grin on his face.  At about 5:00 the troops pulled out of the driveway heading for duckland while I went on to work.

Jack really wanted light-weight (bantam) ducks.  He had his hopes set on Khaki Campbells - small ducks that are good egg layers and good mothers.  I told him to pick me up a black Indian Runner.  In the books, these are weird looking ducks, but I met one in person and he was the cutest thing you ever saw (for a duck).
Alas, I just called the home-front and when they arrived at the store they only had pekins and one mallard to pick from...

Adult Pekin Duck

Adult Mallard Female with ducklings

Jack said he had waited long enough!  And picked three Pekins.  These are BIG classic looking ducks (8-12 pounds).  Not quite what I had in mind...  Cassie picked the mallard which is a much smaller duck - 3-4 lbs.  We will not know their gender until they get bigger, but hopefully we didn't get all drakes (that is duck speak for boy ducks).  T said the rule in Massachusetts is that the minimum number of ducklings you can buy is three.  He had his receipt as proof that we had purchased four so if we wanted to go back and buy another one they would sell us one or two more(?!).  Hmmm, I think I said four not six! 

I actually can't wait to go home (at midnight) and meet the new arrivals.  Jack held the phone out so I could hear them quack (well okay, peep).  Are we prepared for duck ownership you ask...well, not exactly.  We are prepared for ducklings - we've got a plastic tub with a heat light, shavings for bedding, a water container that they can't drown in (baby duck soak up water like a sponge) and chick food and vitamins.  They have to stay inside until they are bigger, which is a good thing since we haven't exactly got the outside pen figured out yet.

I did find a free half-finished dog house on craigslist that I am going to modify into a duck house.  Well, to be honest, my Dad is going to modify into a duck house with my assistance.  We are going to set it up on the existing concrete garage pad to prevent predators from burrowing in.  So we just have to finish the house and buy/install the fence.  Piece of cake, right!

Future Duck House

Note the fancy shed in the background.  Isn't that a beauty?  That's about the kind of duck house I could make.  

I promise to have fuzzy duckling pictures for you tomorrow!  We might even need you all to help us name them.

Dear Easter Bunny....

There is no doubt about it, the Easter Bunny is in over his furry bunny head this year...  These are notes to him from my children...

This is from my daughter:

"Dear Easter bunny,
What I most want I want a puppy and igseresreas (accessories) for my doll.  I don't want candy.  I want a puppy.  so can you give me a puppy
Love,
Cassandra XOXO"

and this is from my son...

"Easter List"
All I want for Easter is ducks.  I can give you 3 reasons why

1.  I would like to watch and learn about ducks

2.  I'm intred (interested) in birds
3.  Cassie has Rory, Rory has Cassie but me I don't have anyone.

Now if that isn't about enough to break your heart I don't know what will.  Thank goodness my three year old cannot write!!!!

The big duck dilemna...

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My oldest son is obsessed with having ducks.  I think he saw a documentary or something and is fascinated by how the ducklings hatch and imprint on what they see.  I think he is intrigued by the idea of them thinking he is their mother.

The duck thing started last year, before we moved.  He was excited to move to a place that was actually big enough to have ducks.  It also was surrounded by neighbors who had farm animals.

For Christmas he received a book on raising ducks and he has read it many times.  He has spent hours on the Internet researching all the different types of ducks, their personalities and their egg laying abilities.  He wants to sell their eggs at the farmer's market...

All this sounds great, right?  But ducks are messy.  They poop everywhere.  You have to give them clean water and clean bedding every day.  You have to build them a predator-proof pen.  Everything eats them.  Even hawks will fly down and if not snatch your duck, just grab a piece.  They don't go to bed at night like chickens so you have to put them to bed...  If they survive all the predators they can live for 20-30 years!  They also can become emotionally attached and dependent upon people.

The last thing I need is a depressed duck because my son has lost interest (or grown up and gone to college)...  I tried to discourage this whole thing (really!).  I took him to meet someone who had grown ducks (really not so cute as ducklings).  We talked about the fact that some will die.  We talked about him having to clean up poop and deal with the stink and the flies.  We talked about having to hire a duck sitter to give them fresh food and water if we want to go away overnight...

He is undaunted.  Daddy says no! - he has too much to do, he can't handle ducks and needs at least another year to get a pen ready.  We need him to dig a concrete foundation (so nothing can dig under there) and frame it up and cover it with two types of wire (to prevent racoons from sticking their hands in and grabbing them) and cover the top so hawks can't swoop in and predators cannot climb over.  That stuff is beyond me....Jack is not happy. 

If you want to know where to find ducklings, they have them at Clem's in Spencer around Easter.  Ducklings cost $5 each and they have different kinds.  If you want to build a duck pen there are plenty of youtube videos.  My favorite site for step by step with materials options is this one:  Build a Duck Pen.  If you want someone to talk you out of ever getting a duck - this is blog to read:  Want a Pet Duck?

And here is some light reading....