Spring Ducks 2020

It has been a relatively nice Spring.  The ladies have started laying eggs again, and are happy splashing in their pool, too.  They have had a very familiar visitor this Spring.  A very calm around people sort of Mallard.  Could it be the released wild mallard sister coming back to say hello?  Only they know. 

First eggs of the season April 9th.  

Monochrome trio April 10th.  

Can't wait to share eggs with the neighbors.  

Duck egg, chicken egg, duck egg, duck egg. 
Duck eggs are much larger than chicken eggs.  

Ms. Mallard lounging happily by the ladies.  

Ms. Mallard hanging out with me, dog, and ducks. 
This mallard is fearless.  

Ms. Mallard

I think we know each other.  

Hello.  

Ms. Mallard 

Mr. Mallard is way more frightened, and hangs out on the roof. 
He is usually the one to convince Ms. Mallard that she has to go.  

And here is the joy of the Spring pool.  

They would like it deeper, but then they have the hardest 

time figuring out how to get in and out of a bigger pool.  

It has been over a year since the last post.  Life has kept me away from the digital world, but the ducks and gardens keep on.  The ducks remain a wonderful reason to rise and shine.  They are part of my daily rhythm.  Wake up.  Fill duck water, food, let ducks out of coop.  Work rest of day.  Before bed, walk ducks to their coop.  Clean up their dishes.  Sleep.  Repeat.  The two black cayuga ducks are starting to get white feathers.  They "grey" as they age.  In the next couple of years they will become mostly white. 

Duck laying eggs in marsh hay nest.  

April brought egg laying season.

Lots of eggs over the summer.

They still love their mini pool. 

Cooling off.  

Fall in the new duck pen.  

I added leaves from our front yard Maple tree for the ducks to forage in.  

Foraging for bugs.  

Then came a mild winter.  

Winter Descends with Windchills at -50 degrees F

    Winter has taken time to settle in.  It rained and gave above average warm temperatures when it should have given frost and snow instead.  The warmer start to the season was easier on the birds, but not a good sign for when winter actually came.  The extremes in weather and the changes in the seasons are not good. 
    We went from lots of rain and unseasonably warm temperatures to a lot of snow and extremely cold temperatures forced down from the switch in arctic air flow caused by the rapid warming and melting of our polar ice cap.  As the decades have rolled by the changes in our climate are more obvious than ever.  Being an avid urban farmer - in the past a rural farmer - the weather is part of daily life.  The changes are noted, and the unpredictability troubling.  It's becoming harder to grow and raise things as their climate is changing.  Having feathered friends in my backyard with unpredictable weather has posed challenging in its own way. 
    Recently my hens have endured and have triumphed two very cold days.  -25 degrees F without the windchill.  -50 degrees F with the windchill.  Having just the three birds I was troubled that this cold might be too much for one or all of them.  But they are very hardy birds, and the rotation of fresh water, thawed out food, and warm oatmeal/pea/romaine mash helped fill them with calories to help stay warm.  Providing adequate shelter from the wind made a huge difference as well.  I was lucky enough to have off work due to the cold to provide the rotation in water needed.  I don't think they could endure a week or weeks of this extreme cold without a heated shelter, but they can get through a few days by sleeping, huddling, and relying on their stored fats.  They are amazing at handling the winter weather. 

Warmer weather kept grass exposed for a long time.  Lots of rain
and freezing rain.  Seemed more like a rainy tundra.  

A dusting of snow came, but melted right away.  

Some snow cover.

First significant snow.

First significant snowfall happened December 31st.  Then
it all melted due to above normal temperatures in January. 

Another snowfall happened the end of January just in time to
blanket and insulate the barren ground from cold temperatures.  

-20 degrees F windchill is fairly more normal for our area. 
Ducks don't mind it much.  They crust over with ice and huddle up.

Oat and peas in warm water mash for calorie intake boost.  

-50 degrees F with the windchill.  -26 degrees F without windchill. 
Ducks would not leave their coop - which is good - they were smart
to stay protected from the blowing icy wind and frigid temperatures. 

The sun beating down on the birds helps significantly during
the day to help keep their body temperature up.  They lay in the sun in
a bundle of feathers and only get  up when brought thawed water and
calorie mash.  It is -46 with the windchill even with the sun shining.  

Happy Hens in All Seasons

     The old rabbit hutch we built received renovations recently.  With the rabbits having grown old and moving on, we had a great old hutch not getting use.  Getting it weather ready for the ducks was fun.  They need a space to huddle up in during the cooler and snowy days coming ahead.  They have their main coop for at night to keep the predators away (their fortress, I call it, is by our house), but they needed something during the day when they are in their large outdoor pen (their day pen is a large enclosure with garden greens, flowers, raspberries, etc. away from our house).  They prefer sleeping under flowers and nestling in the raspberry patch.  However September and October strip our region of the floral and lush greens they love.  Accommodations were made.   And the hens responded very well to their new and improved Fall/Winter outbuilding. 

Great new place for them to lay their eggs.  

Enjoying the new leaf ground cover.  I rake and bag all of the maple
leaves in our front yard and bring them back to our hens. 
They enjoy rummaging through Fall leaves for bugs.  

Lights were added.  As the daylight becomes scarce, we provide light
to keep the hens safe and aware of their surroundings.  We use both solar and
timed lights to keep parts of the yard aglow.  

Hens in Summer

     Summer is the hens' favorite season.  The temperature is glorious, the bugs are out to eat, worms are everywhere to be shoveled out, garden treats are ready, rainstorms are a favorite, the pool is always open, and the days out are long and full.  They laid a great amount of eggs over Summer.  They created new nest sites with marsh hay, creating beautiful rounds spaces under nasturtiums.  We were able to share eggs with neighbors and friends.  And always the duck eggs were a hit - so good and so fun to bake with. 

   

I added morning glories and other flowers to their coop. 
As the season progressed the flowers blanketed the coop
and made a pretty, flowered cover-up.  

The three hens would take turns building and positioning feathers
and marsh hay for a shared nest beneath the nasturtiums.  

Their favorite spot in the morning - in the kiddie pool.  

After just laying an egg.  They still prefer to bury them under a layer
of marsh hay or below the shavings in their coop..  

The Ducks' New Neighbor

     After a little while the hens didn't seem to mind their new Possum neighbor.  It lived in our neighbor's backyard somewhere, and used their giant tree to climb up onto our fence.  It would balance and shimmy it's way over to our front yard where we guessed it was dining on our apples from our apple trees.  I was more worried about the Possum tangling with our dog.  Our dog did not want this critter anywhere in our yard, but no problems occurred. The Possum minded it's business - leaving my hens alone.  And yes, this Possum was out in the middle of the day when I snapped one of the  photos.  I'm guessing something scared it out of its daytime refuge - seemed healthy and happy scurrying across our fence top.  We would see it a lot at night, going from our neighbor's yard to our front yard.  But now that the season has changed I have not seen any critters outside besides birds, squirrels, and chipmunks.  This scavenger must have moved on. 

Our first sighting when it was tiny. 

A daytime sighting, after it had grown, a couple months later. 

Know Your Scats

  We knew something was unsettling the birds at night.  They were incredibly quiet and careful about staying low in their coop.  Our ever faithful Labrador Retriever also knew something new was roaming the yard.  His snout was stuck to the ground, tail wagging, senses anxious and heightened.  I hadn't heard anything, but knew by my pets' behaviors that something wasn't right in the yard.  Was it a feral cat again?  A mink?  A skunk?  I was awaiting evidence. 
  Growing up on a farm as a child in the middle of nowhere, I learned a lot from my dad about animal scats.  It was always important to know what critters were visiting our acreage and coexisting or harming our farm animals and crops.  Today, our new yard visitor left some evidence - scats.  And they were such perfect scats I could easily identify it as Possum scats.  Possum scats right outside the duck coop. 
  I'd rather it be a Possum than a gang of clever raccoons.  But still a Possum holds a threat to ducks - a smaller threat, but still a game changer of peace in my backyard.  Now it's time to be more diligent than ever.  Keeping ducks safer, dog safe from a run-in with the Possum, and the Possum safe, too.  Possums can be beneficial to gardens - eating pests and other rodents.  It just better stick to the gardens pests, and not get too curious or tempted by my three lovely hens.