Duck Relocation

Good Monday, Farm Friends!

Yes, it is Valentines Day... and with it, we've had to call a moratorium on amorous behavior here on the farm!  (Well, at least for non-humans!)

We had a perfectly lovely weekend... with just the right mix of family time, friends time, and at-home time on the farm.

Yes, it snowed again!...  but, just an inch.  And with the warm temperatures that we had had on Thursday and Friday, a lot of our ice had melted.

We had Saturday supper with our littles and enjoyed a family evening.  Can you tell that Elijah loves to eat?  That's yogurt on his face (and in his hair) and an olive on his nose.  Very soon after this photo was taken, this Grammie carried him off for a tubby! (After he and his brother and sister were tucked into bed, we headed home to tuck our own crew in for the night.)

Saturday was bread baking day and I tried a new recipe (my own adaptation).  These are loaves of white/wheat/rye with parmesan, garlic, and fresh basil and rosemary - topped with rosemary sea salt.  Best bread ever.  We ate almost an entire loaf on Saturday!

I also used some of last year's frozen raspberries and made some fresh jam.

Saturday afternoon, Maggie and Macy and their Momma came to visit Forrest and Ramona (and us, too). 

Of course, Momma B. came along for a visit as well.  She loves the farm!

A different dog in the house, meant that Ivy sought shelter on top of the kitchen cabinets... as far away from the floor as possible but one eye on Mama B. at all times!

 After reading of the ducks' trial release last week, the girls had suggested that they come and take their two ducks for a tour of the farm to help get them acquainted with the terrain.  (If you read last week's blog, then you know that Forrest and Ramona (both males, as it turns out) had a little difficulty keeping up with the rest of the flock when they were turned out for free ranging. They just could not figure out how to duck under the pasture fences and we feared that if they were left alone they might get lost.

We all walked out to the barn anticipating a new duck adventure.  Of course there were stops to give out treats...

and stops to visit with the barn kitties...

chubby Gus and velcro Pete!

Afterwards, ready for the grand experiment.... we opened the door to the duck yard

 and the entire flock went out and off across the farmyard on an excursion... Forrest and Ramona in tow.

 We cheered as we watched Forrest and Ramona navigate the pasture fences... ducking under them just like the rest of the flock.  They took a large sweep across the goat pasture and towards the edge of the woods.

As we passed the indoor arena, we heard a rustling in the downspout.  Jack unhooked the drainage pipe to find a starling trapped inside.  We were so glad we happened to hear that!

The girls were so proud of their ducky boys... they were finally real live ducks and just part of the flock!

Rather than tempt fate, we decided to gently usher them back to their yard after this grand adventure, just to ensure that Forrest and Ramona didn't get left behind. 

Danielle, sat for a long time trying to entice Forrest and Ramona into her lap as they used to do.  She offered their favorite treat - kale.  However, it seems that these two have fully become ducks and are now a part of the flock.  This is all the closer they would get to her:

 While we were all sitting there watching, we noticed that our females were looking quite stressed, and one was injured.  The feathers on the back of her neck were missing and her eye was swollen.

If there is one thing that I cannot tolerate, it's testosterone driven acts of aggression.  This is, in part, why none of our animals retain their natural born male organs when they come to live on the farm... that, and the fact that this world needs no more un-planned animal pregnancies!

Unfortunately, there is no way to sterilize male birds - which is why we have made it our policy to never have more than one rooster.

As for the guineas... we have never known how many males vs. females are in our flock at any given time, but it never seems to matter.  Wacky guineas aren't terribly aggressive... they are all squawk and no bite.

Ducks, on the other hand present a whole different problem.  We have noticed over the years that our ducks tend to be overly aggressive during mating season, but until now our females had always held their own.  That is, until recently.  We realized, after adding Forrest and Ramona to the flock that out of our eleven runner ducks, only two are females.  

Now that spring is around the corner, the males are becoming aggressive.  Seeing this, I immediately decided that the interactions between males and females would have to stop.  We made the decision to segregate our group.  Males would live in the normal duck hut, but we would establish a Women's shelter in the old turkey house/yard for our two female ducks.  There, they can live a quiet life together without any male advances and certainly no acts of dominance or violence.

We are going to search for more female runner ducks to add to our flock... but will continue to keep the males away from the females.  If we can find enough females to outnumber the males, we may once again integrate the sexes.  But, for now, the girls are just off-limits!

Saturday evening, Jack and I caught the girls and took them to their new home for the night.

Sunday morning we opened up the turkey house to check on the females...

who enthusiastically came running out of their new house and into their new yard.

Much quacking ensued as they explored their new world. (only the females "quack")

Surprisingly, the male duck yard seemed much more peaceful without the presence of the girls, as well.    This segregation might actually end up a permanent thing... time will tell.

Our Sunday was spent at home... a fire burning in the fireplace.  The day included a little writing, a little knitting and a little painting... all while viewing a newly snow-covered world outside our windows.

Sending Valentines hugs to all of our sweet farm friends!

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️