She Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Flowers
No wife can resist the followin' phrase: "You wanna get ducks this year?" Y'all.....Y'ALL! Listen! Paul knew I wanted ducks. Been talkin' about it for-ever! But he asked if I wanted to get ducks whilst at Tractor Supply. You bet your beloved onions that I came home with ducks. Which, funny thing. He's thinkin' one duck. Naw. The sign says "two minimum." I brought home three. On top of the six chicks that we hatched pre-spring.
Now, to bounce ahead a significant amount of time. We lost two chicks to the forces of nature. One drowned in our duck pond (kiddie pool). And one was pecked to death by the elder chickens. Which, I know happens---but WE have never had a problem before. We have one hen that is gonna end up a fried chicken dinner. I know it was her. Our rooster never bothered the babies. Even the baby roos I know were in that hatched batch. And I witnessed said hen attackin' all three ducks. Now, before all y'all start talkin' about keepin' this and that separate, I've had birds long enough to know what I'm doin'. I know how this works. We clearly ended up with some not so kind hens. It happens. Them Isa Browns....
Fast forward again---a mated pair of foxes janked all seven of the babies one night. Lesson learned. We will do better. Again, I'm aware this happens. However, havin' never had a significant fox problem before, this came as a bit of a shock. We know they're around (literally livin' in our neighbors' yard). But aside from one hen we lost last year to said fox, we have had no issues otherwise. This was complete stupidity on our part and a couple foxes had babies to feed. It is what it is. I waited three days before I couldn't wait any longer and picked up six more ducks. Apparently Paul was expectin' three ducks this time. How can you NOT purchase both colors and have even numbers??
We now have eighteen feet of defender pen in our backyard. Due to where we live and the type of wildlife around, our pens each have a roof to keep out the predators. These were expensive, but necessary investments. We may not solely rely on our hens as meat birds, but we do the eggs as do other people. Speakin' of which, rainbow butt nuggets anyone???
We got the duck pen put up just before Paul's recent trip. And the ducklings have been put outside almost daily. They're hangin' out in their portion of the pen and enjoyin' a bit of shade in a Little Tykes playhouse until I get their Quack Shack installed. We bring them in at night since temps are still droppin' too low for them to be out without an adult duck to keep them warm.
Since we don't intend to eat these, they have names. I've been told the white ones are not mine to name. We'll see what happens with that. I personally like the coffee theme cuz...why not? Three brown and three white equals coffee. Mocha, Latte, Cappuccino, Cream, Milk and Skim. It works, yes? Yes. It works. Apparently, there is a Hedwig in there somewhere. I appreciate the Harry Potter thought, but coffee.
This is our little WannaBe Homestead update. The gardenin' stuff is comin' along. But updatin' that will have to come later. Baby steps.