The ducks are leaving

The ducks are leaving.  Not all, but most.  C took three ducklings yesterday and will pick up another tomorrow.  R is taking four ducklings and possibly adults Wednesday.  Jj took six adults today.  That was the hard one.  We separated the mother from her ducklings.  We took three two nights ago when they went to the barn to eat without her. We took the other five early this morning.  They’re in a “chicken” tractor tonight and the mother duck has gone to Jj’s.  The ducklings are feathering out and plenty old enough to be on their own.  They’ll be penned up and safe at R’s.  Jj’s penning hers in the garden for a few weeks while they learn where they live.  They’ll be helping with pests.

There’s a mallard hen on a nest in the brush and we can’t find her.  She’s been setting for three or four days.  I need her off that nest asap.  The dogs looked for her for an hour today without any luck.   A drake is loose tonight too.  When I herded them to the barn he took a right rather than waddling left into the barn.   I wanted that duck to leave today but he wasn’t abandoning his mate.  The loyalty of our ducks to their mates amazes me. The mallards visit their mates on their nests every day.  I use them to find the nests.  Vanessa, our mis-sexed and mis-named drake, helps raise his mate’s ducklings.  When she made a second nest this year he covered the eggs while she was still filling the nest.  Loyalty is something to be admired…unless you wanted that duck to leave today.  Steve and Seb worked together to get the duck out of the pond.  For the first time in his nine years, Sebastian acted out the retriever part of labrador retriever.  We excuse his laziness in that department, he’s only half lab.  After an hour or so Seb had the art of cutting the duck off down pat.  He did a good job of keeping up with the duck but couldn’t over take him to grab him and bring him to me.  He was intent on finding the duck on land too.  I’m impressed. I’ve never seen him work so well.  He really wanted to bring that duck to me and put thought into what he was doing.  He’s been snoring for a couple of hours now. Steve put the kayak in the pond and managed to push the duck out but we lost him in the brush.  He’s a wiley, older duck.  He went into the woods.  The dogs lost him but found him again when he came out of the brush near the old pig pen. He’s so quiet we don’t hear him moving through the tall grass.  He went back to the pond.  Then into the woods on the other side, and the brush, back to the pond…you get the idea.  We lost him.  Maybe he’s with his mate?  I’m counting on them being in the pond early in the morning.

We have 13 ducks now (not counting five ducklings). I’d like to have only six ducks when I’m done but I think it’ll be closer to 10. That’s ok. It’s a lot more manageable than the 28 we had a few weeks ago.

I’ll be ordering meat chickens soon. More on that later.