Wednesday 2 March 2011

Don't You Just Love Ducks?

Joey and Phoebe

Preparing to move house is always stressful, no more so than with 35 days remaining before you need to be out of (what you thought of as) your home. More difficult, still, is organising where the assortment of livestock will be temporarily housed, in the event everything goes horribly wrong and we find ourselves homeless. But the ducks don't know about any of this. All the ducks know is that there were seven of them a couple of weeks ago and now there are only two. We rehomed four and then we had the sad and sudden death of dear little Monica.

In preparation for vacating this address, we've begun deconstructing everything in the garden. This means the hens and ducks can now access what used to be the raised vegetable bed. It also doubled up for Square Foot Gardening. It's almost northerly facing, so we edged it with mirrors in order to catch every available ray of sunshine during summer.

This morning, Joey and Phoebe discovered the mirrors!

They were so comical, fluffing their feathers, flapping their wings, head bobbing and staring intently at their own reflections. Ducks, I can conclusively state, CAN see reflections in mirrors. Their ability to recognise themselves, however, is still debateable.

This is Joey attempting to head bob and look cool in front of Phoebe. She, on the otherhand, was less vain, and decided that it was better fun to dabble among the blackcurrant and raspberry cuttings, before waddling off to nest beneath the conifers.

Ducks are so funny. They amuse me no end. They produce fantastic eggs and their chicks, at hatching, are the cutest, squeakiest, yellow-beaked, big-footed fluffballs I've ever seen. We all love ducks here!

I can't wait to get settled into another place and hatch a few more ducklings. It was really sad seeing Pingu, Pongo, Spot and Tiny going away, but when landlords want their houses back, sacrifices need to be made. At least the Runner Ducks have gone to a nice new home, with acres of space and a pond all of their own. Plus we're allowed to visit them anytime we like. :)

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2 comments:

  1. Great pic! So sad that you had to rehome the rest, especially Tiny.

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  2. Ah, Little Tiny Tim who turned into a Tiny Tina. :) Yes, she was really cute and a great favourite, especially after her intensive care in the incubator. Was sad to see all of them go, hoping I don't carry a grudge against the main cause of all of this.

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