We think one of the ducks is gone. I put them all in the garage tonight and one of the cayugas, Buttons, failed to appear. She's a big duck but very slow and it's possible that she's got separated from a few others and not found her way home. I hope she'll turn up in the morning or start quacking when the others come out. They're all individuals and it would be a shame if she's gone.
We've been discussing Christmas and how we can make it ok. GF has various issues stemming from her childhood, one of which is receiving presents. We've tried to find a name for it, but there's nothing really on the web about it. She didn't really get much in the way of presents and what she did get were never well thought out or were what her mother wanted, etc. Her brother fared better, but then he's a boy, so different rules apply. It's something we're going to reassess as we get nearer and see how things go. I want to make it the Christmas she never had but it might be too much in one go, so we'll tackle one thing at a time.
Showing posts with label duck. Show all posts
Showing posts with label duck. Show all posts
Wednesday, 18 August 2010
Saturday, 14 August 2010
Birds of a feather...
We have a lot of birds. I say we. My GF has been collecting various ducks, geese, chickens and turkeys for a few years. When I moved in, in January, I became joint custodian. Prior to this, I had claim to some of the ducks. The summer before last, in my former life, I had, with some help, raised 7 orphan mallard ducklings to maturity. Four of these were the standard mallard colouring and were returned to the lake from whence they came. Three of them, however, were white. Not albino, just white. One also had an underbite. She was smaller than the others but was far more cocky and would take no crap from anyone. It was decided to retire these three to what is now my home for fear of Titch, as she was called, not being able to feed properly in the wild. And so it happened that I was reunited with Titch, Jack and Jill when I came to live here.
They are not the only ones to find refuge here. We have a Canada goose, named Biscuit, who was brought as an abandoned gosling. And recently we acquired a herring gull who we found in a cow field with half his wing hanging off, but otherwise strong and fit. He was carried home by GF who tidied him up and so he now has only one and a half wings, but a voracious appetite and lives in a large enclosure with his own huge pond. His favourite meal is mussels and crab sticks, although he developed a taste for layers pellets while he shared with 3 of the ducks who were being built up a few weeks ago.
Tom is our Chinese goose who we bought at a few days old back in May with the intention of pairing him up with Biscuit. He is a real character who has taken to the newest duck, hatched a few weeks ago under one of the call ducks. He doesn't really know what he is yet. He will have to work this out, when he's put in with the seven other geese. All embden crosses. We have two ganders. Monty and Bob. Monty is top dog. During the breeding season, I refused to go near him and had to carry a stick, which they are wary of. When let out in the morning, he started testing his status by trying to bite my boots, which in itself is not a problem until he started to follow it up with a wing flap. That's when damage can be done. His reign of terror was ended a couple of months ago when he picked on the smallest female once too often and GF cased him round the garden before pinning him down and shouting at him. He has been very docile since. Strange that. Paxo is the turkey stag. He also doesn't know what he is, although he has his harem of three females. One reason some of them are a bit confused is that they were hand reared and so sometimes prefer human company to that of their own species. This isn't a problem, except that he sees GF as his parent / mate and that puts me in the position of rival. He doesn't like rivals and also took to attacking me. They are now well out of the way in the wood where they seem happy enough, but he does miss his cuddles with GF.
Apart from the birds, there's the 5 dogs, the 6 cats, one of whom is about 17 or 18 and a ring-necked parakeet.
It can all be a bit mad at times, but at least it makes me seem relatively sane, so I'm not complaining.
They are not the only ones to find refuge here. We have a Canada goose, named Biscuit, who was brought as an abandoned gosling. And recently we acquired a herring gull who we found in a cow field with half his wing hanging off, but otherwise strong and fit. He was carried home by GF who tidied him up and so he now has only one and a half wings, but a voracious appetite and lives in a large enclosure with his own huge pond. His favourite meal is mussels and crab sticks, although he developed a taste for layers pellets while he shared with 3 of the ducks who were being built up a few weeks ago.
Tom is our Chinese goose who we bought at a few days old back in May with the intention of pairing him up with Biscuit. He is a real character who has taken to the newest duck, hatched a few weeks ago under one of the call ducks. He doesn't really know what he is yet. He will have to work this out, when he's put in with the seven other geese. All embden crosses. We have two ganders. Monty and Bob. Monty is top dog. During the breeding season, I refused to go near him and had to carry a stick, which they are wary of. When let out in the morning, he started testing his status by trying to bite my boots, which in itself is not a problem until he started to follow it up with a wing flap. That's when damage can be done. His reign of terror was ended a couple of months ago when he picked on the smallest female once too often and GF cased him round the garden before pinning him down and shouting at him. He has been very docile since. Strange that. Paxo is the turkey stag. He also doesn't know what he is, although he has his harem of three females. One reason some of them are a bit confused is that they were hand reared and so sometimes prefer human company to that of their own species. This isn't a problem, except that he sees GF as his parent / mate and that puts me in the position of rival. He doesn't like rivals and also took to attacking me. They are now well out of the way in the wood where they seem happy enough, but he does miss his cuddles with GF.
Apart from the birds, there's the 5 dogs, the 6 cats, one of whom is about 17 or 18 and a ring-necked parakeet.
It can all be a bit mad at times, but at least it makes me seem relatively sane, so I'm not complaining.
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