Aug092009
more ducklings …!
Filed under Life etcetera, et al, Newsie, Pets by The Soaplady at 10:29 am on Aug 09 2009
My little east indian black ducklings have grown, and are now out in the garden, their feathers being fully through, and their little chests all waterproof and springy …
we is playing with the big boys ...!
They are so *loud* … especially at feeding-time when they surround me and quack as if it were their last breath, getting it all off their springy little chests …!
looking cute ...
Then two days ago, I came downstairs, opened the front door to find little brown duck looking up at me hopefully, with a sizeable black-and-yellow ‘crocodile of offspring behind her - just a day old - eleven of them …!
I had a choice to make just then … leave them to take their chances (the BBC wildlife filming approach), or intervene to make sure they all survived, even though it’s not ‘natural’ …
This time, I enclosed them in the duck Pleasure-Drome (no longer needed for the blackies), and set mum in there with them, with a box-shelter, food and water …
so now all I have to do is to get in some extra growers and layers pellets, and hope the ratio of drakes to ducks isn’t that high, or the garden will be a morass of testosterone soon …!
1 Flying Caton 09 Aug 2009 at 10:45 am
“which would you’ve done, in my place …?!”
…a share in the purrofits as it were!
Oh dear, this is difficult…lemme think…I’ll just consult Marmers. Yup, he agrees with me. EffCee/KayCee&Marmers Ltd (Duck Security Branch) at your service ma’am. We guarantee to securitise your feathered babies in return for a small consideration
2 TheCrofton 09 Aug 2009 at 12:44 pm
How many do you have now?!
And will you be selling the excess on to Peking Cuisine??
3 taddoeon 09 Aug 2009 at 2:05 pm
They all look gorgeous–i would have made the same choice as you did: But what do you do with all your ducks once fully grown and getting on in years?
4 thelandladyon 09 Aug 2009 at 6:00 pm
Er I hope you’re not suggesting that Soaplady is getting on in years, Taddoe?????!
5 taddoeon 09 Aug 2009 at 7:14 pm
the ducks dear pussy,the ducks:
6 Soapladyon 09 Aug 2009 at 10:00 pm
they just wander around in the garden taddoe … I’m a relatively new duck-keeper, and I lost my whole flock to mink year before last (they killed the senior drake you see, so all others just went off), so I’m still building them up …
Currently have two drakes (’The Percies’), one little brown duck, eleven ducklings, and the four black ones Fred gave me …
Muscovies are the ultimate wandering duck … They don’t really need me, and they know it …! at least I know that while they stay with me, they stay because they like it here …
If I end up with too many drakes, I’ll simply bequeath some to Eileen at the Doune Braes, to graze around her huge loch …!
I’m stupid you see - I’ll always love them however old they are … I sat on a wheely chair this evening for an hour in my garden, watching the ducklings swim about in their water and having a conversation with their mum and one of the Percies, and they breathed back at me … they’re the most intelligent breed of ducks, muscovies …
7 Jillon 10 Aug 2009 at 8:21 am
Brilliant, SL. Needless to say I’d have done the same as you. The black beauties look great! Good luck with the babies. I can see how you could spend hours just watching them… Thanks for a great post!
8 taddoeon 10 Aug 2009 at 10:49 am
i know you are a veggie sl,so just wonderd—-i eat meat now nd again but could never eat anything i fed i.e ducks hens,rabiits etc. i our can just picture you sittting outside at sunset watching your flock:–
9 ALZ (US)on 10 Aug 2009 at 12:45 pm
Good for you for saving the babies. I hate nature shows where they just let things die because it’s not natural to step in.
10 taddoeon 10 Aug 2009 at 2:50 pm
ALZ—-as I said above, I would have made the same decision as soaplaldy—but I am a big softie: Sometimes it is better to let mother nature take over—Speaking from personel experience!
11 Ferrymanon 12 Aug 2009 at 10:07 am
after much discussion in Ferryman household, it is agreed we would have done exactlly the same as you,last time and this time as could not have faced fattening up crows(again) over fattening up table-fare. We used to have pigs and remember the timings/balance/cost of further pig-nuts against trip to butcher.
Pics are great and the posting is an insight into “life” for the Soaplady and her flock.
Enjoy,even learn from the experiences that are sent our way seems to sum it all up……keep up the good works…FM and brood/clan
12 Soapladyon 14 Aug 2009 at 6:57 pm
We have lost two of the eleven ducklings, poor darlings … It’s this cold wet weather I think - the ones that I picked gently up today were found in places which suggested that they had lost their way back to their dry hay repository and their mum, and got too wet and cold to go on …
The only ceremony they got before their laying to rest under the earth were a little stroke and warm thoughts from me … perhaps after taking responsibility for them, perhaps I should’ve done more, but I can’t be there all around the clock …
13 Flying Caton 15 Aug 2009 at 11:32 am
Mama ducks are notoriously scatty and disorganised, just like some human ones. Mallards are particularly dim and will lose ducklings quite carelessly. Even the best female husbandry in the world would find it hard to keep a whole brood intact, Soaplady.
I’m a bit worried about Fauvey and Finn…shouldn’t they be showing more of a creative interest in baby ducks?
14 Soapladyon 15 Aug 2009 at 1:00 pm
I don;t think Fauvey has ever caught anything in her life FC …! She’s much too heavy-pawed and slow-moving … Finn on the other hand prefers presenting me with headless rabbits and dissected mice and voles …
They don’t even sit and watch over the baby ducklings …!
15 Soapladyon 17 Aug 2009 at 10:01 am
well taddoe, this might answer your qu re what do I do with the elderly ducks … problem is, hardly any seem to be *able* to get elderly … I woke up this morning to find 8 of the little ducklings had expired in the night … judging by the state of them, and the places I found them, seems that mum just couldn’t be arsed to pull them together and keep them warm …
or if its not her fault, it must be mine, for not taking them to a place of security and warmth last night, when we had a really bad rain-storm …
one of us is a really bad mother …
and I *so* wanted some more female ducks for the two Percies … just one duckling left now, and it’ll be months before we can tell what sex it is … the god of duck-keepers will probably decree that it is another male …
16 ferrymanon 17 Aug 2009 at 2:25 pm
SL…..don’t be so hard on yourself..? Nature is cruel sometimes and humanising the situation only adds to the negativity……..but we do feel for you, trying to get the best for all in Soap Farm……….FM
17 taddoeon 17 Aug 2009 at 3:01 pm
sorry SL for the loss of more ducks,you done the best you anyone could have for them.
18 Flying Caton 17 Aug 2009 at 5:36 pm
Awww Soaplady, purrhaps you need to keep them in the warm oven or plate drawer next time. Poor wee fluffies. You must be having a lousy summer.
19 TheCrofton 17 Aug 2009 at 5:37 pm
Hi SL. If the ducklings are under three weeks old they should really be kept warm (heatlamp or pad) and indoors as they are unable to generate their own body heat and aren’t “waterproof” yet. Sounds like you’ve lost them to hypothermia
20 Soapladyon 17 Aug 2009 at 7:33 pm
yes, I figured they weren’t waterproof yet … I’ve handreared ducklings before, away from their mum, in my living-room, but I’d been watching them with their mum carefully for a week now, and she started out looking after them perfectly, so I figured she could be left to do it …
figured wrong, I guess …
21 Flying Caton 18 Aug 2009 at 12:24 pm
You just can’t be expected to get into the head of a duck.
22 John in Norwichon 22 Aug 2009 at 7:08 am
Hi Linda, thanks for your email, I live your blog !
Best wishes to the ducks, and to you also of course !
23 John in Norwichon 22 Aug 2009 at 7:09 am
Oops, that should have been “love your blog” of course ! A senior moment !