Monday, June 16, 2014

Our New Muscovy Duck and Nesting House


    
New nesting  house near the main duck house.
     Shortly after we moved to the ranch, we moved our flock of Muscovy ducks to their new home.  It was just after winter and boy were they a mess.  Just coming out of winter, they didn't have a place to clean themselves off, so when they arrived here, one of the first things they did was to go and play in the creek and get cleaned off.  We couldn't believe how white they really were under all that "mess."    

     We have always fed our ducks a non-medicated feed but when we moved them to their new home they really didn't seem too interested in it.  They were more interested in all the bugs and things that crawled on the ground, so we stopped giving them the feed and they seemed to thrive. 

     Now, back in Chicago, our property was about 1/4 of an acre and we had plenty of mosquitoes.  Our ducks ate just about every one of those pesty little things that we had on our property.  I say our property, because if the kids went to the neighbors yards on either side of our house to play, the population of mosquitoes was unbelievable!!  They couldn't play outside over there unless they wore bug spray or continued to swat at mosquitoes all night. 

     This flock of ducks is almost a year old and a few of them have started to lay eggs.  And if you have never had an egg from a duck you are really missing out on something.  As much as I love fresh chicken eggs, I love duck eggs that much more.  They are really tasty!!  Every morning, I fry a little bacon in a cast iron skillet until just about done.  Then I put in 2 duck eggs (if I'm fortunate enough to get some that day) and let them cook until the whites are cooked and the yolk is still runny.  Boy, what a treat!!

        Well, after about a month or so of moving the ducks to the ranch, we stopped getting eggs from them.  I have a couple of reasons as to why I think that is.  First, I think it might be that some of them haven't started laying yet and the ones that have, they have already laid their first clutch of the year, so we'll need to wait until it's time for the next one.   

     A Muscovy duck only lays 3 clutches a year.  A clutch is a group of about 8-20 eggs that they will store up in a nest until they have enough, and then they will sit on the nest to hatch the ducklings.  So it might just be that we have to wait until it's time for the next clutch to see more eggs.

     The next reason might be that we stopped giving them their feed so there isn't enough protein in their diet.  But I'm not sure how true that might be because a "wild" duck doesn't get feed and they still lay eggs.

     Another reason might be that they are laying their eggs in a remote area that we can't seem to find.  Or, something is eating the eggs and we can't find any remains.  Even though I have tried to watch the ducks to see if they are going off by themselves to lay an egg and then coming back to the flock, I haven't noticed a single duck doing that.  If they were doing that that would be a sign that they have a nest somewhere and we need to find it because those eggs are too precious to be lost and not found!!

     So, I have come to believe, that at this point, they just aren't laying eggs right now.

     After visiting our friends farm, Vesterbrook Farm, I got an idea for a nesting house for our ducks.

     I drew up some plans for the nesting house and Shane built it for me using some old barn wood and some recycled tin that was left here on the farm.  And I love it!!

The new nesting box for the ducks.
   
     The roof is hinged so we can pick up the roof and get the eggs out from the top if we want them for breakfast or baking.  The opening in the bottom is the doorway.  The door hasn't been put in place yet because we don't have any hinges to do that right now.  Once we get the hinges and attach them,  we will also put on a latch to secure the door, so if a duck is sitting on a nest we can close her up, "lock" her in, and protect her for the night.   

     My hope is that the ducks will use it to lay their eggs and hatch out their ducklings once they start laying their eggs again.  Hopefully the nesting house will catch on and we will need to make more of them for more momma ducks!

     Thus far we haven't had a problem with predictors and I'm not naive enough to think that we won't at some point.  But for now, as far as the duck are concerned, they are safe.  Every night we put them in their house and lock them up until the morning.  

     The Cowboy said that we needed some color in our ducks so he gave us a boy to help us take care of that.  We'll let you know if and when we get some "color".   

     Here's a link to a post I wrote previously:  The Mother Duck and Her Baby Ducklings

The new boy on the ranch.


Waiting for the "new boy" to join the girls for a drink.

The ducks checking out their new nesting house.

Friday, June 13, 2014

Three Day old Kids

   
"Sven"

"Sven" and "Anna"
     We just picked up our "new babies" last night from our friend, Tasha, because the mother wasn't able to feed them.  And Tasha didn't want to bottle feed them, so we adopted them.

     On our way home from picking them up, we stopped at Barrett's baseball game at Judson College. And at about the 6th or 7th inning, some of our kids and our friends went to let the babies out of their basket in the car so they could feed them and let them prance around for a little bit.  

     Then all of a sudden, as we were watching the game and talking, I looked over to the left because I could hear the babies crying.  And here came two of our friends walking toward us holding the babies.  And, oh, I just wanted to crawl into a hole!!  They were so loud!  I couldn't believe that they came up by us and even though there were about 30 people in the bleachers, it was very quite; almost like a golf game - quiet.  And the cry of the babies just magnified in the silence.  I was almost sure the umpire was going to stop the game and have us thrown out of the park!  Thankfully, he didn't and the game went on as usual.     

      It's not every day that you see a goat at a baseball game in the suburbs of Chicago.  So it's kinda of hard to know what people were thinking, and at the time, I really didn't want to know.  So I told the kids to quickly take them down from the bleachers and they did.

     Sooooooo, where do you think they took them?  To the only other place that they shouldn't have which was just behind the dugout for the Addison Braves!!

     "Are those goats?" the guys on the team asked.  And, "What kind of crazy people would bring goats to to a baseball game?" they said.   Barrett told them they belonged to his family and they thought that was "cool".  Then one of the coaches said, "No, those aren't baby goats, those are lambs!"  Apparently it was pretty funny because the whole team started laughing.  It was funny to hear the laughter coming from the dugout and then the team trying to talk to the goats at the same time!  Looking back, it was probably a good thing because it helped turn a maybe stressful and boring game into something that the team will remember.   

     Since birth, Sven couldn't figure out how to drink from a bottle so he had to be force fed.  But Anna was eating just fine.  So today we decided to make the hole in the nipple a little bigger and then Sven was able to drink out of the bottle without having to force feed him, which was really nice. 

     Tasha wasn't sure if Sven was going to make it, but so far he's doing good.  We'll just do our best to keep taking care of him and pray that he makes it.  

     Today was the day that we were scheduled to be at the opening day of a new Farmer's Market in West Chicago, IL, that we will be participating in for the market season, and we had to take the babies with us.  At first, I was a little reluctant, but I didn't want anyone of us to have to leave the market to go and feed them so we brought them along. 

     It was fun to see the reaction on some of the people's faces at the market when the babies would start "crying".  Soon we had people coming over to see if what they heard was really what they thought the heard.  One of the gentlemen asked what we were going to bring to the market the next week and I told him that maybe we would bring some of our baby chicks that we just picked up from the hatchery.  What better place to have a little more interest in animals then at a Farmer's Market and for the "city" people to see where their food actually comes from!! 

     Tomorrow we will head back to the ranch with our new kids in their basket and introduce them to the place where they will spend their growing up days.
  
June 4, 2014.
Sandy

Monday, June 9, 2014

Boys Will Be "Boys"

   

     Landon was looking for a Jeep and Cooper found this Samurai on Craigslist.  And somehow Landon got it in his head that he "needed" it.  So yesterday, in order to pick this thing up, we had to drive north of Springfield, MO, about 60 miles.  Please don't ask me how many miles that was from our ranch because it's almost embarrassing (for me at least) not to mention, expensive.

     Now, never mind that the day before we were halfway to the Samurai when we were visiting Cody Holmes' Ranch on Saturday!!  And with the price of fuel, Landon could have saved a whole lot of money and our time if we would have driven there yesterday before we went to Cody's!!  So, why didn't we just go to pick up the Samurai while we were that far west, you ask??  Well, because we had to borrow "The Cowboy's" trailer to haul this "awesomeness" back home and we couldn't catch him until the morning we were getting ready to and hoping to leave.  

     Anyway, the scenery on this trip was beautiful!  It rained a good part of our trip, so the sky was totally cover in clouds until the time the sun set.  And just before sunset, those clouds broke just enough to let the sun shine through..............and............you - would - not - believe it unless you saw it!  The sun was the most amazingly beautiful, blood orange red, that any of us have ever seen!  It was so unbelievable!!  We tried to capture a quick picture with my iPhone, but the photo wouldn't do justice to the beauty that we saw.      

     One thing that made the trip exciting for me, and the boys also, was that we were able to stop at Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds and spend some time there.    It wasn't enough time to capture all that they have there, so we will surely be back!!

     My first reaction when I saw this Samurai was that it needed to go right to the dump.  I told Landon, "To keep his money in his pocket and take it home with him.  He didn't need this!!  We'll find another one!  Who cares! that we drove so many miles to get here!" 

     Shortly after we arrived, the uncle of the boy that sold the Samurai to Landon said, "I know you came a long way so if you would like to use the restroom, I can show you where it is."  So I looked at Elizabeth and asked her if she need to go and she said, "Yes" so we went.  Never again will I fall for that one because when I came walking back the boy was counting out the money and handing Landon the title!!

     It's funny that I didn't notice until we were on our way home, how apropos my picture was that I had taken!


     Anyway, the boys think it's the coolest thing so we'll see what they can do with it.  At this point it doesn't run, so they have some work to do.

     With all of the traveling we have been doing lately, I told the kids that we are not eating fast food anymore!!!!  I'm so tired of it.  From now on, when we travel we will be preparing our food ahead of time and bringing it with us.  But unfortunately, I didn't do that for this trip so we I told the kids that they had to come up with something else other than fast food.  And what do you think Landon came up with?!


     Next to McDonald's, Walmart's selection of food is right up there at the top of the list as one of the most unhealthy and disgusting foods ever!!  And especially when you eat it, cold and right out of the can.............woo hoo!!    And as much as I don't want to admit it, I guess, in "an emergency" this works, but the boys will have to make something small and portable to warm it up next time!  Such as.....................this portable Wood Gas Stove!  But then again, I will try and be prepared.

Until next time.
June 9, 2014
Sandy