The Expectant Mothers of The Homestead

If you’ve been keeping up on this homestead tour, you’ll know that Mama Duck is sitting on her clutch of eggs and Lula Mae is growing wider with her expected kid(s) by the day. It’s a privilege to watch how these mothers take care of their not-yet-arrived little ones and how their behavior changes as time gets closer.


Guarding her eggs and stuffing the nest (note how much bedding she's gathered)

The LulaBarrel is packing babies!

But I’d be remiss if I failed to tell you the other anticipated arrival on our homestead. Yes, Mr. Bee and I are expecting our first Baby Bee!

Baby Bee's first closeup!

We’ve waited a long time to share in this forum for a variety of reasons, but now that it is so close, it doesn’t make sense not to share. It’s an exciting time and I’m happy to be in the company of other expectant mothers. As my time draws nearer, I am amazed at how similar all animals act when nesting—including humans.

Let’s just hope Lula Mae and I don’t have too much in common. Our due dates are 2 weeks apart. And we’re both planning on birthing at home. =/ Did I mention she had some ovulatory complications when we were trying to breed her?

The Duck Days of Summer - Part 2

Now for the birds you’ve never seen.

A few months ago we connected with a retiring duck farmer (at one point he raised 700+ birds on his land) and purchased some of his flock. He was liquidating his Muscovies, so we bought 23 birds with the intention of slaughtering most for meat and keeping a few for breeding. The meat is leaner than mallard-descended ducks, but still very good. We lost 5 due to a mystery that is now resolved thanks to an avian expert (which, I will write about another day), butchered 14, and kept 4 females.

Mrs. Little is all-black and looks like the Little described earlier. Mrs. Brown is a beautiful brown and white that reminds me of a Britney Spaniel. Then we kept 2 white and black speckled females, one of who we fondly call Escapy (Esk-uh-pee) because, well, she is capable of escaping from anything or anywhere.  They don’t lay eggs quite yet, but will soon. Instead of quacking, the females trill. It is a beautiful noise—just listen. We will breed them with Little in the future, and hopefully have a self-sustaining meat source that is very low maintenance. They are less socialized than our other birds and are still getting used to the idea that I feed the ducks kitchen scraps off the back porch. They often miss the memo until everything’s been devoured.

Mrs. Brown

Mrs. Little and Friends

The other muscovies... NOM/*tear*
(Seared duck breast on a bed of sweet potatoes & chanterelles with a cherry balsamic reduction)

Our last 5 ducks came around Easter as day-olds. They are all females and all Khaki Campbells. As an experiment, we didn’t “hand-raise” these babies and instead put them with the other ducks early on. They enjoy following around any brown duck (Golden or Khaki Campbell) to the water, food, or foraging, but particularly love cuddling close to Mama Duck. They gather outside her nestbox during the day and attempt to guard her against anything that comes near. When they are outside, they can be found stumbling as they run down the hill and tripping over their long legs. They are as uncoordinated as toddlers and as awkward as teenagers. Eventually, they will lay eggs too.

The babies following Goldie

And then there is Edgar (blind and/or brave duck). He's not new, as you may remember. but he deserves his own spotlight. He’s still blind. He’s still a little neurotic. Yes, he still walks in circles and can’t get in and out of the duck house on his own, but he is lovely all the same. When Ms. Duck spent so long rehabilitating her leg this winter, Edgar joined her to make sure she wasn’t lonely. When the baby Khakis got introduced to the adult ducks, Edgar spent the first week with them inside their house helping them get acclimated. And when the little girls from down the street desperately want to hold and pet a duck, Edgar is the guy for the job.  

 

Just keep spinning, just keep spinning

 

And those, friends, are our 25 ducks/ducklings. We’ll let you know if Mama Duck hatches her first clutch next month and make sure we post pictures more regularly now that the weather is nice. J

TTFN!

The Duck Days of Summer - Part 1

Our homestead is ever expanding and changing. It seems rather appropriate to provide a thorough update of who is who on the land and who is expected in the coming months.  Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go!

First, we have our “original” flock(s) from last year. We have 17 adult ducks, so they are a little difficult to gather and pose for a group shot. I hope these suffice:

 

Family Photo

You’ll immediately recognize Alice and Ms. Duck, the large white Pekins. Alice has maintained her Top-of-The-Flock status and can be regularly found displaying her gorgeous (and incredibly soft) self for everyone to see. Ms. Duck is still a little strange: Standoffish with humans but desperately interested in being part of the flock. She misses the social cues of the other ducks and marches to a different drummer. She is sort of a “weak” duck with regular accidents (she once sprained her leg flying into another duck in the middle of our icy winter and had to spend 6 weeks rehabilitating in our garage), but balances our flock out and makes us very glad she’s part of our family. Both lay white eggs of gargantuan proportions every day or so. 

 

The Glamorous Alice

 

The not-so-Glamorous Ms. Duck



Then there are the Khaki Campells. These are the babies that arrived with Alice over a year ago in a straight run (mixed sex). We butchered the males (except Muffin, our stud and Edgar) and kept the females. Along the way, we lost our fair share (remember Jerome?). Now we are down to Splitfoot and one other female who doesn’t have a name. They lay good sized white eggs daily and are pretty social with us humans.

Splitfoot and Nameless

 

(stud)Muffin

Next come the Golden 300s. This is a hybrid variety that we got for egg production. They look nearly identical to the Khaki Campbells but have a darker wingstripe and a light brown facial stripe that the Khakis are missing. We have 5 Golden females and 1 male (Bismarck). We have a light one named Goldie who regularly squeezes through the fencing to wander among the goats or sneaks into the neighbor’s yard to eat her fill of dandelions without competition. We also have Mama Duck who has gone broody and is sitting her eggs as I type. It’s amazing to watch her pull bedding into her already full nest box and nuzzle her warm eggs. They lay a medium sized egg a day.

The Golden Girls with Bismarck Behind

 Mr. Bee’s attempt to restore the world through breeding of this “endangered” (aka rare, domesticated) breed? Ah yes. The Magpies.  Well, we have 3 females that are currently happy to be part of the flock. Don’t let their iridescent feathers or unique patterns fool you into thinking they are docile beauty queens. These 3 ducks make as much noise as our entire flock combined. Black Beak is the loudest and serves as the appointed “spokes duck” for her breed. Next, there is Freckle Face and Skinny Head. They usually stick together and produce an egg every day or so. Although many flock raisers describe their meat as gourmet, we didn’t like the taste and actually bartered the butchered males for other items. And those supposedly green eggs? Try a white egg with a dark brownish-green (aka baby poo) bloom to it. Not my favorite breed to say the least. We will be finding another way to save the world—sorry Mr. Bee! 

 



The Magpies Showing Their Backsides (typical...)

 And what happened to the little Muscovies you may be wondering? Well, one got lost with Butry and the other has become quite the fixture on our homestead. Little, as we aptly named him at the time, is huge. He is the Alpha Male and loves to assert himself by opening his large beak wide and “hissing” or breathing very heavily since the male ducks can’t quack. He is friendly like a puppy, and follows me around while I do morning chores. He wags his big butt and fans his tail in hopes of a treat, then pants like a retriever while he waits. I love Little.

 



Little!!

To meet the ducks I haven't introduced you to yet, check out my next post.

Adoption

It's been quiet around this electronic homestead, but don't for a moment think it's been quiet in our physical world. Generally, I like to write about things that are solid, or at minimum, unsettled things whose uncertainty I can count on. Instead, life has consisted of "we'll-have-to-see" or "we-won't-know-till-we-get-there"  moments, with a whole lot of decision-making thrown in. Over the coming days and weeks, I'll find the space to write about it all, and hopefully whether through this process or through time, will find solid footing I want.

One thing I know for sure is that homesteading takes you over, and over again, through the full cycle of life.

We recently lost two of our ducks. Butry, one of the big white ones, and one of "The Littles" that we hand-raised. It was torture. I went outside one Saturday morning to let the Ducks out and I counted. But before I could finish counting, I knew they were not all there.

Each morning, four quacking ducks gather at my feet waiting for treats and love. This morning there were only two. "Why couldn't it have been one of the other ducks?" I asked myself over and over again as I struggled to make peace with the truth. You know the outcome. You know it already happened, but  somehow you want to change it so it's just a little bit better. A little more palatable. Why I couldn't it have been a duck without a name?

I was scouring our property, scouring every bush and suspecting every owl that dare cry. I had to find them.
I searched each night and each morning. I would look into the thick forest and hope any moment the ducks would come waddling out, having had a great adventure but ready to return home. I was consumed with a longing I've rarely known.

Hope springs eternal.

In the end, I found something, though not what I was hoping for. The neighbors who sold us the goat, called us and asked if he had a home for their now-lonely Peckin, whose flock-mates had become the recent dinner of a raccoon or dog. We arranged the adoption, and are grateful for the addition. Our flock-family feels a little more complete, but I think there's still room for more.

Welcome, Ms. Duck.

Dos mas...estamos locos.

Muscovies from a swap meet last weekend. Tame and highly educated.
More to come soon.

Ovulation has Occured

Today, it arrived

Wrapped in protective casing

The gift, perfect egg

--Late Night Haiku, Mr. & Mrs. Bee

Batch Three: One-half Dozen

Freshly hatched and settled in. Hard to ask for anything more when you've got 6 little ones as cute as these!

Backyard Expansion

We've been hard at work expanding the duckies' territory. We've enlarged "their" yard and are in the process of training them to stay close by in "our" yard.

Butry posing for the camera with her Khaki Campbell flock behind her and the "little ones" exploring beyond.

(Read more after the jump)

You win some...

If I were to say, "it's been busy lately" then I would be painting you an inaccurate picture. I'm searching for other words....frenetic, intense, overloaded. In case you are a visual learner, you may find the following picture more telling than any of my words.

Taken at the END of my workday. Moments after discovery.

We have gotten a lot done. It's true in a sense. But no matter how hard I try, I cannot cram more than 24 hours into a day. Except daylight savings time. And I usually forget to take advantage of that (next year, next year). We finally expanded our duck pen, dug up part of the lawn for our square foot garden, installed a deer fence around the garden, built "tunnels" for our veggies while they attempt to grow in this stubbornly cold weather, introduced baby duckies to big duckies, and started a worm compost bin. Oh yeah, we both went to the dentist too.

(read more after the jump)

Slaughter Day--Rescheduled (part one)

It looks like our week of unfortunate events hasn't ended yet. Or at least, it hadn't as of last night.

We came home to a trailer load of wood from a family member (woo!) and spent our first hour unloading the firewood instead of practicing our usual routine of duck tending. (Hopefully, we'll receive clearance from the chimney sweep and be able to burn that wood sometime soon.) After the wood was unloaded and we said goodbye, we turned to the ducks. The gate wasn't latched all of the way so I immediately started counting beaks.

12.

That's two short of our total flock. We looked all around the yard without success. Then we checked their house. Two ducks were laying quietly inside, with one duck's neck wrapped around the body of the other, as if in an embrace. At seeing us, they stirred but didn't do much else. Mr. Bee brought his hand into the house and they moved. Or tried to move. The duck that had been embraced by the other dug its beak into the wall and tried to stand up--on one leg--without much success. The other leg hung there, limp and dangling.

It was serious. We tried to pick the duck up, but the other duck stepped up its role as protector and went on guard. It circled the lame duck, wrapped its neck around its poor friend, and cheeped the most kind and soothing cheeps you've ever heard.

We eventually removed the duck with the limp leg and brought it inside for examination. With our favorite duck book in hand, we searched the pages of injuries to look for the proper treatment and double-checked with online sources.

The poor duck's hip was either broken or dislocated. If a break comes below the "knee," it will often heal with a quick popsicle stick splint. Above the "knee," it gets a little trickier. We called 6 vets. We researched for two hours.

Nothing could be done.

We thought it would make our decision easier if the duck was blind/brave duck who continually gets separated from the crowd and primarily walks in circles. We thought it would be easier if maybe it was a boy and already slated for slaughter.

Neither of these was the case.

Our lame duck was an otherwise healthy female with a very bad injury.

And so, last night, we killed our first duck.

UPDATE: One of Mr. Bee's students learned of our situation and offered to name the injured duck, even after her passing. She will now be known as Jerome. 

Week Four End/Week Five Beginning

Well, the "babies" are 28 days old and heading into their fifth week of life. Which means they are really not babies at all. "Teenagers" would be the more appropriate description.

Week Three

This week has brought lots of visitors for our little flock. We've had friends, coworkers, neighbors and family out to feed and socialize them. Week three is full of changes. Remember when these guys could fit in your hand? Well, not anymore. I barely remember what it was like to have them so small.

 

The ducks are used to me hand-feeding them. Since I was holding 

the camera, I couldn't but the big Pekin (yellow) is reluctant to 

believe she'll have to eat off the ground!

Week Two

The babies are growing fast! At 9 days, they've nearly tripled in size. At first, this was surprising, and then I realized all they do is eat and sleep. And they've been doing both (especially the former) a lot. And I take back everything I said about them being soft at 3 days old. Their down is super fluffy and almost as soft as rabbit fur now.

Best of all, they've started recognizing my voice. When I bring them their greens, I call out to them while I'm approaching their house. It's amazing to hear their little feet scrambling over the bedding and rustling toward the feeding door.

Sitting Pretty

Week One--Updated!

 It's a little late, but here are the pictures from arrival day! In the words of Mr. Bee to his students, "And now I will melt your face with cuteness."

Here they are, 3 days old:

 Update: Mr. Bee took this super-sweet video one night when they were *trying* to sleep.

 

 Eating, drinking and sleeping are the primary activities of our babies.

What's in your mailbox?

This is what we got in the mail a little less than a week ago.
14 ducks in total (they threw in an extra khaki campbell).

Make sure your sound is on for the full experience!

I don't think I will clutter this posts with many more words.

We'll have weekly photo updates so check back often. 

Go ahead, just hit "replay."

You know you want to.

 :)

Nesting.

The majority of our flock hatched yesterday. The remaining few will have tapped their way out of their shells this morning. They are all set to arrive Wednesday morning after a long but exciting journey.

I have never had kids before, so I can only imagine what it is like to expect the arrival of another human, whether through physical birth or another way, to complete your family. All I know is that the arrival of our baby duckies is a very exciting and emotional time! Mr Bee's been hard at work designing and building the DuckMahal (actual pictures to follow). I keep feeling the need to clean the house, do all the laundry, and make lots of food so we can be "ready."  We oscillate between anxiety and eagerness.

What if one dies in the shipping process? What if our straight run ends up being all boys? What if we are well-meaning but terrible ducky parents and produce miserable poultry? What if this becomes our biggest homestead fail of all time?

Mr. Bee isn't his usual calm self either. There's something so exciting and scary about fulfilling a life-long dream. We keep looking around and saying to each other, "Can you believe we are making this happen?"

Hardly. I'll believe it when I see it.

But for right now, Wednesday is too soon and too far away, and most certainly, never coming.

Ah, family planning.

How many? Will you bother finding out the gender? How do you know what to expect? What do you want a new one's arrival into the world to look like? How do you prepare for something you've never done before?

The past two weeks, Mr. Bee and I have tackled these questions with the same strategies we've used to make all of our other important life decisions. We first scoured for book reviews, then scoured those books, interrogated knowledgeable friends, heard the warnings from family, and dug deep down in our beings for some sense of guidance and, well...made a decision.