And now for something completely different. I've been so focused on the allotment this past month I've not been paying much attention to my own garden or my poultry. The son is the main caretaker for both chickens and ducks; he's 14 now and is fairly responsible when it comes to their care. I sometimes have to remind him to collect eggs still, but he remembers to feed and water them every day thankfully. The chickens are laying around four eggs a day, from eight hens.
The chickens and ducks are both locked up in their respective yards at home for the present. Some of the chickens got to make a pass of the lawn in their tractor for about two weeks but it's growing too quickly for them to efficiently graze now. So we're mowing and giving them the clippings. The ducks have had periodic free range (usually for a day or two at a time) but I'm still putting in new plantings and I don't want the ducks dabbing them out--I lost a few small marigold transplants this week, so back into the yard went the ducks. And I can't let the chickens free range at all while my veg patch is in growth.
Boy Duck is maybe calming down a bit after the spring breeding season. He gets very protective of Girl Duck (who doesn't seem to notice) but if he tries it on me, he better watch out--I've been known to send him flying. Thankfully he can't jump and is not sharp anywhere so his attacks are pretty ineffectual. He's been spotted chasing pigeons out of the garden (hilarious) and won't share his patch with chickens either. He's a big duck and stands fairly upright with a long neck and short legs, surprisingly (and comically) fast. Once he starts to molt in summer I think his hormones ease up a bit. Girl Duck is smaller and has the more usual duck silhouette--also short legs--but doesn't do a lot of running. She just sort of waddles around, with Boy Duck in her wake like her security detail. Girl Duck does lay the occasional egg, but not in a dedicated place: I don't always find it in time.
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