It's now May 1st, though with the weather, you'd never know it.  We have had snow three times in April, once nearly a foot.  I had been putting my garden plants out in my portable greenhouse until the snow started!

What happened to spring?????

Deer in snow

Duck pen covered in snow

Actually kind of pretty!

This year the duck pen survived the snow, in part because I had redone the top and tied everything together and in part because we knocked as much snow off as possible.  The dusk are doing fine.  Two are brooding—well, kind of three.  The one we call Broody who hatched a bunch of babies last year has been sitting for over three weeks.  Then there are two sitting in another pen.  They both sit on the eggs, at the same time.  We had a third duck in there, but fights broke out, so she's now in the greenhouse at night until it dries out and I can put in another divider.  If anymore fights break out, whoever is fighting is on their own outside the pens.  I have no more room.  Or said duck gets a room in the freezer.  Muscovies are interesting ducks, but they do have a lot of interpersonal disputes.

The daffodils were blooming, but I had to bring them in when it got cold.  There are more getting ready to bloom soon.  Weather is forecast to hit 78F by Thursday.  It has been a roller coaster here for about two months.  Still hoping for spring soon!

These are the additional duck houses.  We started putting them outside the pens with just an opening into them because the ducks don't make as much of a mess.  All are hinged on the back for easy removal of eggs and bedding.  We are learning ways to make the duck keeping easier as we go along.

This is my makeshift greenhouse.  I put the small, portable one out by the corner of the house for hardening off my plants.  The plants are doing well.  Some of the tomato plants are over six inches tall.  Last year at this time, my plants barely had their second leaves.

Lastly, it's Sasha doing what she does best—sleeping!

That's all for now!

Here come the ducks!

 Our baby ducks arrived April 26th.  You see they were very small when we brought them home.  These are Pekin ducks.  Last year we had Rouens.  We raise the ducks to serve as bug and weed control, then butcher them in the fall.  Last year, the Rouens had started laying eggs and we did not know this until this spring when we cleaned out the duck house.  This year we will watch more closely.

These ducks grew very quickly.  We had them in the garage in the duel sided pen from last year (see June 19, 2012 on this blog).  However, because they grew quickly, we put them outside at three weeks of age.
Everything I have read says ducks have to stay warm, but ours have always been kept at 60 to 70 degrees since day one.  Moving them outside actually was warmer than the garage pen.  The cold has no effect on them.  However, when the mercury hit 88 degrees one day, they were panting significantly.  I sprayed the tarp on their cage down and wet the ground to help cool them.  Mornings when it's 45 degrees they are out peeping roaming around the pen.

 This is at about a week in age.  They more than doubled in size during this period.  They were getting cramped in the three foot by three foot pen, even at this age.  And MESSY.




To the bottom right, this is one of their first days out.

                 

 Below:
You can just see their wings starting to feather out.  They look so funny with the tiny little wings--almost like arms!  They are also getting more white with each passing day.  Unlike the ducks last year, these are not as friendly.  They will come over when I talk to them, but only cautiously.  They also lay down a lot, especially when they seem frightened.

Here we have one of the many swift foxes that live around our lot.  The trapped one was relocated several miles away.  The ducks are still very small and vulnerable to an attack.  I think by the time they get feathered out, the fox may not be such a threat.  Swift foxes are very small-about the size of a cat, and not nearly as aggressive as red or gray foxes.

My game cam caught another fox cruising about after dark.  So far, this has been the only one.

The pen this year has a full cover--chicken wire on one side, orange snow fence on the other--to help keep predators out.  After catching three foxes so far this spring, we opted to add fiberglass around the pen for now, so predators can't dig under.  I will probably modify this design as the ducks get older.  You can see a "door" right by the concrete block.  This is so we can reach the food and water containers without going into the pen or opening the larger gate.  I decided last year we needed a change.  Also, the water dishes will sit on an area I dug out and filled with rocks, then put the dirt back.  This should allow for much better drainage.

I will update periodically.