LaRue, our Leghorn rooster, will call the hens over with a special cluck when he finds a tasty treat while foraging. He lets the girls eat first, so when we’re tossing bread to them (an occasional treat), he doesn’t usually get to eat much of it. Not so for the leader of the ducks, Tiberius.
We flipped over some pavers that have been filling a puddle and there were lots of worms under there. The chickens ran over when they realized what was going on, as did Ty and his girls. The chickens pulled up quite a few of the worms, but the ducks were deadeyes. Their bills seem particularly well-suited to pulling the worms from the soil in one piece; pulling them out with fingers can cause them to tear in half. Ty, in particular, gobbled up some of the biggest and juiciest-looking ones. Did he call the ducks over to share the bounty? Nope. He just ate as many as he saw.
While he’s clearly not a gentleman when it comes to food, maybe that’s because he’s nearly twice the ducks’ size and therefore needs to find a lot of food to stay in fighting shape. He does a good job keeping the ducks safe and he even chases LaRue off from time to time. We haven’t lost any of the ducks since their wings were clipped last year, and we hope they continue to stay safe under Ty’s watchful guard.