Does it sound strange that we added roosts to the duck coop? It actually isn’t – Muscovies are tree ducks and like to roost. In fact, we’ve previously found ducks in the chicken coop, happily perched on a roost along with the hens. Since it was time to add the nest boxes to the coop, we also created a couple of roosting areas.
The interior of the duck coop we built this summer was basically just a big open space. When the older ducks were laying last year, we had the nest boxes lined up against one of the walls; we used the same location for the nest boxes again because it allows us relatively easy access through the large front doors, but knew from last year that we needed to protect the tops of the nest boxes from poop barrages. Continue reading “Duck Coop Additions: Nest Boxes And Roosts”
We’ve noticed that the Muscovy ducks that hatched in spring of last year have been checking out the nest boxes in the chicken coop and sampling the oyster shell from the hanging feeder. It made us hopeful that, despite the fact that many Muscovy ducks will stop laying over the winter, ours would begin laying soon.
Have you heard about “hygge”? It’s a Danish concept that translates roughly to “coziness” and/or “wellbeing”. The Danes have long, dark winters, and yet are considered to be some of the happiest people in the world. Could there be something to this philosophy that’s transferable to our daily lives? Let’s explore further.
It snowed here a few days ago. It’s fun until the snow lingers, like it has, due to the cold. Walking on it packs it down, and the sporadic sunshine melts it a bit, so it becomes icy…which means it’s really slippery, and no one wants to involuntarily ice skate while holding a basket full of eggs. You might think that the rabbits need to come inside with temperatures below freezing and snow on the ground, but they actually do just fine in cold temperatures, if you take specific measures to ensure their comfort.