It’s that time of year – the ducks have been laying lots of eggs, and when they’ve laid a clutch, they want to try to hatch them (and they’re exceptionally good at it). When one goes broody, and interesting phenomenon occurs: the broodiness seems to be contagious. So what happens when several ducks go broody and they all want the same nest box? They sardine into it. Never mind that there are other boxes, just as nice, that are available. They want that one special box.
That’s right: three ducks crammed themselves into a single nest box. Our nest boxes are jumbo hooded cat litter pans, normally very roomy for a single occupant. It’s even comfortable for two ducks, should they decide to be roommates. But three is pushing it – see how they’re stacked? Continue reading “Beware The Super-Broody: These Girls Mean Business”
It’s that time again – this year is coming to its end. We like to look back at the year because you can forget how much you learned and during that period. We also like to recognize our accomplishments, as well as identify needed improvements. We characterize 2016 as our year of learning on the farm.
With this cold weather, we like to take extra treats out for the chickens and ducks. When we went out this afternoon with scratch, we noticed that the adult chickens were nowhere to be seen…very odd. The juvenile chickens were huddled in the back corner of the barn, and when we got closer, a hawk flew up and into the rafters. To our dismay, we discovered that the hawk had killed and had been eating one of the juveniles – a nice New Hampshire Red pullet, of course, one of the friendliest of the bunch. It had eaten much of the pullet’s head, which was detached, and had plucked most of the breast. *&#@ hawk!