58 ducks!

[Bex]

58 ducks!

27 Mar '04 10:23 am

Pumkin has 58 DUCKS! That sounds like a dream come true to me. I love ducks

I'm eagerly awaiting the moment when Moosey's duck both a) comes back to the garden, and b) doesn't run away the moment the camera comes out

Does anyone else have any ducks? Pumkin - is it actually as cool as it sounds, having quite so many ducks?!

Would be great to see some photos! Bx

Last edited by Bex on 4 Oct '04 8:52 am, edited 1 time in total.

[pumpkin]

27 Mar '04 7:01 pm

Yeah Bx, it's great!
They are actually hilarious to watch. There are games of tag when one finds something yummy to eat or a game of 'scare the willies outta the fluffy thing' when the neighbours cat comes through the fence
They don't always stick in a huge group but have lots of sub-groups and we can almost work out which lot were born which year.
Every so often they do band together and fill the sky, do a few circuits and with flaps down crash into and all around the pond! A brilliant sight!

I will try and get a pic of them all together

[chooky]

ducks

29 Mar '04 8:55 am

We have ducks as well but not as many as Pumpkin. On our 2 dams live a group of Mallards that are not at all tame but we have 10 Pekins that were hand reared so are very friendly ducks and as they do not fly they will be here for life. Pekins are known to be not that great as mothers so we had no ducklings raised last year but as the ducks were only born In October 2002 they might not have been ready.Better luck this year we hope.People love the Pekins as they are that real Jemina Puddleduck looking duck .Pure white with an orange beak.The males have a wee flick in their tails-otherwise males and females look the same.

[moosey]

ducks

30 Mar '04 4:10 pm

As the owner (not exactly) of one lone duck I am
1. envious
2. needing to see some photos!
of all these ducks....please!

Another request -

Do you two have any frogs? There has a general frog shortage in Canterbury for a few years now - isn't there a theory that frogs are an indicator of the health (or otherwise) of the nearby human society?

Happy gardening

[pumpkin]

4 Apr '04 7:55 am

We have frogs in the pond, sometimes they are very loud in the evening so I'm guessing there are quite a few of them
We also have a visiting shag who spends about 10 minutes diving in and bringing out mouthfuls of....something green and slimey so he may be keeping the numbers down.
What a shame they are in short supply in Canterbury, (could be a home business there in tadpole breeding ) I love to hear them plopping about.

*Trying* very hard to get the ducks all together for a pic.....they are like teenagers and constantly fly of in all directions
Duck shooting season *cringe* is not far away, so they should start to spend more time around 'home' soon ....hopefully

[Bex]

20 Apr '04 11:12 am

Come home ducks!!

Very envious of the ducks and the pond... the frog choruses I do not miss tho. I used to live next to a LOT of frogs and man can they make a racket - would keep me up at night. Bear that in mind, Moosey - the Moosey tadpole farm would best be far from the house

[Bex]

4 Oct '04 8:51 am

How are your ducks, Pumpkin? Hope they survived the shooting season with the gaggle (?!) in tact

[pumpkin]

2 Nov '04 8:27 am

Ducks are having great fun in the the *hay* paddock

Most of them are in the nextdoor paddock pond... strangely, they feel the human activity and noisey mower is not what it's all about when they are concerned with nurseries and all things fluffy

A few of the 'old' fellows are brave (or greedy) enough to paddle over for the odd scrap of food.

The pukekos are no-where near as picky when it comes to finding a safe haven for their offspring. They just plonk themselves in the first bit of long grass they find and trust we will mow around them They give me a heck of a fright when I'm walking along smelling the fresh paddock smells, dreaming of how it will all look 'one day', totally absorbed, and they leap out from my feet squarking for all they are worth! Silly birds!