FINAL TALLY! And I Really Mean It This Time!
My last, forever and ever (maybe), number of ducks is now…..drum roll please…..6! I found someone to take my 3 drakes, but there was a small catch. I had to meet his mom halfway between 2 cities. So this is how the story goes….
This is John, George and Paul (Ringo is in the background by the way), and the Pekin (whitey) is Cher.
My whole duck adventure started out with 5 Khaki Campbell ducklings, which I really believed from the beginning were all girls. As they matured, 4 of them molted and the colors that returned were definite boys (dark green heads)! During this time I also adopted 2 others, a Pekin and a Rouen. At this point, I realized my ratio of boy to girl was NOT good. The best mix (yes, men will love this) is about 5 hens to 1 drake.
I put out a 911 request on my favorite website, www.backyardchickens.com , that I desperately needed to save my hens and find a good home for my excess drakes. I took one drake 30 miles east last week and from that drop off plus $20, I got back 3 new Khaki hens. HOORAY, since they were instant egg layers.
Last night I did some more excessing and the poor guys had to take a road trip….
If I had a few more hands I could have taken pictures of how hubby and I got them to this point, but it wasn’t so pretty. Trust me, there are 3 ducks in the box.
I met “mom” in a McD’s parking lot and we quite literally smashed the box into her small four door car (with a child in a carseat too!) and away she went.
This morning, of course, my first thoughts were, how did the ducks handle the drive, where did they go and will they be happy? I know, I know, they aren’t children. Around lunchtime today I received a great note and pics from the new owner, Tim, showing off what he calls “handsome drakes” in his pond…..
YUP, I think they’re happy!! I wanna go!! Thanks again, Tim, I have no worries.
Christine on 2009.06.10
Yeah! You have very happy ducks. That was awfully nice of Tim to send you the happy pictures. (don’t worry about treating your ducks like children, I do that with my fish)
Linda M. on 2009.06.30
I can’t tell you how happy I was to find your blog! While I’m a little late for this post, I still found all of them so wonderful! First, I’m glad to find a blogger my age…..I figured this all out by the John, Paul,George & Ringo names & even better, I love all the thing that you post about……..I too, have ducks that I treat as my own kids.Mine are just Muscovy’s,Florida Muscovy’s to boot, but they know their names & come to me when I call to them. I’m SO new at all this. I just moved here less than a year ago, with my oldest Son. He’s lived here for 12 yrs. on the lake & I lived about 20 miles north in Jupiter, FL for the last 16 yrs. until I was forced into an early retirement dur to my health. I had two Pugs that I adopted & were my Babies & I just lost my litt;e girl of 12 yrs. two months ago. While I still can’t talk about her, I now spend most of my day with my ducks,if not on this computer thing that I got from my boys three yrs. ago. I see that you share all my passions for hobbies & I’ll be so anxious to see what you have to post ! I sure have a lot of duck questions but I realize that mine are different. I’ve lived thru the dreaded “mating ” ritual which scared me to death the first time I saw it! LOL But I also lived thru my youngest little girl coming just a few feet away with her two surviving babies, only to have an Egret swoop in & eat one of them & come back & get the other right from her protective wing! She (and I ) morned those babies for days. She wouldn’t eat or do anything except swim around “calling out” for the first day. Oh boy, I know that’s all part of nature & have had to repeat that to myself several times lately. I also used to have chickens & had the joy of fresh eggs daily for quite awhile. I had to give them up when my neighbor & I got “turned in” to the local police by her x-husband. I so envy the place you live & hope to share your posts for a long time. Thanks so much for your time! I hope to talk with you soon. Linda