DUCK_GARDENER photos!

[DUCK_GARDENER]

  Some news: Tilli kept on being mean to the others, even though the drake tried to intervene. I am sorry to announce that she was invited to dinner. It was all we could do as she was attacking the others, especially when she thought we were not around. The other ducks were being terrorized.
It seems that the others are happier for the removal of the mean Tilli, as they all took baths, ate their dinner treats and settled down together in the straw. The atmosphere seems relaxed and peaceful now. We are still going to keep the feral pair seperate from the others as we still don't want to let them breed to avoid extra ducklings that cannot be used for the table if they are given away.
They are all in mid molt, and adjusting to the colder weather of fall very well. The feral pair, Carolina and Carry are slightly bigger and much more freindly as they are settling in. Smokey is looking raggad as she is in mid molt, but she is friendly, charming and a mothering creature; she takes care of Koko, who acts a lot like Carry, a giant teanager! It appears that Dicky, the drake is falling in love with Koko, as he follows her everywhere and lets her eat treats first!
So...we are down to one drake and 4 ducks. Everyone seems happy and healthy and doing their ducky thing! More updates as they happen. Thanks for all the help and support as we learn the duck ropes.


Yeah, Cathy, It looks like she was just nasty! The original owner said that she was ok, but maybe something happened at the Fair to turn her mean, but mean she was! Not that she wasn't pretty and I am sure that if we just wanted a pretty bird for breeding, she would have been fine, but we want pet types and for it to be a peaceful atmosphere, not dread and bad feelings when we visit the pens and sit out there with them every evening. She just didn't work out as a member of the family, but she was treated with respect and will make a fine fall dinner.

[DUCK_GARDENER]

All is peaceful on the home front here;both pens of muscovies are doing well and are happy. They are starting to come up to us everyday as we care for them and their pens.(they loved the fish bait live crickets we hand fed them and are always looking for more!) They love the oat straw we are using for bedding material! The only drawback is that they pull it into the mortar tub bathing ponds and it gets smelly overnight! The daytime temps are still in the low 80's here.
 Smokey has lost all the cut wing feathers and we are eagerly awaiting the growth of her new wing feathers. She is so pretty, even without them, as her new feathers have more color than the old ones. We still do not know if she is lavendar, silver or self blue, biut as we are breeding her to a black drake, the results should tell us. Our copy of Storrey's Guide to Raising Ducks finally came and has been read cover to cover several times now! I can see why Cathy recommends it; it is a great book with loads of specific info, especially on muscoves. It gave specific results from all of the possible colors Smokey could be, so her duckling's colors and frequency should tell us her actual genetic color absolutely. And all hatchlings from Koko should be black, with males carring the chocolate gene, so they won't confuse us if they all get mixed up in the same nest!  It makes it easier on the kids as they understand that the black ducks will end up on a table, even if not on ours.

We have moved the portable pen over several feet as we are going to try  an experiment: I am going to post a new thread in breeding if anyone wants to follow it. It will be' led christmas lights to induce laying in mature female muscovies experiment'. I will update as data comes in. Cross your fingers. The reason we moved the portable pen is that Carrie is under 4 months old and if this works, we do not want to induce her to lay this young. They can still see each other, but the illumination level in her pen where she sleeps should not be enough to effect her.
Anyway check out then experiment to see how it is proceeding.