Planning The New Duck Run

 I have been out planning and measuring yesterday. I have studied the instructions (it all looks rather complicated) and today is the big day. Poor Tom is tired as he didn't get in from work until 11 o'clock last night but we can't have a box of duck run panels in the dining room another day!

We really love our ducks. I was checking last night to see exactly how old they were. We hatched Scoot the female duck in May 2014 so she is nearly 7. She was  the cutest little duckling. 

 

 As she was an "only duckling" we were worried she was growing up to think she was a dog, she absolutely loved them! We travelled to a farm on a round trip of 100 miles to rescue a two week old male Call duckling who was going to have his neck rung as the farmer had hatched too many males. I'm afraid to say he has never shown a minutes gratitude for our efforts but we still love him. 

So hopefully today we can get it all done and secure against the foxes by this evening, otherwise I can see the ducks in a cage in the kitchen overnight! I hope everyone has a wonderful day what ever your plans. xx

Looking Forward To David Essex

 It was another warm day yesterday, a sunny cheerful sort of day that somehow brightened us all. Tom is on late shifts all the way though until next Tuesday but at least that means he gets the morning at home. I had ordered an extension to the hosepipe with the replacement attachment and we ran it up the side of the garden fence so not only does it look much tidier I can sit on the bench and give the ducks a shower instead of them just having a swim about in their little pool. They loved it and I can see on warm days this will be a job all of us will want to do as it is so amusing to watch their antics when they are enjoying themselves.

I may even try the cockatiels with a bit of misting on warm days now the hosepipe reaches right up to the end of the garden. They certainly seemed to enjoy the early spring sunshine yesterday.

There has been more news about things hopefully opening up later in the year. Musical festivals have announced they will be taking place later in the summer. A friend of mine who is a musician has announced he will be playing at venues later in the year, after a year with no work I am so pleased for him. For me, one really exciting thing I am looking forward to almost seems possible now. My sister and I were meant to be going to see David Essex in concert last September which was of course cancelled and postponed until this September. It was looking as if it was a distinct possibility it may not even happen then but now suddenly it seems a bit hopeful! We saw him at The Sutton Granada and The Hammersmith Odeon in 1974 and 1975. Sigh! What happy days. For any one else who remembers that twinkle in his eye here is a trip down memory lane!

Scarlett is coming today and sadly the weather doesn't look quite so good for us, but other parts of the country who have been having rain are at least due some sunshine. Hopefully we'll still get out for a walk and have a bit of fun today. I hope everyone has a lovely day what ever you are doing and is managing to plan something nice for after lockdown. xx

Waifs And Strays

 I went out to check yesterday and decided it was much to cold for gardening. I will check again tomorrow but I think it may be a case of a few more days inside in the warm. There's not much we are able to do until the weather warms up but we thought we may redo our duck run in the next few weeks. Our female duck Scoot laid the first egg of 2021 yesterday and I think she deserves a bit of extra love and care.

The whole neighbourhood knows we take in waifs and strays. I have lost count of the number of knocks on the door we have had with neighbours asking if we can take in this baby blackbird, budgie found on the allotments, ducklings or chickens from school hatching projects even lost dogs that are dropped at our door with the parting comment "I thought you would know what to do". The lost dog was reunited with a heartbroken owner a few roads  away and we managed to find homes for the ducklings at a local farm we used to buy our chicken feed from. The budgie lived for years more in our aviary and the baby blackbird was released in the wild after being hand reared. It is something I enjoy so much. If I can't manage the situation there is always someone to turn to who will help, with care or rehoming.

Eldest son is exactly the same. He spent months catching Millie my Dad's cat who was virtually feral when he found her. I remember trying to get her into a cat basket to take her to the vet, she was totally wild! Now all this time later she will barely shift off my Dad's sofa! Injured seagulls and pigeons, they all have spent time in boxes in his kitchen. He like us can't turn his back on anything. 

Our latest addition is called Dottie. A few months ago, on the way home from work, Tom found a little white dove lying at the side of the road. With a bloodied wing and unable to fly she would probably not have survived the night. She was exhausted and starving. She was so thin I didn't think she would survive. We have fed her up and kept her warm and now she has completely recovered. She is a domestic dove, not a wild one, and we have tried to find her owners. Lots of people have said  they have lost doves but they all have had rings on their legs which Dottie doesn't . It looks as if she is staying with us and we are already planning an aviary for her. She is adorable, she really interacts with us, making lovely cooing noises. Scarlett, after initially being horrified by her bright red legs, now loves her too and chats away to her. 

Well it's Valentine's Day today. Tom and I don't do Valentines Day at all, we used to send each other cards when we were younger but it has all become so commercialised and another reason for us to be manipulated into spending more money. Oh dear don't I sound a misery! I did get a Valentine card, from my adopted donkey Bonnie! I have put that up on the dresser and no doubt it will give us a laugh today which I think is what it's all about. 

I hear warmer weather is just around the corner, which is exciting in itself. Have a lovely day everyone what ever you are doing. xx

Out In The Snow

 What a cold day it was yesterday! Tom was back at work after nine days holiday so I felt quite lonely. He has been going out and feeding our birds and ducks while he has been off so it was a shock to my system on such a cold day going out to see to them. It took me such a long time as all the water was frozen and the ducks little pool was frozen solid too. After the struggle of chipping all that away, of course the hose pipe was frozen so I had to walk up and down the garden with buckets of water from the kitchen. We have steps up to our garden which are pretty treacherous at the best of times so I felt I was risking life and limb doing it yesterday. I carried warm water for the ducks little pool as a treat and even though it was only just warm in the freezing cold there was steam coming off it. Scoot our female duck just sat there with her little legs floating for ages she enjoyed it so much.

The whole time I was walking up and down, the beautiful vixen who always sits at the end of our garden was watching me, no doubt in amazement at my antics. I always think she has the most perfect face I have ever seen on a fox.

I felt so sorry for her sitting in the cold and snow I went into the house and gave her a bowl of dog biscuits before I went inside. While I was sitting in the warm enjoying a cup of tea I sat and watched the fox carefully carrying some of  the biscuits and hiding them around the garden.  When I was talking to my eldest daughter on the phone yesterday evening I told her about the fox's behaviour. Before she was a police officer she worked for two years in the London Wildlife Hospital and she said if a vixen is displaying different behaviour she may be pregnant. I do hope so, she had three cubs last spring and it was such a pleasure watching their antics in the garden as they grew up. 

When youngest daughter got in from work she said she saw, on the way by, the local park was completely packed with families out sledging on the big hill there. All off school, I suppose they deserve to have a bit of fun. Tom said the buses were empty though and he spent most of the day driving round and round with only a few people on his bus. I start to wonder if the days of busy buses will ever come back.

It was such a cold night last night. We leave the kitchen heater on all night when it is cold, for our dogs and Cleo our cat who sleeps pressed up next to it. Cassie our little Yorkie sleeps on our bed and even she got under the covers! I kept waking up and thinking about the poor fox out in this snow. It is still snowing today though only lightly but I think it may be a while before this clears. I have plenty of work to do inside but I will be glad to get out walking again. Have a lovely day everyone and I hope you are all able to stay safe and warm xx

Bantam Ducks

Another cold day today but at least the sun came out for a few hours and that cold northerly wind has dropped. Our house faces north and we are raised up above the road on a high bank. Although it means we have a nice view looking over the houses into the distance, when the wind blows from the north it is absolutely freezing as we have nothing to break it.
There were lots of jobs to do around the garden today looking after our chickens and ducks and I took this photo of Scoot and Carue our bantam ducks as I was out there. Scoot is a Minitature Silver Appleyard duck we hatched from an egg and is adorable.  Carue is a call duck we rescued from a farm at two weeks old. The farmer had hatched too many male ducklings and was going to wring his neck. We drove a 120 mile round trip to pick him us as a friend for Scoot and I'm afraid to say he is decidedly ungrateful. Even though he looks very cute he can be a proper little demon and spends most of the time when I am in there hanging off my trousers and pecking at any bit of me he can make contact with. It's not too bad in the winter when I am wrapped up but in the summer, when he can make contact with bare skin,  it is slightly less amusing.
There is something about his little round face and waddly walk though that I just love and even though I regularly threaten him with the same fate the farmer had in store for him I can't help but like him.!

 Scoot And Carue The Bantam Ducks