2019 was a full year of six ducks. We made it through the winter, through a HUGE snowstorm that closed the schools. There was hail and lots of rain and flooding (the ducks don't mind excess water). There were sunny days in the garden as well.
After letting the ducks free range the entire backyard last year, we decided to keep them a bit more contained this year. They are SO hard on the lawn. Poop everywhere and they are constantly digging holes in the grass. They still had a lot of space in the garden and unfinished area. Like last year, we had quite a few eggs during the Spring and Summer months. Then, the girls really slowed down.
Between just getting a little burned out, having other things going on, there was some ducky drama that made this year challenging. The two males were generally two peas in a pod. Identical. I really couldn't tell them apart. They had the funniest way of doing a little head bob, then "sneeze" and they'd almost always do it in tandem. BUT ... there were also times they were trying to kill each other! I'm not sure if it was some mating dominance, but it would stress me out. They would fight, there was blood and feathers. I'd try to separate them but they'd go right back at it ... until they were over it and friends/brothers again. There was also some bullying of HandiQuack this year. I'm not sure why. The two males and Blackfoot would chase her off and not let her settle down with the crowd. I felt so bad for her. Much of the summer I ended up separating the flock, keeping HQ and ond of the other girls with her in one part of the fenced garden, with the other four on the other side. This caused much more stress and difficulty in caring for them. They finally seemed to work things out and I was able to keep all six ducks together again at the end of the year.
With Winter coming again, and quite a bit more on my plate, I knew I wasn't up to keeping up with and caring for the ducks any more. Grayson found a cute farm in Riverton that would accept animals and we took them out there. It looked like a cute place, with other ducks, chicken and geese, goats, sheep, a cow, pig and llamas. I know they probably won't be quite as spoiled as they were here at in the Blackham backyard, with the peas/tomatoes, mealworms, etc., but it looked like a nice place where they wouldn't be penned up all the time, and would be cared for. Good luck ducks!
This was the first year in a few, where we didn't have ducklings. But we did have ducks for all twelve months of the year. This was the first year we kept the ducks over the winter. This crew had been hatched so late in the year, they weren't old enough to take off on their own. Moreover, they weren't full Mallards, as their mom had been a domestic Buff. So they were bigger and heavier and likely wouldn't survive. We'd clipped their wings to keep them from flying (there had been a couple accidental pops over the neighbor's fence), and even when then flight feathers grew back in ... they never tried to fly away again.
Winter was a little tough. With the water turned off, I'd have to manually lug a pail of water out in the morning and evening. Grayson had put a big piece of plastic over the front of the pen, so I could still see inside, but would stop snow from blowing in. I'd still let the ducks free range most of the time. Often they'd end up right on the back step, outside the door (picture above). We were all happy when the weather warmed up and there was no more snow.
With Spring ... the two girls were old enough to start laying eggs. And they did!
It was like Easter everyday, as I'd do a little search around to see if I could find any.
This egg looks brown, I think it's just the light, and a bit of dirt.
All the eggs were white.
Life with four ducks. They take a bit of caring for. Out in the morning to make sure they have fresh water and grain, look for eggs. Take them some treats (peas, grapes, watermelon, tomatoes). Once when it rained and the earthworms emerged, I spent the morning picking them up from the sidewalks and streets and keeping them on hand for my babies.
My duckies say "What the Hail?"
Then, Gabby died. I could tell something was off with her for a day or so. She stopped wandering around with the other three. She wasn't really eating. We don't know what it was. Super sad :( So for a while there, it was just the three ducks. Now with ducks, you always want more females, so it was either getting rid of one of the males, or getting more girls. We got more girls. We adopted three pretty Welsh Harlequins. I named them Quinn, GG and ... the one came with a name, HandyQuack. Her back had been damaged during a prior move. She was okay, but had a limp and a different set to her wings.
Six ducks.
With four girls, we got a lot of eggs.
They would really vary in size.
The girls weren't always consistent. Some days I'd get four eggs, other days only two. They'd often switch where they were laying, and the new girls would almost always lay their eggs together in the same spot. They'd take turns on the nest. IF I was to allow them to sit and hatch some babies ... which one of them would take on the task? But no ... no babies this year, and we were enjoying the eggs.
As Spring rolled into Summer, and Summer to Fall, and Winter was coming ... was I committed to another Winter, lugging water and going out in the cold and worrying about the birds in the backyard? I guess so ...
Here's a peek at a year in the life of Blackham Ducks.
2017 was a year for backyard birds. We started in the spring, incubating eggs and ended up with four babies. Four ducklings that grew up and flew away so fast, we don't have too many memories with them. Admittedly, we had two geese at the time too. We have many memories of the geese. Then the geese were gone. We then took in a pair of ducks from a neighbor. There were eggs, and offspring. We ended up with The Fall Four, who would be with us for a while. This is the start of their story~
While we had a momma duck, I didn't want to give up the eggs (she'd stop laying if she sat) and I didn't want a full clutch. It was really too late in the season for babies, but Grayson was intrigued to see what a Mallard/Buff cross would look like. So we stuck five eggs in the incubator. Early candling indicated one of the eggs was not developing, but the other four progressed as expected. Soon it was time for the hatching. We've hatched three times before, but this was the first time I was there to watch every baby emerge. I caught it on camera too (video below). Two eggs hatched pretty quickly, but the other two seemed stuck. It's SO stressful to watch and wait. Finally the third duckling made it out, but the fourth was still stuck and struggling. I ended up having to help a little, and I wasn't sure she was going to make it. Even when the egg was off, she was still curled up in the same shape, not really moving.
She (I don't know if this was one of the girls, just assuming that she ended up being our smallest one) finally seemed to unfurl, and she was fine. We had four, fluffy baby duckies. We had the usual weeks of bathing, feeding, playing ... and of course changing their pen. Oh ... the poop! When they got a little bigger, we moved them outside. Even as fast as they grew, I was worried about the timing. Our other batches of birds had hatched in the Spring, and were fully grown before flying away. I didn't think these babies were prepared to be wild. And being a mix with a domestic Buff, they were a bit bigger and I wasn't sure they would be able to fly. They did though, only as far as over the fence and into the neighbor's yard. We retrieved them (Blackfoot hadn't made it over), and committed to caring for them throughout the winter. We upgraded the pen we'd been using to a more sturdy and spacious dog run (even though we let them free range most of the time). We'd never kept ducks during the winter before, and I wasn't sure how it would go. We made it to Spring ... but that will be another post.
Two boys - Two girls
Abbot and Costello, Gabby Girl and Blackfoot
Here's a video compilation of The Fall Four - Blackham Ducks 2017
Summer of 2017 ... we were duckless. We'd hatched a set of mallards in the Spring, but they hadn't stuck around. The geese were gone. The backyard felt a bit empty. Grayson heard of a neighbor who had added a couple ducks to his chickens, and they weren't getting along. So, we adopted the ducks.
Mr. Mallard was a traditional mallard, but the female was a Buff. She was very pretty and she was shy and nice. Mr. Mallard on the other hand, was a bit of a brute. He'd peck at my ankles and got annoyed with the wild birds that would come to partake of the buffet in our backyard. Here's a little video recapping our time with these two ...
GOT EGGS?
While Golden Girl hadn't laid eggs yet at her previous residence, it wasn't long until she started laying for us. She popped out some HUGE eggs. They would really vary in size. She was quite consistent, laying one a day. Then, she stopped. I didn't think too much of it, but then a little over a week later, I discovered a nest in a new location with a whole bunch of eggs in it. She'd just moved spots. I collected those eggs, as I wasn't prepared for a big batch of babies.
These were all fertilized eggs (believe me, there was enough action going on to ensure that). Grayson wanted to see what the babies from these two would look like, but I didn't want Golden Girl to sit and stop laying (and she'd likely wait until she had a dozen or more eggs). We decided to try a few in the incubator. More on that in the next post ...
We did end up with babies. Even though they were the babies of these two birds, I was afraid of how Mr. Mallard would treat them. So, we ended up keeping the four ducklings, and rehoming Mr. Mallard and Golden Girl. We hadn't planned on keeping them over the winter anyway. They were a fun addition to our summer ducks of 2017.
My video camera caught quite a few other birds in the backyard (and front yard) as well. I think the birds tweeted about the nice buffet that was always laid out. Birds galore! I love the fat quail, and the baby birds being fed by their parents, the lovey doveys and the starlings (I've posted about them nesting in our back wall and garage brick - Noisy Birds). Saw some wild ducks at the canal as well. Here's a quick little video from the miscellaneous Blackham birds of 2017.
Time for a 2017 edition of the Blackham Backyard Birds.
Part 1 "Duck, Duck, Goose ... x2"
(parts 2 and 3 will come later)
Starting with the Spring set.
Duck eggs in the incubator. Of the seven started, four eventually hatched. This set of four was a little more feral than other ducks we'd raised in past years. They were wild, not eating from our hands or even coming that close. Admittedly, we were a bit distracted by the geese (their story below) who were extremely interactive. These four seemed very petite ... we wondered if we had four females, but they flew away before we knew for sure. They sure didn't stick around for long.
... while we were waiting for the duck eggs to hatch, Grayson bought two baby geese from a breeder. About twice the size of a duckling, they were adorably off-balance (they would easily topple over before they found their feet, and their swimming was not nearly as graceful... they ended up going backwards most of the time). These babies loved human interaction and would eat out of our of our hands and snuggle by our feet. One of the babies (a few weeks old at that point) got under the fence and into the front yard just as a little girl was riding by on her bike. Little goose girl followed the her all the way around the neighborhood (we did track them down and brought Goose Girl safely home).
I know Canadian Geese have a reputation for being mean ... but not these two. They were so sweet and just wanted to play (and to be fed). They would hang out on the back porch, peeking in the window, and even came into the house a couple of times, They loved lettuce and greens more than our ducks ever had. They pooped everywhere. They grew so fast and outgrew our backyard so they had to move onto larger, greener pastures. We sure missed them when they were gone.
Last year (2015), Grayson instigated the great egg experiment. He bought an incubator and procured some Mallard eggs. You can read all about our experience (Daddy's Duckies) with Andy, Joe, Alex and Pedro (changed to Pedra, as she was a girl). The ducks were gone at the end of the season, having flown the coop (literally).
As Spring rolled around ... once again, Gray got out the incubator and acquired eggs. Like the first year, we'd enjoy "candling" the eggs to check on the development of the babies inside. It was a Sunday when we first saw the signs of hatching. Three of the eggs were rocking and had little holes. We had a family get-together and came home to a duckling!
He would be the only one.
We don't know what happened. Why the two eggs that had started the hatching process weren't able to finish. It happens, but it was really hard to take emotionally. And like last year, we had ONE lonely baby duck.
That first day ... I kept the duckling by my side for much of the day.
If he couldn't have a duck sibling, I would do.
He'd follow me around. I had to watch my step!
Gray contacted the fellow we'd picked up the eggs from and asked if he had a couple newly hatched babies. He had a set of Mallards, black mutations. Five of them (one, the smallest, was brown).
We introduced the new babies to Uno (which is what we'd named our little guy). While he hadn't liked being alone, he was very unsure about these new additions! It took him a bit to acclimate to them.
They would spend most of the day in the brooder box. We'd take them outside in the morning and evening for a little fresh air and to let them run around and dig in the dirt. Then we'd fill up the bathtub and let them swim while one of us cleaned the brooder box. Boy can these little guys poop!
As mentioned in my Wild Duckies post ... we'd had a male and female duck hanging around the house for more than a month. Then, it was only the female we'd see around. She'd stop in for a bit once or twice during the day, eating some of the food I'd laid out, and taking a dip in the pool I'd set up for her. A couple of times when she'd stop by, we'd bring out the babies to watch the interaction. While she was always wary of us humans, she was intrigued enough by the babies that she came quite close. Uno was quite intimidated by her though.
Enjoying a little rest in the sun.
Duckies got your back (literally).
Then ... Momma duck showed up with THIRTEEN babies in tow! We never saw her nesting, but she must have been close by. Her little ones were SO little. They were a couple weeks behind our ducklings. They seemed so small compared to our big babies.
As our hatchlings got a little older, we'd keep them outside for longer periods of time. With Momma and her crew hanging out in the backyard too, we'd keep our babies in the pen. Momma did NOT like it if our big babies got too close to her little ones. The big babies thought it was a little unfair though, that Momma and the babies had free range of the entire yard (and beyond) but they were confined. We would let the big babies out when we could supervise, and then we'd leave them out for longer periods of time, even as we went back into the house. The big babies really tried to stay out of Momma Duck's way. We'd keep a window open, listening for a commotion and rush out to intervene if necessary. While having Momma and her babies around was so fun to observe, it was a bit of a relief when they left, and it was just us and our babies.
Our babies loved to come nibble on toes and ears and clothing.
... but MEALWORMS were the favorite treat!
Our first year with our ducks, we'd put them back in the pen when we weren't around, and always put them in for the night. With Momma and her babies hanging out the backyard, unpenned ... we wondered if it was really necessary. Once the ducks had grown enough that we didn't feel magpies or a stray cat would be a problem, we let them free range in the entire backyard. (While Momma and babies would duck under the small opening at the fence gate, our babies never wanted to wander, although we did entice them out into the front yard a few times).
In addition to the emotion losing the two eggs in the beginning, we had an issue with Ally. Everything had been fine, then she started limping. It got worse and worse as she lost the ability to walk (she'd "wing walk" attempting to drag herself to the others) and when I'd pick her up and put her in the pool she seemed unable to use her left side, being lopsided in the water. Poor baby! I took her to a vet (it's hard to find vets that treat ducks) and there was nothing broken or damaged. We had just been using a chicken feed, and were educated on the fact that ducks need niacin. The lack of this nutrient commonly manifests itself in leg problems in ducks. They recommended a feed specifically for waterfowl, and/or to supplement with Brewer's Yeast. I did some research online as well, and while it seemed like a longshot (she was in such bad shape) we started with the supplements and ... she recovered. It was our own little miracle. When she started to wobble across the yard again, it brought tears to our eyes. She had always been the smallest, and this ordeal had seemed to stunt her growth (while the others got bigger she stayed small) but she soon caught up with her siblings in every way. Even flying across the yard.
Almost every evening ... it was ducky time with Daddy. Gray loved to just sit out there and watch them as they splashed or slept or preened. Of course there were plenty of treats too. Mealworms, goldfish and even some crickets. We'd dig in the garden unearthing worms and snails.
The ducks did start trying out their wings. They flew over the fence into the neighbor's backyard a couple times.
Then one morning ... instead of six duckies, there were only four. I checked the neighbor's yard, but they weren't there. It took a day or so and a couple walks to the canal ... but I found them there! Then two more left, then the final two. Four of them joined up at the canal (Uno, Ally, Jorge and Antonia). I saw Phillipa once, on her own and tried to get her to move upstream to meet up with the others, but she flew off. She could sure fly. We never caught sight of Miguel again.
At this point, I was walking to the canal every day. Usually twice a day. Had to check in on my duckies! I'd still bring them food. The waterfowl feed, cracked corn and other treats like watermelon, lettuce and bananas (Ally loved bananas). Sometimes I'd find them quickly, as they'd stay in about the same spot, other days I'd have to walk well over a mile before I'd find them. Once fun memory, I started walking down the canal and called out "hey ducky duckies" and the four of them came FLYING from further down the canal.
With their distinctive coloring, I could always tell which ones were "our" ducks among the other wild ones that hung out at the canal. I mean Uno, with the traditional mallard colors was harder to tell apart, but we could because he'd be with the others. Near the end of the season, I didn't see him though. A couple times I'd only find Antonia and Ally (but Jorge did show up again the next day) ... until I didn't find them. Many of the ducks were leaving. The ducky days were over. Until next year.
Here's a little video ...
... and one more little video featuring the favorite food!
Last year we raised ducks (Daddy's Duckies 2015). As the three birds tested their wings at the end of the summer ... they flew away. We wondered if they would return (they had been spoiled with yummy treats, food and a pool), but we didn't see them again.
Spring of 2016, there was a pair of ducks hanging around. Now that's not unusual at all, at the canal, but we're about a quarter mile away. This pair was in the front yard (our home and a couple of the neighbors). I pulled out some of the feed from last year, and they seemed to like that. I filled up the pool in the back yard ... and they seemed to like that too. They'd stay for a couple hours each day. Eat some food, take a swim, then they would fly away to spend their time somewhere else. We wondered if it was one of OUR ducks from last year, coming "home" to roost.
One morning in early spring, I was sitting at the computer with the blinds open to the backyard when I saw Momma duck and 13 babies! THIRTEEN! They were so fun to watch. They would swim, eat, and gather under Momma ...
... even as they got a little bigger, Momma would still snuggle and shelter them.
They would wander a bit. We'd come out in the morning and they would be gone. The first couple times, they had only made it to the next door neighbor's yard. Stopped at the window well, as a couple babies had fallen in. Keaton climbed down and rescued them (as I tried to protect HIM from Momma, being protective didn't understand we were trying to help).
It was mostly in the mornings when they would wander, although sometimes at dusk too.
But then Momma would bring them back to the backyard.
One time though ... only 12 babies came back. The boys and I did a search of all the nearby window wells. Tried to listen for the chirp of a lost baby, but no luck. We have no idea what happened to it. If it got taken by a dog or cat, or there is a fairly open gutter grate that a baby could have easily fallen into. We were so sad!
Another time, around 4:00 in the morning Hubs and I were awakened by a commotion. Frantic quacking by Momma Duck. We ran out back in our PJs ... it was a cat! We chased it off. Momma had jumped into the safety of the pool, but there were only three babies with her! We knew that cat couldn't have made off with nine babies, so we got out flashlights and searched the yard and found them huddled in a far corner. Happily, all nine. We reunited them with Momma. One of the babies did look like it had been hurt. It walked with a limp for a while, but finally seemed to work it out.
One time I was watching the ducks out the window when ... Momma flew away! Ummm, Momma? You coming back? She did. I guess she just needed to stretch her wings. Then it happened pretty much every day. I then noticed that most of the time ... the Mr. had flown over calling to her. She would take off and join him for some big circles in the sky before she'd fly back into the backyard. The babies would just stay huddled together while she was gone (and we'd always try to keep an eye on them if we noticed she was gone. Chase off any magpies or other dangers).
Then one morning ... the duckies were gone and they did NOT come back. I took several walks to the canal that day and the next, hoping to see that they had made it there safely. I was rewarded on one of my trips! There was Momma and her full dozen ducklings (while there are other momma/baby sets at the canal, in all the years we've been here, we've never seen a momma with a dozen ducklings, so we were pretty certain it was "our" family).
I really thought I'd make more trips to the canal to check on them, but we had our own duckies in the backyard (ones we had hatched and were raising) so I was getting my ducky fix without the walk. At the end of the season, the boys and I were talking a walk along the canal when we saw a big group of ducks.
It looked like it could have been our wild backyard babies. Seemed to be a momma and quite a few babies, bigger now, but about the right size, allowing for growth in the time that had passed.
2016 will be remembered as the summer of the ducklings!
This post is looooong overdue. But if I'd posted more promptly, I probably would have had a dozen or so smaller posts all about our eggs, ducklings, and the activity in the following months. So yes, that means this is a BIG post, because the duckies were a huge part of our lives last Spring, Summer and Fall.
It all started with the great egg experiment ...
Grayson ordered duck eggs and an incubator off the internet. The small incubator held seven eggs. Eight were shipped, an extra in case of breakage, but they all made it. We felt bad just leaving that one little egg out in the cold. After a couple weeks, we "candled" the eggs. In a dark room, you place an egg on top of a flashlight, and it gives you a peek inside. An "egg ultrasound" if you will. Duckies are social little creatures, so we needed at least two to hatch, to keep each other company! We could tell that three of the eggs were developing well. Two had something going on, but weren't the same as the other three, and two ... nothing.
As we neared the month mark, we started watching the eggs closer. One day, I noticed a little crack in one. There was a lot of "egg"citement that evening! A second egg started to crack too. They would rock back and forth a bit. The second egg soon passed up the first, we could see the little duckling inside, and with just a bit more waiting, we had a moist little duckling. It's recommended that you leave them in the incubator for up to 24 hours, before bringing them out into the big, wide world. We watched the second egg, but after the initial cracking, it just wasn't making any progress, even hours afterward. We were very worried, but when I woke and checked on things in the night, there was a second little duckling!
Then began ducky days ...
We had a setup in the basement. A big box, with a light warmer, food and water. Grayson originally put the box in our utility room, but with it's sliding door that was a bit tricky to close all the way, it only took one close call, finding our kitty Oreo in the box with the ducklings (he hadn't hurt them, but it was a heartstopping moment!), and I moved them to another room where we could keep the kitty out easier.
This began the duckie days ... every morning we'd take them out of the box to clean up the poop and spilled water. We'd fill up the bathtub so they could practice their swimming, and when the weather warmed up a bit, we'd take them for "outside time" in the morning and evening.
A video posted by JenB (@jenblackham) on Those little buggers were hard to catch to move from box to bath to play and back to box!
Those little buggers were hard to catch to move from box to bath to play and back to box! The boys named them Joe and Andy ... although we had a hard time telling them apart. Almost every time we took them outside or put them in the bath, it would become a family affair as everyone gathered round.
Then tragedy ...
Joe died. We'd been worried about him for a day or so. He just seemed lethargic. Not really eating, not really running away. We weren't sure what to do, then it was too late. He was gone. Poor Andy. Ducklings aren't meant to be alone. She would just peep, peep, peep missing her brother so much. There were human tears shed too. We tried putting a mirror in the box with her, and she would snuggle right up to it. We gave her a lot of extra attention while we obtained a couple more ducklings so keep her company.
Here is Andy chasing Mommy around the front yard ...
It was well past Easter, when Cal-Ranch and other stores have ducklings in stock, but Grayson was able to pick up a couple from a local contact online. Two more feathered babies, quite a bit smaller than Andi (and quite a bit more skittish), but it did help! The new ducklings were named Alex and Pedro (that was Landon's suggestion from the mission field).
Duckies on Daddy
Daddy digging worms ... yummy!
Our flowerbeds and gardens were actually weed free.
It didn't take long for the new babies to catch up in size, and we moved all three ducks outdoors. At first, we'd just leave them out in a pen during the day, still bringing them in at night or when the weather turned, but eventually they moved outdoors for good. Of course they outgrew the bathtub too ...
The duckies liked it, and we liked watching the duckies. Every morning, I'd prepare them a "big salad" of lettuce, grapes and tomatoes. Change their water and give them time to play. In the evening, we'd bring out a plate of peas and corn, or if they were really "lucky ducks" they would get crickets, goldfish or mealworms. Oh ... they LOVED mealworms and would eat them right out of Daddy's hands.
Ah worms! Gray would pick them up from Petsmart, but found them cheaper online ... we did have some struggles with them being shipped (opening up a box of dead worms! Ewww. A box of live worms isn't much better ... but it does smell better). I was SO happy (that is sarcastic) when a box came while Grayson was at work and I had to empty out the box and of wiggling mealworms! These would actually end up in a container in the fridge. OUR FRIDGE. Ewwwww. I deal better with earthworms, which the duckies definitely loved eating up too! I think we dug up most of the worms in our yard, so Gray ordered earthworms to restock.
While the ducks were quite tame, and would eat out of our hands, they sure didn't like being touched or picked up! Gray would try to catch them sometimes, just to see if he could. I've seen videos of ducks that acted more like dogs ... but our ducks were just ducks.
As the summer ended, the ducks would sometimes fly out of the pen as we brought them out for the evening duckie time. They would fly across the yard and we knew at some point they would probably fly away ...
I remember the first time, Alex, our big boy (Andi and Pedro were girls) flew up and over the fence into our neighbor's yard. We could see him there, looking confused. We went and knocked on our neighbor's door, and they let us into their backyard (luckily their dog wasn't out) and we walked Alex back to our house. Whew! A few days later, Alex flew again, he made a big circle up in the sky and then landed (crash landed) back into our yard. A few days after that, Alex and Pedro flew up over the fence ... and away. Poor Andi didn't get the memo, and was left all alone again. We really hoped our two duckies would come back home, but they never did.
Again, left with a lone ducky ... Grayson made arrangements for a new home for Andy. She went to live with a bunch of other ducks, from the place where Grayson had picked up the two baby ducklings. Hopefully she's enjoying the company of many other ducks, and maybe she'll find a man. It was a bit of an emotional goodbye. The end of ducky days ... we missed them.
Then, some neighbors just to the South of us reported a pair of ducks that was getting in and out of people's backyards, leaving a mess and making a bit of a nuisance of themselves. We were asked if they were our ducks, but these two weren't mallards, as ours had been. Gray investigated, and we think they had been raised as pets and released. They couldn't quite seem to make it over to the canal, where many wild ducks lived, so Grayson grabbed them and brought them home. We had ducks again. These two big boys were too fat to fly! We never bothered penning them up, but just let them have the run of the backyard. They liked the pool, and the worms ... they were not a fan of the big salad, as our ducks had been. We kept them for a couple of months, it wasn't quite the same as with OUR duckies, but we still enjoyed them. When the weather turned cold. Grayson found a place down south, kind of a "humane society" for fowl, and he dropped off these two ducks there, and I think they were quickly adopted into new families.
And that is the end of our ducky days for 2015.
What will 2016 bring?
We had SO many more pictures and video clips ... I made a muvee.
It's probably a little long for anyone else to enjoy,
but I think our family will always look back on 2015 with fond memories!
