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Moose Manor Farms

101 degree heat index? Say it ain’t so…

6/27/2010

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Muscovy takes a dip
The baby ducks and geese are growing so fast!  They’re all getting feathers, learning to quack, and swimming in their “pond”.  It’s been pretty hot so keeping lots of water in their run is a high priority, between swimming in it, drinking it, and generally making a mess with it, I’m finding it tough to keep the buckets full – LOL!

My three juvenile Khaki Campbell’s were put out to roam for the very first time this weekend.  I worried mostly that they wouldn’t know where to go in at night because for all their little lives I’ve carried them back and forth from grazing pen to the barn in a Rubbermaid tub.  So early one morning I put them into the duck enclosure while the Harlequin were lazily sleeping-in inside the duck barn.  The Campbell’s weren’t sure what to do with themselves at first but found the little pond in the enclosure and set up shop.  When the Welsh Harlequin came out and saw these strange ducks in their pond they chased the Campbell’s out of it.  Those little KC’s were determined to make friends with their new found barn-mates and were undeterred by the wing flapping and squawking.  The Harlequin were not overly mean but certainly didn’t think they needed any new additions to their little group.  So when they set off to forage out on the property the determined Campbell’s waddled along behind.  Soon they were accepted at the lunch table with the cool kids... but at the bottom of the pecking order.  They still won’t go in the duck barn by themselves yet.  It seems like the Harlequin have made it known that the duck barn is their domain, but there is soooo much room in there!  The Campbell’s can have half all to themselves, for goodness sake.  So every night I gather up my little brown ducks and stuff them in the pop-hole to sleep in the in safety with the others.  Eventually they’ll get it figured out.

The Muscovy have become even more friendly… when I sit on the ground out in the barnyard taking pictures they come right up, almost in my lap, to see what I’m doing.  I was surprised a few times because I had my eye up to the viewfinder and didn’t see them all sneak up on me.  They’re probably looking for a treat!  I came out with some wilted asparagus the other day and as I was tossing sticks of asparagus to them they were running over to get some and stealing it from each other.  Poor things… that stuff was wilted but it still has such a tough outer skin that they had to chew and chew and chew. 

I’ve got my eye on three Muscovy that I’d like to keep for my own flock.  The whole group is friendly and extremely curious but some of them are genuine characters and a couple of the girls are very pretty.  One of the really big boys likes to eat the feed right out of the bucket when I’m filling the feeders.   So I pour some in the feeder, then hold out the bucket for him to grab a few mouthfuls, then fill the other feeders.  He follows me around and it’s like “one for me, one for the rest of you jokers”.  He likes to be petted too… he’s pretty cute so I’ll probably keep him.

I lost a juvenile Harlequin drake and a Muscovy duck to aerial predators this week while I was at work.  Either a very large hawk or an eagle, based on the size and weight of the ducks.  It’s very sad when this happens and it really freaks the other ducks out.  They all stayed inside for the better part of 2 days after the attack but they’re finally back out free ranging cautiously.  Though the Muscovy are sticking very close to the barn and trying to stay out of the open.  The dogs are very good at keeping the ground predators away; I’ve never had trouble with birds of prey during the day so this is new to the dogs.  I know blue jays, robins, and crows are great at keeping the airspace clear of aerial hunters so I’ll need to be sure to provide plenty of feed for those birds too.  Having geese and turkeys usually works well also, maybe I should hang on to those 2 sweet American Lavender-ice geese…


Black Cayuga Cutie


Rise & Shine! It’s morning time!


Muscovy Pair (Angel Wing & his girl)


Welsh Harlequin doll faced girl


Goose Yoga


Muscovy take a stroll

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OMG! It's so hot & humid this June... err... I mean: Garden Update #1

6/12/2010

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Refreshing Beverage
I write this post relatively early in the day because it's been so hot and humid (mostly humid) that my clothes are soaked through and I'm just pooped so I had to knock-off today at 5pm... that's pretty early for me when I have all these chores.  Time to get the beach chair, a glass of cold wine and watch a little "duck TV".  There's a lot you can learn about these creatures if you pull up a chair, sit with your favorite beverage and just watch.

duck, duck, moose... Oh, yeah... the garden! 

Ahem, this is a little embarrasing to admit for a veteran gardener with so much space and black gold soil, but I finally had to plant my vegetables in tubs and buckets this year.  The baby watermelon will have to grow vertical this summer instead of sprawling wildly across the ground the way I like it. 

I have this lovely, rather large market garden plot, mostly tilled and ready for my small sundry plantings (I was able to remain reasonable in my plant purchases this year - for once).  The trouble is that I had to fell two large trees this spring and they needed to land right in that open space.  Needless to say, I haven't completely cut them up yet, in fact, I'm only at about 50% complete on that job.  Alas... tomatoes I carefully selected and giddily ordered from catalogs in February needed to get in the ground by June instead of languishing in their little pots on my picnic table.  So, I remain my practical self and used whatever containers were cheapest and could be repurposed once my garden was back in use again.  But I do I have plans to experiment with a winter garden using a hoop house this year so the plot should be ready for a fall planting.

Right now everything seems to be growing very well in my little bucket city, especially since I put the containers within duck pool dumping distance.  So they get water and fertilzer in one dose and I put that dirty water to good use. :)





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(6/7/10) We're growing feathers!

6/7/2010

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Hardee Campbell
It's been a busy, busy week here on the farm as well as a hot and very humid start to June - yesterday it was 87 degrees with 93% humidity.  It's like doing your chores with a hot, wet blanket over your head... *bleh*

The ducklings are going through their "ugly duckling" phase as they start to get feathers over their fuzz.  But the new feathers coming in look so nice... they're getting to be very handsome.  The Campbell's are getting their little tweed coats with that nice, herringbone brown coloring and the Muscovy have just a little bit of yellow fuzz poking up around shiny white feathers.

The Campbell's are very active and running around finding bugs, dabbling in their water pan, and chatting amongst themselves companionably.  They rest a lot in the tall grass during the heat of the day and I wish they'd dunk themselves in the water but they don't seem to be interested in swimming.  They just stick their heads underwater and messily splash and flick it all around, but they don't get in.  Oh well.

The Muscovy are growing so fast!  They remind me of my mastiffs they way they lay around and want me to just step over them rather than move.  As they've matured they've really quieted down too.  They used to make their little duckling peeps but now they're growing into new vocalizations... or lack thereof.  The males just make a sort of panting sound and the females are making a soft purr-squeek.  They really only "talk" when I pick them up or they're upset about something. 

We've had some serious thunderstorms lately and they all got caught in a terrible downpour last Thursday - the the rain drops were huge and the thunder was tremendous!  I had a couple of shelters for them outside but since the whole group couldn't entirely fit into a single shelter they wouldn't go in at all.  I was afraid it might hail again like it did last week and I felt terrible seeing them marching all tucked together back and forth from one place to another so I got a big tarp and went out in the pouring rain to make a single shelter for them.  

                            Let me just say right now... that was a terrible idea. 

When they saw me unfolding this big brown thing they totally freaked out and stampeded.  Poor ducks!  I eventually collected them all up and put them on fresh, dry straw in the barn.  Those Muskovy were mad at me for 3 days after that... they would all crowd together in a corner and glare at me when I came in to feed them.  But by Sunday they were back to their usual ultra-calm selves again and they decided it might be OK to go back outside.  Or at least half of them did... the other half sat on the barn door threshold and just looked out.

The Campbell's were totally over it in, like, 10 minutes.  LOL!

Muscovy girl

Hardee, Messie, and Splashie Campbell

Muscovy are feathering over their fluff

Hardee & Messie Campbell

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    Dana

    About Farmrgirl

    Small town Calif. farm-girl leaves the ranch behind for many years of adventure at sea, travels the world, then moves to Washington DC in 2007 where she finds the perfect homestead to settle down: acres of secluded Southern Maryland woods where she goes granola by raising her quality of life, Mastiffs, ducks, chickens, and tomatoes {& one Bengal kitty}... sustainably.


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