R.I.P., Ping

We adopted Ping in May, 2011 when her owner couldn't keep her.  We called her Ping because she made a little noise that sounded like sonar, "Ping, ping, ping, ping."

In June she joined the older Muscovy ducks in the barnyard.  THEY were the ugly ducklings (although they got uglier with age).

They were fascinated with poor Ping who often found herself the center of attention.

Then in late 2011 our remaining female Muscovy duck, Jemima Puddleduck, was killed, and Ping was the lonely petunia in the onion patch--the sole female among five males.  Her life became miserable until Herb managed to catch her in May 2012, and we moved her to the Home Pasture.

In this safe refuge Ping was able to grow back her feathers and live a peaceful life.

Now Ping had a swimming pool all to herself, and she often took luxurious morning baths, preening and combing her feathers.

She still got out of the way when the pigs wanted a bath, but she found them to be good pasture mates.  She learned that such sloppy eaters tended to scatter bits that she could enjoy, and when she saw us coming with food, she would greet us with excited, loud squawking quacks.

After the pigs left, Ping's next pasture mates were Rambo and Obaama.  They weren't such good buddies when they got bigger because they tended to run right over her trying to get to their food.  But Ping stuck with them, quacking gamely for her share.  She was the mascot for a succession of animals from pigs to sheep to cattle and turkeys.

We think the drakes had injured Ping's legs because she always walked funny, even for a duck, and being run over by the sheep a couple of times didn't help.  Yesterday evening Herb found poor Ping lying dead by the pasture gate when he went out to take Misty to bed.  Our best guess is that one of the cows or sheep stepped on her and fatally injured her.

We will miss you, Ping.  We'll miss hearing your loud quack, announcing supper time to everyone; watching your graceful morning baths; and smiling at your funny waddle.  The pasture will be a much more lonely place without your presence.  Rest in peace, Ping.

Ping Joins the Big Ducks

The little duck that was purchased by someone who wasn't allowed to own poultry in their neighborhood has been living in solitary confinement in the brooder house where he quacks pathetically every time we go in to feed him.  I finally decided that he was big enough to try again to integrate him into the barnyard.  Tuesday I put him in there, but the other ducks attacked him.  So I shut him up alone in the chicken tractor/duck mobile where everyone could get to know each other through the chicken wire.


On Wednesday I saw Ping (as I very creatively named him!) touching bills with a female through the chicken wire, and he seemed very eager to get out, so I let him out.

Instantly the males converged on poor Ping, and they didn't seem to be saying "Welcome."

One pulled Ping's feathers.

They completely encircled him . . .

. . . and sort of nibbled all over him.  While it didn't seem tender, it didn't seem overly aggressive either, and I decided to let Ping figure things out on his own, if possible.

He did--by taking refuge in the pool!  For some reason, while the ducks gathered around him, they also left him alone.

Then one of the females chased him out.

Ping jumped out of the pool and ran away . . .

. . . but the ducks followed him again.

He went farther away, and this time the females followed him.

One of them ran after him and pulled out a beak-ful of his feathers.

Finally things settled down a bit.  Another circle of ducks gathered around Ping.

Several of them started nibbling at him, and he just stood very still and let them.

Then one (the one in the middle) pulled too hard on his feathers.  Ping gave a loud quacking squawk and ran away.  It seemed as if he and the big ducks had reached an understanding:  You can nibble on me and I'll stand still, but if you hurt me, I'll run away.  Detente!  At that point, pretty sure that the big ducks weren't going to eat Ping for dinner and that he could get away when he wanted to, I left them to it and headed into the house.

Three New Things

Another duckling!  This duckling came to us via a previous owner and a drafted rescuer who was unable to give it a safe place to live.  Hopefully, third time's the charm . . .

The moral of this story is:  Do not take home cute baby animals without knowing that you can keep them!  Not only is this poor duckling peeping in loneliness, but it may end up being eaten if it can't be integrated into one of our flocks.

Purple bean blossoms!  Charis' pole bean plant is putting out bright purple blossoms which will become purple beans that are easy for us to find on the vine.  Once they're blanched, they'll be green again--another advantage of these beans as they take the guesswork out of blanching time.  Now if only they taste good!

I never saw a purple bean,

I never thought to see one.

But I can tell you anyhow,

I'd rather eat than be one!

Esmerelda's large brown egg!  (Middle right)  Not only have her feathers recovered from Wren's attentions, but apparently her stress level has resolved itself to the point that she has started laying again after months of egg-lessness.  She's back!  And it's official--EVERYONE likes Wren better in the freezer than in the flesh!

Be Kind to Your Mother, Web-Footed Friends!

This happened on April 29, right after the storm, but I didn't have a chance to post it until now.  The chicks were 6 weeks old on April 27 and ready to go outside in the chicken tractor.  But, the chicken tractor was serving as a Duck Mobile in the barnyard, so we needed a new plan for the ducks.  Enter my (first) Gypsy chicken coop which Herb built a couple years ago on a wagon so that it could be moved around (thus the Gypsy).  Now THAT'S free-ranging!  Since  the three remaining chickens who used to use it have been integrated into the new coop, the Gypsy coop was available for immediate occupancy.

Herb helped me clean up the feed area in the barn and roll the Gypsy coop in.  He also built a nice large ramp for the ducks to get up and down into it since they seem too clutzy to handle the narrow ramp the chickens used.  He thought we could get the ducks in the evening after they settled down and move them in, so he went in to eat lunch.

I, however, was impatient to get the ducks settled into their new condo, so I started carrying them one by one and putting them in.  Unfortunately, I learned several things about ducks.  1)  They may look laid-back sitting around during the day, but they are not as tranquil as they look!  And, most importantly, 2) ducks are related to hawks and eagles!  Well, at least they have claws on the ends of their cute little webbed feet that resemble talons, and when they hook into you, you have to rip them out like giant cat's claws!  Fortunately, Kara came along to ask me a question, and I pressed her into service.  I also put on some long leather gloves!  While I carried each duck with two hands, Kara opened and closed the coop door so I didn't have to try to juggle ducks in one arm.

Eventually all 13 ducks were safely settled, and I was the only one who was the worse for the wear!

Here's the new Duck Mobile with its ramp propped up on the right.  The ramp fits neatly under the large green door for the ducks to get up and down into their home.

It makes the feed area a little crowded, but it also forced us to organize to make it work.

After several hours, I couldn't wait to see how the ducks would handle the ramp, so I opened the door.  One brave Jemima Puddle-duck hopped up in the doorway, followed by her Sir Francis Drake, and while he hung out, she examined the situation.

That is a l-o-o-o-o-ng way down!

Jemima and Francis discussed what to do while Gypsy (one of the original inhabitants of the Gypsy coop) came by to see what had happened to the neighborhood.

Sterling, the barn cat, investigated, too.  The ducks hid from him, but he was too lazy to climb up and bother them.  Finally, I gave up waiting to take a picture of the ducks waddling down the ramp, and I went inside.

Just like children, once I was out of camera-range, they performed!  When we went back to feed them that night, they were all down enjoying the barnyard.

As you can see, their wings are nearly feathered out, so it shouldn't be long until they can fly up and roost on the stall walls or round pen rails.

The ducks are very curious about their new territory, checking out the wheelbarrow and Rascal.  They really stick together, and it's quite cute to see them "consult" each other about things!

We do hope they will consult with the chickens and figure out how this up-and-down-the-ramp thing works because for now they put themselves to bed over in the corner where the chicken tractor/duck mobile used to be.  And every night we have to carry them one by one, and put them to bed.  But now I wear long leather gloves or a jacket to protect my arms from claws, and they seem to be used to the routine--although they're starting to get creative about running away from us at bedtime!  What did I say?  Just like children!!

A Good Day's Work (Tuesday, Apr. 26)

Storm light over the farm warned us that we might not get much work done outside today and we'd better get going.
The first item of business was to make a new paddock and move the animals. Here they are in the new paddock (at right). You can see the difference between this fresh grass and the grazed area (at left).

Zephyr inspects the fence line!  You can see where Herb weed-whacked under the electric fence.  He has to do this to keep the long grass from shorting out the fence.  In other applications we've seen, one single wire higher up is all the farmers use, but since our little Siobhan is a pint-sized Dexter calf, she has been able to scoot under the bottom wire unless we place it quite low.

Here is the left half of the new paddock, with access to water in the creek running to the left of the horses.

Here's the right half, with access to shade.

Our paddocks are a lot bigger than those usually used with rotational grazing, but they're better than nothing.  For now, since we don't have water over most of the property and since finding shade is a problem, we are making paddocks as we can.  We are also able to graze the animals on grass that has been untouched for the last few years since it has never been fenced.

We're still pretty new at this, still getting our routine down, and it took us 2 hours to get the new paddock built and move the animals in.  They are really getting used to the new routine, though--as soon as we started, they were standing there waiting to be let onto the fresh grass!

After lunch, it was time to plant the sweet potato slips and the seedlings that Charis and I grew.

We had to do a lot of weeding first, but several hours later, we had some new pole beans planted and more space ready to sow some new seeds.  Notice Charis' nice big bean plant at left--way ahead of mine!  Go, Future Farm Girl!

Here's Charis' big bush bean, dwarfing mine again.

And here is one of her muskmelons; my poor little specimen is way in the back.

One fringe benefit of all that weeding was having a ton of green stuff to throw to the ducks when we did evening feeding.  They were delighted!

After this good day's work, before a shower and supper, I walked out with the dogs to check on the animals in the new paddock.  Hero thought it was a great chance for a run; I'm glad he had enough energy left!

Jesus Christ is Risen Today!

We reflected on God's loving care to our family as we celebrated Jesus' resurrection today.

We were up early to help out at church, cleaning up after a week of hosting homeless families through Interfaith Hospitality Network.  It was barely light when I looked out the back door of our own home to see this touching sight:  Sara and Siobhan laying down peacefully together.

After church, Jim and Monique arrived with Charis and Kol.  Monique's sister Bekah and her husband Ed came, too, along with Kara.  We hadn't seen the grandkids in almost two weeks, and when Kol saw us he broke into a huge grin.  We sat memerized as he cooed and babbled to us.  What a change in two weeks, this speaking in "tongues of angels!"

While Kol took a nap later, Charis hunted Easter eggs with Zephyr's help.  Yes, really!  When Charis missed an egg under the picnic table, Zephyr pawed it to bring it to her attention!

It was Charis' first Easter egg hunt, but she caught on very quickly.  She decided the Easter basket was "too small" and ended up collecting eggs in a play grocery cart.

Monique tried out the little lawn chair I bought for Charis.

Jim showed us his broken ankle--and no, that's not Easter egg dye!  Since he wasn't very mobile, he elected to stay in the house and listen for Kol to wake up while the rest of us went out to the barnyard.

 Charis was quite impressed with how much the ducklings have grown, but she didn't think much of all the flies in the barnyard!  The ducklings had better get to work eating them!  This one completely buried her head in the water to get a drink.

And this one got IN the drink!

Finally we stopped at the chicken coop to collect eggs, and Charis asked to pet "her" chicken, Mercy.  Luckily the Naked Necks are more friendly than the Ameraucanas, so Mimi was able to catch Mercy and grant Charis' request.  Mercy is an amazing chicken and lays almost every day.  It's as if she knows that she is personally responsible for providing eggs for Charis' whole family!  (She would have been in Jim and Monique's freezer if she hadn't escaped and been granted . . . mercy.)


And that's a fitting parable for Easter Sunday!