Wow, it's been pretty crazy here at the homestead these past couple of weeks. Let's travel back in time and I'll explain it all.
Way back in October, a terrible tragedy occurred when my little dogs snuffed an entire flock of ducklings while I was out running an errand. I didn't really have time to properly grieve, because my husband and I were taking a road trip to the Bay Area just two days later and I still hadn't done my laundry. We were headed up north to check out some neighborhoods in case we did decide to make the big move. We needed to see if our 'Plan B' was a possibility or a pipe dream. Suffice to say that the trip did not yield any hopeful results as far as that went, but we did have some enjoyable moments. The day before we were set to leave, we made a quick trip to Chinatown in search of a calendar scroll. I collect them and I have one for every year for the past ten years, always bought on one of our trips. I never cheated and bought one of the Internet, so I really needed a 2010 scroll if I didn't want to break my streak. No luck finding a 2010 scroll in October if you can imagine that, but one shop had something I found even more amazing. A little cage full of little quails. The shop was selling dressed birds and quail eggs, but they also had live quails available for purchase. My husband is really the best ever because I said to him, " I want one!" and he said, "Get one." No, no, no, that would be ridiculous, right? I mean what would I do with 4 quail in a hotel room (they were 4 for $5) and then on an eight hour drive? In my old age, I am finally acting like a grown-up, because I resisted the very strong urge to buy four quails that day, even though it would have been super cool to have quails from my very fave city!
Although I abstained, those quails were all I could think of. I kicked myself for days for not buying those special SF quail. What a coup that would have been! I am not exaggerating that probably half of my knick-knacks & decor is from San Francisco. I love it that much. But I told myself to get over it, those quail were no longer a possibility and we were never taking another road trip to the Bay Area. I knew there was no way in hell my husband was ever going to make that drive again, because he told me so. The duck pen looked so empty, I just couldn't bear to keep seeing it that way. I did research on keeping quail and decided I could totally pull it off. I began looking daily on Craigslist for quail. I had seen them before but, of course, now that I was looking for them they were not to be found. It took a couple of weeks before I finally hooked up with a lady who had hatched and raised some Coturnix Quail, and now was re-homing them. That's what they call it on Craigslist because technically you are not supposed to sell animals. Whatever. She needed to find a new home for them because they were being picked on by her flock of tiny button quail. Coturnix are so docile that they were being abused by the much smaller button quail and they looked mighty raggedy. Some of them were completely bald on their backs. It was a pathetic sight.
We got them home and into their new pen. They seemed to really like it. No more bullying by birds half their size and lots of grass to burrow in. Watching them joyfully frolic in their new home made me feel happy.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Time to face facts...
When I started this blog, I was hoping it would be a chronicle of the start of something new and life changing. So far, it hasn't worked out that way. I know it was naive of me to think that I would be able to make a living without having to get a real job. Now I am trying to figure out how to keep my creative outlets rolling while working a 9-5 job. If I ever get one. I put in a lot of effort to keep my Etsy shop going, but realistically it's a business that has to be grown slowly over time. Selling a bracelet every once in a while is not going to cut it. I have branched out and have begun to sell supplies to make the bracelets and I even put together a kit you can buy with all the "ingredients" to make your own very personal bracelet. I am constantly reading and researching ways to grow my business. It just takes time, which is something I have a lot of, and then again, something I don't have much more of. I need a job and soon.
So, my garden has never come to fruition. All I really have to show are a handful of tiny tomatoes and some peppers that are very pretty but way too hot for me to enjoy. I haven't given up completely, but I know that when I get a job, it's the first thing that will suffer. I forget to water all the time. It's probably the biggest reason my garden is so pathetic, my poor plants are always subjected to drought.
And I've given up the notion of making soap or cheese, at least for now. The soap I could probably get into making. If I took a class to walk me through the process, I would probably feel comfortable and confident enough to try it at home. The cheese making is on hold mainly because raw milk is impossible to find in California. I decided that cheese making would be practical only if I had a dairy animal and consequently my own steady supply of raw milk. So those two "homestead standards" are on the back burner, at least for now. Who knows what will happen in the future? Certainly not me.
The one thing I know for sure that will continue is the backyard flock. As scatterbrained as I can be at times, I'm not going to forget to feed and water my birds. I have been a very responsible farm girl, getting up and tending to my animals no matter how badly I want to sleep, no matter how cold it is or how hot it is. Like they would let me off the hook anyway. Maybe the quail, but the chickens are very demanding and they squawk loudly if I'm not out there early enough with their scratch. They are spoiled. I just love them. I'm sure it's just that they want food and they know I' am often a source for it, but it just makes a person feel good when their animals rush out to see them as soon as they step into the yard. Even if I'm not feeding them, they hang around with me while I do my backyard stuff. I never thought I could be so attached to birds, but they bring a lot of joy into my life. I need that.
So, my garden has never come to fruition. All I really have to show are a handful of tiny tomatoes and some peppers that are very pretty but way too hot for me to enjoy. I haven't given up completely, but I know that when I get a job, it's the first thing that will suffer. I forget to water all the time. It's probably the biggest reason my garden is so pathetic, my poor plants are always subjected to drought.
And I've given up the notion of making soap or cheese, at least for now. The soap I could probably get into making. If I took a class to walk me through the process, I would probably feel comfortable and confident enough to try it at home. The cheese making is on hold mainly because raw milk is impossible to find in California. I decided that cheese making would be practical only if I had a dairy animal and consequently my own steady supply of raw milk. So those two "homestead standards" are on the back burner, at least for now. Who knows what will happen in the future? Certainly not me.
The one thing I know for sure that will continue is the backyard flock. As scatterbrained as I can be at times, I'm not going to forget to feed and water my birds. I have been a very responsible farm girl, getting up and tending to my animals no matter how badly I want to sleep, no matter how cold it is or how hot it is. Like they would let me off the hook anyway. Maybe the quail, but the chickens are very demanding and they squawk loudly if I'm not out there early enough with their scratch. They are spoiled. I just love them. I'm sure it's just that they want food and they know I' am often a source for it, but it just makes a person feel good when their animals rush out to see them as soon as they step into the yard. Even if I'm not feeding them, they hang around with me while I do my backyard stuff. I never thought I could be so attached to birds, but they bring a lot of joy into my life. I need that.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
A Teaching Opportunity...
In my last post I said I was 'over' the ducks, but...
It took me a while to blog about what happened to the flock of ducks, mostly because I was embarrassed about it. They suffered from my mistakes and lack of experience. I mentioned to my husband that I didn't even want to have to share the news on my blog and he told me that I really needed to. One of the reasons I write this blog is to share my experiences so others can learn. Good or bad. I can't just gloss over the bad stuff, that wouldn't be helpful at all. Of course, as usual, he's right. In fact, one of the reasons I ran into trouble was that there is just not a lot of info out there on backyard ducks and what little there is paints a pretty rosy picture. I believed the hype about ducks being better, easier and friendlier than chickens. Wow, easier than chickens? Chickens have been pretty darn easy so far. And friendly too. Before the ducklings had even arrived I envisioned myself as the leader of the backyard ducks movement. I was going to take this ball and run with it.
And when the ducklings finally arrived, they were cuter that I even imagined. They made adorable peeping sounds and slurped their water in such a comical way. After a couple of days, however, I discovered that it wasn't all sunshine and daffodils. Ducks are messy, way messier than chickens. They wash their food down with water which means that their water is constantly being spoiled by food. When the chickens were babies, I dumped their spoiled water out a couple times a day. The duck's water needed to be freshened every 30 minutes it seemed. Also, it was easy to keep the chicken brooder clean by adding bedding every day or two and changing it once a week. Not so with ducks.
First of all, they splash water everywhere. If I had made a duck-specific brooder, I could have eliminated some of the problems caused by their splashing. I've seen pictures of brooders made from cardboard boxes where the food and water was kept outside the brooder so the ducklings have to access it through a 'window'. That seems like the way to go, unfortunately I wasn't able to use that type of brooder because we don't have a garage or enclosed shelter to house the brooder. I used a wire cage as a brooder to keep them safe from predators, so I had to put the food and water in the brooder with them. Very messy. I 'redecorated' the brooder many times, trying to find a less messy way to offer them water. I ended up setting their water in a plastic tray to keep the water from pooling in the bottom of the brooder and also putting their nest in another tray, slightly higher than the water tray in hopes of keeping their bed dry. These things helped but didn't completely solve the problem.
Even worse that water is poop. Ducks drink a TON of water, so their poop is very liquidy. And ducklings eat basically cereal, so they are pooping out liquid cereal all day, which, if left to sit, smells like spoiled beer. There is no way you can just throw some shavings on that and make it last a week. The duck brooder had to be cleaned out daily. Fortunately it was warm enough that I could transfer the flock to a tub with a few inches water and they could take a little swim while I washed their house out an a daily basis. Also fortunate (?) that I am unemployed and have the time to so such things.
While chickens require eight weeks in the brooder, ducks can get by with three or four, depending on the weather, which is a big plus because by three weeks, they are fouling their brooder at an alarming rate.
Our flock was moved to their pen at four weeks because of construction delays, and it was not a moment too soon. Sadly, what seemed like a benefit turned out to be instrumental in their demise. They were hardy enough to stand up to the weather, but had no defense against two little dogs. The chickens weren't allowed to free-range until they were nine weeks old, basically full grown. A nine week old chicken flock could probably defend against a dog attack, at least by my little dogs who notoriously back down from any challenge. Four week old ducks just try to escape, and even my candy-assed dogs will give chase.
So, what are the lessons we've learned?
It took me a while to blog about what happened to the flock of ducks, mostly because I was embarrassed about it. They suffered from my mistakes and lack of experience. I mentioned to my husband that I didn't even want to have to share the news on my blog and he told me that I really needed to. One of the reasons I write this blog is to share my experiences so others can learn. Good or bad. I can't just gloss over the bad stuff, that wouldn't be helpful at all. Of course, as usual, he's right. In fact, one of the reasons I ran into trouble was that there is just not a lot of info out there on backyard ducks and what little there is paints a pretty rosy picture. I believed the hype about ducks being better, easier and friendlier than chickens. Wow, easier than chickens? Chickens have been pretty darn easy so far. And friendly too. Before the ducklings had even arrived I envisioned myself as the leader of the backyard ducks movement. I was going to take this ball and run with it.
And when the ducklings finally arrived, they were cuter that I even imagined. They made adorable peeping sounds and slurped their water in such a comical way. After a couple of days, however, I discovered that it wasn't all sunshine and daffodils. Ducks are messy, way messier than chickens. They wash their food down with water which means that their water is constantly being spoiled by food. When the chickens were babies, I dumped their spoiled water out a couple times a day. The duck's water needed to be freshened every 30 minutes it seemed. Also, it was easy to keep the chicken brooder clean by adding bedding every day or two and changing it once a week. Not so with ducks.
First of all, they splash water everywhere. If I had made a duck-specific brooder, I could have eliminated some of the problems caused by their splashing. I've seen pictures of brooders made from cardboard boxes where the food and water was kept outside the brooder so the ducklings have to access it through a 'window'. That seems like the way to go, unfortunately I wasn't able to use that type of brooder because we don't have a garage or enclosed shelter to house the brooder. I used a wire cage as a brooder to keep them safe from predators, so I had to put the food and water in the brooder with them. Very messy. I 'redecorated' the brooder many times, trying to find a less messy way to offer them water. I ended up setting their water in a plastic tray to keep the water from pooling in the bottom of the brooder and also putting their nest in another tray, slightly higher than the water tray in hopes of keeping their bed dry. These things helped but didn't completely solve the problem.
Even worse that water is poop. Ducks drink a TON of water, so their poop is very liquidy. And ducklings eat basically cereal, so they are pooping out liquid cereal all day, which, if left to sit, smells like spoiled beer. There is no way you can just throw some shavings on that and make it last a week. The duck brooder had to be cleaned out daily. Fortunately it was warm enough that I could transfer the flock to a tub with a few inches water and they could take a little swim while I washed their house out an a daily basis. Also fortunate (?) that I am unemployed and have the time to so such things.
While chickens require eight weeks in the brooder, ducks can get by with three or four, depending on the weather, which is a big plus because by three weeks, they are fouling their brooder at an alarming rate.
Our flock was moved to their pen at four weeks because of construction delays, and it was not a moment too soon. Sadly, what seemed like a benefit turned out to be instrumental in their demise. They were hardy enough to stand up to the weather, but had no defense against two little dogs. The chickens weren't allowed to free-range until they were nine weeks old, basically full grown. A nine week old chicken flock could probably defend against a dog attack, at least by my little dogs who notoriously back down from any challenge. Four week old ducks just try to escape, and even my candy-assed dogs will give chase.
So, what are the lessons we've learned?
- Ducks are NOT easier than chickens. They are more hardy but NOT easier.
- The right brooder makes all the difference.
- Ducklings shouldn't be allowed to free-range until they are big enough to defend themselves.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
When the going gets tough...
So we suffered quite a set-back with the loss of our duck flock. It has taken me a while to get over it, but as the saying goes, "Where there's livestock, there's going to be deadstock" and if I really want to be a farm girl, I have to accept that.
I also need to shake off this black cloud and persevere. Not everything is going to work out as planned, but I need to keep going and moving forward if I want to succeed. No crying over spilled milk.
As sad as I am about how the duck project ended, I now realize that the plan wasn't going to work out for my situation. If we ever move to our dream farm I will try ducks again, but they are too loud and our yard is just too open to have roaming ducks. It's a poop issue, really.
I also need to shake off this black cloud and persevere. Not everything is going to work out as planned, but I need to keep going and moving forward if I want to succeed. No crying over spilled milk.
As sad as I am about how the duck project ended, I now realize that the plan wasn't going to work out for my situation. If we ever move to our dream farm I will try ducks again, but they are too loud and our yard is just too open to have roaming ducks. It's a poop issue, really.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Monday, November 1, 2010
I've been avoiding you...
I've been dreading writing this post because it's a little painful and sort of embarrassing. But here goes...
October 13th started off quite nicely. The ducks were awake at sunrise, but so was I so I fed them their chopped greens and that seemed to satisfy them for a while. I brought out my camera and took pictures and video of the ducklings joyfully gobbling their "greens soup", then I led them down to the "swimming pool" . It was a little too early for swimming, so they rooted around in the compost heap for a minute and then headed back to their coop to finish breakfast and do their ducky stuff. I had a very busy day ahead of me so I finished my chores and headed off for a Costco trip with my mom and sister.
After shopping, my mom and my sister stopped by with my niece and nephew. It was a lovely sunny day and the kids wanted to see the animals so we went to the backyard & fed the chickens and ducks and dogs whole wheat spaghetti. Frank got some vegetable scraps. Everyone was having such a good time. My nephew Ryan wasn't too impressed by the chickens, but he was fascinated by the ducks. Everyone left, I had more errands, and when I got back home, I downloaded the pictures I took in the morning and posted them on my Facebook page. I was just about to write a blog post when my daughter called me from downstairs. She sounded troubled, but I figured she was going to tell me that our little dog Lola was limping. I already knew that. I had checked it out and it didn't seem too serious. Instead she told me something was wrong with the ducks.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"They're all dead" she answered.
How was that possible? I was confused. I just saw the ducks, they were fine. How could they all get sick and die so fast? When I went outside to check, I understood. They didn't get sick. They were murdered. I was totally in shock. It wasn't gory or gross or anything, but just sad. Very sad. Five little ducklings, just dead. I knew that my dogs had done it. I knew they probably didn't mean to, and I knew that I had failed as a duck mommy. The dogs had never bothered the chickens, probably because the chickens are ornery. The poor ducklings had no defense. If they had been a little older maybe.
I leave you with the final video of ducklings enjoying their morning greens. R.I.P., little birdies.
October 13th started off quite nicely. The ducks were awake at sunrise, but so was I so I fed them their chopped greens and that seemed to satisfy them for a while. I brought out my camera and took pictures and video of the ducklings joyfully gobbling their "greens soup", then I led them down to the "swimming pool" . It was a little too early for swimming, so they rooted around in the compost heap for a minute and then headed back to their coop to finish breakfast and do their ducky stuff. I had a very busy day ahead of me so I finished my chores and headed off for a Costco trip with my mom and sister.
After shopping, my mom and my sister stopped by with my niece and nephew. It was a lovely sunny day and the kids wanted to see the animals so we went to the backyard & fed the chickens and ducks and dogs whole wheat spaghetti. Frank got some vegetable scraps. Everyone was having such a good time. My nephew Ryan wasn't too impressed by the chickens, but he was fascinated by the ducks. Everyone left, I had more errands, and when I got back home, I downloaded the pictures I took in the morning and posted them on my Facebook page. I was just about to write a blog post when my daughter called me from downstairs. She sounded troubled, but I figured she was going to tell me that our little dog Lola was limping. I already knew that. I had checked it out and it didn't seem too serious. Instead she told me something was wrong with the ducks.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"They're all dead" she answered.
How was that possible? I was confused. I just saw the ducks, they were fine. How could they all get sick and die so fast? When I went outside to check, I understood. They didn't get sick. They were murdered. I was totally in shock. It wasn't gory or gross or anything, but just sad. Very sad. Five little ducklings, just dead. I knew that my dogs had done it. I knew they probably didn't mean to, and I knew that I had failed as a duck mommy. The dogs had never bothered the chickens, probably because the chickens are ornery. The poor ducklings had no defense. If they had been a little older maybe.
So, no more ducks. My duck plan is on hold for now. I really liked them and I thought they were super cute, but they were much more demanding than I thought they would be, and our yard isn't suited for so many roving birds. It's hard enough to keep the patio clean with chickens, I can't even imagine how it would be with ducks pooping all over it.
I leave you with the final video of ducklings enjoying their morning greens. R.I.P., little birdies.
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