{Where I've been}

I've been taking photos almost daily {not quite, but close}, however I haven't had time to edit and blog about them because of these five, adorable, INSANELY MESSY, ducklings that {finally!!} hatched on the 4th and 5th of July. {Side note: four hatched on the 4th and the fifth arrived on...the 5th} Thus far we only have names for three of them but are working on the last two--who were, incidentally, the first and last to arrive. The light brown one is Indy {short for Independence}, the dark brown/black one is Sirius, and the light blue/silver with yellow spots is Olive. I'm actually amazed that any of them hatched given we had 1.) never done this before, and 2.) made the incubator ourselves, and 3.) some of the eggs had to sit for almost a week before they could be put in to the incubator {thus lowering the chances of developing/hatching}. You can read my first post about them HERE.

For awhile we had a webcam up with a live feed so people could watch the last two ducklings hatch, which we then moved over to the brooder. It's down for a bit now but it's been pretty popular. The ducklings live in our sunroom {for the moment} and I love hearing their little trills and songs interspersed with the pitter patter of webbed feet running around the brooder. We've taken them outside to play in the grass, hunt bugs, and have already introduced them to swimming. Plus, in between all of that I'm cleaning up after them at least 3-4 times a day. Lots of work, but so worth it. So without further ado, here are some pics of our little ones.

On to the pics...{click to view full size}

{June 3, 2011}

Ryan and I recently "built" a homemade incubator from a styrofoam cooler, a piece of plexiglass, some chicken wire, a 25W lightbulb, a thermometer that also measures the humidity, an egg carton, and--the best thing ever--a temperature controlled outlet that controls when to turn the lightbulb off and on to maintain the temp at 99-100 degrees. On Saturday I put in 11 Muscovy duck eggs that I had collected over a few days, and I've dutifully turned the eggs and watched the temp/humidity the entire time. Hopefully we have several that are fertile and will end up with baby ducklings in another 4 weeks. Tomorrow night I will candle the eggs to check on their progress, although I'll most likely check them tonight just for fun. :o) This is the first time we've ever hatched anything and I know the success rate isn't so great for duck eggs, but it's fun nonetheless! Plus, I've already told Ryan that if these eggs aren't fertile/don't make it, I'm throwing some freshly collected chicken eggs in there--I want babies!!

Taken with my iPhone using the Instagram app with the Sutro filter applied.

On to the pic...{click to view full size}

{February 20, 2011}

Duck Ducks! There are four ducks lined up in that row, even though you can't see them all. Plus there was also another duck off to the far right...guess she didn't want to be in the photo. We got Muscovy ducks after Ryan read about ways to reduce mosquito populations given that last summer we were literally inundated with them (and also with ticks). Seeing as how we already had guineas (for the ticks) and chickens, adding more fowl to our flock was relatively easy. Muscovies are known for their superior mosquito eating prowess and will eat their body weight in them daily. I found a super nice couple--whom I'd also gotten some chickens from--that had five ducklings available and bought them all. After much debate, the kids and I agreed on naming them after the iCarly gang...Spencer, Carly, Freddie, Sam, and....Shay...because there is no other female lead character. When they were young we could easily tell them apart because of their markings. As they've gotten older the only one we know for sure is the same duck is Carly. We're pretty sure about Freddie (shown in the front) and Spencer (behind Freddie), however Sam and Shay now look alike so we just interchange their names at will. Not that it matters, of course, as they could care less what their names are. Muscovies are interesting ducks. They do not quack but they do pant and wag their tails like a dog does. Although ours are friendly they're also a bit skittish and prefer not to be petted. Spencer seems to tolerate it far more than the rest do, however. He also "nibbles" on your arms and hands with the very tip of his bill which is super cute. And they definitely lived up to the hype about reducing mosquitoes. As soon as we started letting them free range over the summer, we went from not being able to go outside without being attacked from a ton of mossies within a few minutes, to forays lasting over an hour with nary a mosquito in sight. Course at the end of the driveway (where the ducks do not go) meant you'd still get eaten alive, but at least the area around our house was clear. So for that I'll forgive them for the huge amounts of poo scattered all over the frozen tundra and the "whoop!" followed by nervous waddling any time we get too close (seriously, you'd think they would have learned by now we're not going to hurt them).

On to the pic...{click to view full size}

{Fowl}

Roaming our property are six crazy guineas and five Muscovy ducks, all of whom provide a lot of laughs {and poop}, and love to follow us around. So I felt I should include them since they're a big part of our family.


On to the pics...

Guinea shaking off after a dust bath

They were not happy about me being in the woods...at all

 Spencer really wanted that bug, but it was {just} out of his reach

Guinea feather

Shay