June06

A NEW BEGINNING - thanks mainly to the enthusiastic encouragement of Frances and Alan, Caroline
(of http://www.carolinecrockeroriginals.co.uk/), Mel, Pat, Richard and Gerd, I'm indebted to all of you!

Friday, 2nd

Having signed off from these duck diaries in such despondent and dramatic fashion on 13th May I feel very sheepish now starting up again. After the last of our ducks from those hatched a year ago had been taken by a fox I felt so low - suffering from something like a nasty summer 'flu at the time didn't help - that I felt unable to carry on, convinced that the remaining 5 would be picked off one by one, just like last year.

And sure enough, 2 days later just gone 10 in the morning, John jumped up suddenly from his coffee - he'd seen something in the garden. Next I saw him running helter skelter towards the duck pond shouting "hurry, hurry!" The 4 drakes and the duck had become separated, all running wings flapping towards the pond and safety, 2 drakes got caught in vegetable netting, but they all made it safely to the duck pond. I couldn't see it, but a big, fully grown fox had come half way up the garden and was pursuing the drakes. If John hadn't spotted it we would have been down another or all of them. I had thought they would come back after 2 days - a meal of duck seems to last them that long.

I must admit I caved in and gave up all hope. It was John who put the last 5 into the old chicken enclosure to keep them safe near the house, put them in at night and let them out in the mornings, fed and watered them.

Then I started to feel better, especially after taking herbal pillules recommended by Mel, and started to take an interest again in my feathered friends ......................................... and was shocked to see what a bad state Fanny was in, bleeding from bald patches on the back of her head and neck and limping badly. I really should have acted sooner knowing what damage the drakes can do. I still am extremely angry with myself for not taking better care of my charges.

I separated them straight away leaving Fanny by herself in the enclosure

(pheasants raiding the food containers as usual) and the boys running from one gate to the other trying to get in to her. We had the boys sleeping in the garage - which in its first conception was a dairy and ice cream factory - in a small concrete enclosure that was used as a pig sty by the previous owners.

So far so good, but it couldn't go on like that forever. What were our options? Take them to market or kill them? We couldn't. We needed to get more girls, a 2nd hut and an electrified enclosure to keep them safe while the fox danger was at it's most threatening. As I've said many times before, I hate seeing our runners penned in, but if we were going to keep them that appeared to be the only option. So, electric fencing and a hut were ordered, delivered and set up.

Getting more girls proved difficult. Most of the breeders I contacted hadn't hatched any this year - the bird flu threat scared most people off from buying - and all those we could have had were just a couple of weeks old. We could have had some grown up runner ducks from Norfolk and from Essex, both places too far away for us in the circumstances.

In the end we took up an offer from Keith Littlewood (we had bought Eppi and Fanny from him) to get some white Campbells, and he said he'd also managed to get a couple of runners from an auction.

We went yesterday, after our return from the birthday celebrations for John in the Cotswolds (with Fran and Alan and Molly and Arnold - we had a wonderful time), bought just 4 Campbells and 2 runners, 1 Trout, 1 nondescript. I'm hoping to get some of the young runners I've been promised when they've grown up.

We put all our 6 new charges into their respective huts having learned from our previous experiences with Eppi and Fanny. I opened the hatch to the hut near our house after about an hour, and the 2 new girls came out almost at once and had a splashing good time in the pond: In the photo on the right the Trout is on the beam, Fanny partially hidden on the right, and the "nondescript" in the water.

The Campbells girls we left shut in the new hut
and the boys to spend one more night in the garage.

Sunday, 4th June 2006

There's some good news and some bad news, where do I start? Helmut would have said "immer mit die Ruhe nach die Reihe" - slowly and one thing after the other.

Well, I wasn't going to chase the boys all over the garden in order to put Donald in with Fanny and the new girls and the other 3 down by the duck pond. Everyone who's ever had anything to do with runners knows they're fast and hate being caught and handled, and the boys didn't make it easy for me. Even in that little enclosure which was the pig pen they fled in horror right underneath the old chicken coop where they'd spent some time as youngsters.

I eventually caught Donald and threw him in with the 3 runner ducks. He was very happy!
And Fanny was happy again, too, as she started laying again, yesterday and today. She's not quite feathered up again at the back of her head and she still has a slight limp 2 weeks after I first noticed it, but she seems at ease now she has her favourite boy back.

Managed to get hold of Blob and Captain next, and one after the other they went onto the duck pond. The Campbell girls hadn't come out of the hut yet which I'd opened earlier.

Clarence gave me the most trouble. He'd squeezed himself right into the back left corner, in between all kinds of drums and boxes we'd stored underneath the coop. When I finally walked down to the pond with him after prodding him out with a big stick
I saw that the 4 Campbells were on the pond now. And what did the little coward Clarence do on reaching the pond? Took his frustrations out on the Campbells and raped the first one he caught (I don't know which one - can't tell them apart!).

Not only that, when he left off Blob took over on the same duck and wouldn't leave her even though I bombarded him with lumps of soil.

The Campbells have not been keen to go into the water since, and we hear frequent trumpeting shrieks from them as the 3 runners keep chasing them. Mind you, they're noisier than runner ducks anyway. All the way home on Thursday they were noisy while the runners kept very quiet.

Not only are they noisier, they're also bigger - you can't quite see that on the photo below. But the 4 - 3 split is normal for the moment, each kind keeping to their own.
We had lots of trouble at "bedtime". Try as we might John and I could only manage to catch one of the Campbells and put her into the new hut. She came out again of course while we were attempting to herd the others in. In desperation we left them to spend the night on the pond. All were well yesterday morning, and last night we only tried for 5 minutes to get them in, then gave up. This morning John suggested I put the food trough into the hut to get them used to going in to the new place. I've done that and hope for a better result tonight.

It was worse at the other place. Although both new girls had followed Donald and Fanny into the hut on Thursday night, last night only the "Trout" (I'll have to think what to name her, "Forelle" maybe - German for trout?) followed them in, the "nondescript" one was hiding behind the compost bin, and when John went forward to catch her she managed to find a hole in the netting we didn't know was there, and slipped through the hedge into Gladys' next door. We spent ages trying to see or hear her, it was still light then. And later I went out with a torch searching under every shrub and places in the hedge - nothing. My hope was
that she would re-join her mate when I let the 3 out yesterday morning, and in fact the "Trout"
spent some time calling for her in the corner near the compost bin.

We spent a lot more time looking for our missing newcomer throughout the day, asking neighbours to keep a look-out as well, but we must assume now that a fox sniffed her out in her hidey hole.

To make matters worse we got back in the dark from John's splendid birthday celebration party at Julie's last night, and our 3 runners were very frightened by then. Donald and Fanny went into the hut with some coaxing, but not the Trout. She fled in some panic and found another hole at the opposite end of the enclosure, slipping through to the Post Office next door. John put the car lights on, I searched with the torch all along the hedge while John did the same on our side of the hedge. We both injured ourselves but - result! I spotted her sitting very low and quiet. Then lost her again as she escaped once more. I did hear which direction she'd gone though, the torchlight found her again, and this time
I could grab her - she quacked loudly then! - and put her into the hut.

All has been well today,
but I can tell you we will strengthen the fencing on that side! If a duck can get through so can a fox.

Tuesday, 6th June 2006

No, the food container in the hut didn't do the magic. We had the devil's own job trying to get the seven into their hut, but we were determined not to let them get used to stopping out in the open - electrified fencing or not. It took us ages to catch each one and shut them in. But last night there was an improvement: the three boys went in on their own! Hurrah! The 4 Campbell girls we had to chase and catch separately again. Another improvement tonight: although it took a little longer to get them off the pond we kept our distance more. And sure enough, the boys went into the hut followed by 3 girls! The last one was a bit easier to catch as well. I'm hoping all seven will march in tomorrow night as soon as we start clapping our hands - something like the scene we saw at Keith's on Thursday, when hundreds (well, it looked like hundreds) of white Campbells lined up in single file and slowly waddled towards their hut. They really did, I'm not kidding!

The 3 in the other hut have been brilliant by comparison, although we'd had our worries after the Trout's escapade on Saturday night. There was only a little frightened flurry before she joined the other two. Last night she was first up the ramp and second tonight. She has integrated well, every time I look all 3 are dobbed down together somewhere in the shade.

We've had such glorious weather for a change, a great chance for us to be in the garden full time. I spent a lot of time weeding and planting in the formal garden with the trapeze beds, which gave me a good view of the happenings around the duck pond. Well, I was surprised how much time the 2 groups spent sleeping - interrupted by wild chases around the the birch accompanied by trumpeting shrieks from the Campbells followed by their group huddle with vigorous head bobbing and chattering - I bet you they were complaining to each other about the rough treatment they get from our boys! Then back to sleep again.

Had a lovely sight yesterday morning as I was going in for coffee: a hen pheasant with a scurry of about 5 stripey chicks was crossing the path in front of me - where's a camera when you need one? I was hoping to see them again this morning, but no. She must have been one of those 5 hen pheasants we saw regularly all through the Winter and early Spring, and she brought her diddy youngsters to show them where the food trough was!

Friday, 9th June 2006

Another improvement on the bedtime performance on Wednesday night: Once they were off the pond we held back and just waited, and lo and behold the 3 boys went in followed by all 4 girls! Similarly last night, but the 4 Campbells went in first and the boys must have been a bit miffed at that and did a little tour of the field before going in together. Success!

Looking forward to going with Mel (who's after some geese) tomorrow and get a few more runner ladies - hopefully.

PS: I nearly forgot. Nice surprise this morning: the Trout has laid her first egg, white and a bit bigger than Fanny's (who produced her seventh in a row!)

Sunday, 11th June 2006

The egg laying has continued - shall have to start pickling, freezing and baking again - 9th for Fanny, 3rd for the Trout. But I'm ahead of myself, one thing after the other ..........................

It was quite a day out yesterday. In addition to all her other qualities and achievements Mel turned out to be an excellent driver on the long trip to near Ipswich and back. http://www.angliawildfowl.co.uk is a great place and the owner very knowledgeable and helpful. He wouldn't let me have the chocolate or black adult runners I fancied though - breeding stock! And I daren't get another runner drake with his two apricot ladies, after all the whole exercise had been to get more females for our 4 "leftover" drakes. 'Too many drakes' is a universal problem as I've found out; the hatch rate tends to be 60% males and 40% females. At Anglia there were at least 15 excess drakes running around in a separate enclosure.

So in the end I bought 3 12-week-old runner girls, 1 white, 1 trout and 1 'I'm not sure' - buff coloured with blue wing feathers, could be a Saxony? -, will ask again. I don't mind though as I don't want them for breeding. Mel bought a couple of the Steinbacher goslings she was after, and they were cheeping cutely all the way to our place while the 3 runners kept quiet.

We put them straight into the hut near home (wouldn't trust our 3 musketeers down by the duck pond not to harm them; Donald is gentler) giving them water and a bit later added some food, and they partook of both, a good sign. Donald circled the hut again and again trying to find out what was in there! And yes, we did have trouble at bedtime as anticipated. Donald shot into the hut, showed the newcomers who was boss and came straight out again. It took a lot of coaxing but eventually all were safely in with the frightened shrieking/half quacking of the youngsters continuing a short while.

All was quiet and well this morning, the 3 old ones flying into the pond as usual and the 3 new ones squashed into a corner.
I didn't think they'd dare come out of the hut yet, but when I returned from the duck pond they were outside the enclosure making a lot of noise. I had had a sleepless night because of the warm, and worried that these smaller ducks could push through the gaps in the wooden fence; after all even the big ones could get as far as their shoulders. But as I said, I really didn't think they'd dare come out of the hut yet.

Of course, as soon as we tried to retrieve them they scurried into the thick hedge between us and the Post Office, just where the Trout had gone, and both John and I got scratched and stung before we finally re-captured them. Two of them had got caught in some small green netting the previous PO owners had put there to keep their dog in and we had to cut them free. So they're imprisoned in the hut now, a wire basket under the hatch door for extra ventilation, and I'll go a bit later and take a couple of snaps so you can see them!

It wasn't all trouble and strife last night, though. The Campbell girls filed into their hut even before we went into the enclosure and the boys followed. And this morning they all came out at once rather than boys headlong and 4 whites to follow, and all went into the field to forage after a first dip in the pond. I noticed yesterday that these 7 were spending more time together rather than always being 3 - 4 segregated. Looks like they're getting to be friends!

PS: Took a couple of photos, not very good, but didn't want to frighten them any more. They'll soon get used to their new home and then I'll take some more.

Monday, 12th June 2006

I can't trust Donald to behave in a gentlemanly fashion after all. No sooner had the 3 young girls come out of the hutch this morning than he claimed conjugal rights on them which he certainly doesn't have. So we put them into the tumble-down greenhouse for now with food and water and a barricade to keep them from being pestered. Most of the time they're cowering under the vine and passion flower, but I have seen them come out to drink and bathe their eyes.

Might keep them in the coop in the garage until they've grown up and can defend themselves better.

We started work on making the enclosure more secure at half seven this morning. Pretty soon the heavens opened, lightning flashed and the thunder cracked. It didn't last very long though and the rain is VERY welcome!

John has been doing a brilliant job securing the fence panels. The whole enclosure now looks a lot neater and more spacious as we cleared away debris and chopped back the hedge before putting up the panels. Fanny and Co have had a great time rooting around for slugs and snails where they had been stacked.

The 'magnificent seven' down at the duck pond look to be more at home in their new environment. They spent a good deal of time in the field this morning - after the rain they will have found plenty of food:

Can you see in the photo where the arrow is pointing to a rabbit? That rabbit was on the opposite side of the fence when I first went down, and it carefully went around the enclosure to where you see it now. I have a suspicion it is the same one that got a shock from the electrified fence!

Tuesday, 13th June 2006

When I cleaned out the duck pond hut yesterday afternoon I was shocked to see two of the Campbells with a very sore left eye, could even have been bleeding; they kept shaking their heads. I can only think that the drakes' rough treatment must have caused this, John thought the same.

So after the Campbells went into the hut last night as good as gold we shut the door and left the boys to spend the night outside. This morning I coaxed them out of the enclosure and they were running around as before when I separated them from Fanny. I put an extra bath in for the 4 girls with some herbs for them to bathe their eyes; I didn't want to cause them any more distress by trying to catch them, and although they were still shaking their heads every so often tonight the sore eyes didn't look red any more. I do hope a few days without the boys will make them better. And in a little while the boys' mating urge should surely be abating. I certainly hope so - it's caused us enough trouble already!

So we have a four-way split now: Campbells down by the duck pond, 3 drakes in the garage "pig pen" again, the 3 new frightened little girls above them in the coop, and Donald and his 2 as before - these last were actually in the hut already when we went to shut them in! Oh, by the way, when we went to do that last night we saw something we haven't seen for ages: a hedgehog! Quite a big one, with his nose stuck against the gate as if he was trying to push his way in. When we'd finished our nighttime duties he wasn't there any more - must have moved across into the pile of logs outside the enclosure. We were wondering if our "make-over" of the duck run yesterday putting up fence panels etc disturbed his home.

We finally got around to emptying the frog pond today, what a job! Started off with one pump, then a second - they kept clogging up with the thick sludge. So we did it "by hand", filling wheel barrow after wheel barrow with filthy black smelly water and thick and gloopy horribly stinky slimy sludge - I think you get the idea? We were doing this all day with just a short break for lunch. The 3 drakes "on the loose" came to investigate a couple of times and wondered what had happened to their second favourite pond. I must say I was surprised that after all the ducks' activity in that pond I still found half a dozen big frogs and several small ones, as well as 6 newts which I put into the area bordering the pond.

When we'd almost cleared it to the bottom the heavens opened again, but we carried on till teatime, swamp monsters the pair of us. And even now, after shower and countless hand washes our fingers still smell of swamp. Can't wait to get the new liner and have the frog pond filled up again.

Thursday, 15th June 2006 Hugo's Birthday

Remember this one? Well, it looks like this now:

I'm still tidying up the edges and sorting plants to hide the liner, but it's a vast improvement I think. The 3 musketeers have found their way into the fresh water and had a splashing good time before preening their feathers.


The way the alchemilla mollis is spilling over from the bank on the left looks very nice and natural, don't you think?

Oh, I saw that big hedgehog again, just outside the conservatory. It was totally unconcerned and ambled back into the Ceanothus next to the fish pond. Had an unwelcome visitor before then, as well. A big rat ran over the conservatory steps. When I shouted and threw a clog at it it rushed off towards the fence.

Sunday, 18th June 2006 Alan Hitchcock's birthday

We had the first egg from the Campbells this morning, white and yet bigger than the Trout's (who's still laying by the way every day without interruption along with Fanny) - well, they are big girls!

Tried to get a photo of our 3 new girls yesterday who go and hide as soon as they spot us
(the memory of being cut out of the netting when they escaped must linger on), and true to form they scuttled:

I had the camera lens poking through the netting in the door and thought I'd hang on for a while and see if they'd come out again. Then the 3 drakes turned up at the greenhouses chattering as they do - and our young girls came out at once in response and chatted back at them:

I wonder if they got used to each other spending the last few nights in and under the coop in the garage?

Saturday, 24th June 2006

You weren't worried because I haven't written for a few days, were you? I can reassure you, there have been no more disasters. On the contrary, I have good news. we have more ducks!

On this picture on the right our 3 youngsters are at the very back, next to Donald surveying the scene from the neighbouring enclosure, the yellow-beaked white in the middle. Only 2 of our 5 new ones are true runners, 3 are a sort of Campbell mix, and one of them, in front right on the photo below, is a khaki Campbell for Mel.

It was Mel who found this new contact from the PekinBantam site, a lovely caring lady called Julie near Atherstone. She has something like a rescue centre looking after unwanted and abandoned birds of all kinds. We had hoped for 2 or 3 adults only, of whatever kind, but as Julie told us these 5 had come in together and been "friends" we took all 5. Tomorrow we'll have to sort this lot!

Our 3 "little girls" are still pretty timid, but not so timid that they didn't have a go at the newcomers to defend their territory!

The 3 drakes on the loose were somewhat overcome by this invasion, kept out of the way and were the last ones to go in tonight. They have taken to spending a lot of time at the shallow end of the frog pond where I've raised the edge and put some turves behind. They sleep on these turves by preference, see how well they're tucked in (I've put a slightly enlarged insert in case you can't see them:

When you see them a little closer to you can tell that they have started to moult - Clarence and Captain on the right (who are also the only two to have lost their curly tail feather) are looking very mottled.

Sunday, 25th June 2006

What a happy day! "Sorting this lot out" went a lot better than expected. Having seen to all the water and food I caught 2 of the new whites and threw them over the separating mesh in with Donald and Co, then also managed to capture Blob and threw him over the gate. Pandemonium ensued for a little while with Fanny making the most noise greeting Blob, and Donald spending about half an hour chasing Blob and showing him who was boss around there. I've kept a close watch throughout the day, and everything is harmonious in that run.

Next I caught the prettiest of the new runners, a fawn, and the third white, and put them in with the Campbells - no great problems there either. The two remaining boys, the 2 "C"s who are moulting and have quietened down a bit, were caught and added - still no problems. The Campbells made a lot of noise at first but soon stopped, and I was delighted to see in the afternoon that all 8 were in the duck pond together, no fights, nothing. And the Campbells, who to the best of my knowledge had not gone into the duck pond at all since I separated the drakes out, were splashing wildly, diving and scooting across the surface beating their wings. Well, if it carries on this way I'll be well happy.

The fifth duck we got last night, a real sweetie who was draped all over Julie's daughter Molly's head when we loaded the car, has had some rough treatment from a drake. And so we are keeping her with our three young girls until they're grown up. It'll give her a chance to recover and she can play "mother hen"!

Mel collected her khaki Campbell this morning. She put her into a carrying case in the shade while we had a drink and a chat. When Mel went to put the case into the car to go home the Campbell had layed an egg in there!

We are doing well for eggs. Fanny and the Trout have continued without interruption, 2 of the Campbells lay every day, one of the new ones laid in the coop overnight, and "Sweetie" laid one in the enclosure with the 3 "babies".