Once More Into The Wilderness

If any of you have moseyed over to my homeschooling blog, you've noticed that the household has gone somewhat quackers over ducks. (Yes, we pun. A lot. Over everything -- don't say you weren't warned.) We've managed to make it an entire months with only a single duck fatality (we think it was genetic. It doesn't seem to be contagious in any way, as not a single other duck in the whole menagerie came down with so much as the sniffles. But I digress.)

Well. We managed to come down with a case of 18 ducks and no formal duck runs as of yet. 16 ducks are in the greenhouse and two are in the bathtub.

What, you thought this was going to read like a sane woman's post?

16 of the outside 18 are about a month old, 2 of the 18 outside are about 3 weeks old, they're big enough to go in with each other without major trampling. The two in the bathtub are just about 10 days old right now, and too small to go in with the big guys without some major mauling issues. Besides, the outdoor ducks are my egg producers, the two indoor ducks are turning somewhat dismayingly into pets. What can I say? They're runners; if they turn out to be female it's a plus, otherwise I'm going to have a pair of drakes helping me with weeding out the garden.

4 of the 5 Silver Appleyard eggs in the incubator are viable but should have hatched June 1; can we say worried duck enthusiast? 15 out of 15 Saxony eggs still look viable and are due on June 11. And I just got a call from a hatchery telling me to expect 10 wee little duckies on the fifth.

Yikes.

Now, we have a large enough yard for everyone plus a garden now that we don't have to worry about the dog anymore. (She's happy as a clam at high tide over at my Mom-in-law's and there aren't any ducklings there to tempt her into rash behavior. Win-win, I think.) However, I reallllllly need to get those duck runs, well, running. And just because I haven't received any love notes from the county's weed abatement program doesn't mean they haven't been writing them, so that's got to be done.

So.

Construct duck runs.

Perform weed abatement.

Plant duck meadow (what, I'm going to feed them 100% Mazuri Waterfowl Feed forever? Well, I would and will if I have to but if I can get them on a green diet with plenty of tomato bugs, I'm all for it ;). )

Get next year's garden laid out.

Collapse in an untidy heap halfway to the back door.

C'mon, let's see how far down this rabbit hole really goes!