Duck tales #2

A (not) very sad farewell was said to four fawn runner drakes today.

Of the six duck eggs hatched in the incubator, only two were ducks. Could have been worse...

It was impossible to tell the boys and girls apart until they began to moult. The drakes then developed the give-away curly feather on their tails.  They were much bigger than the ducks and developed beautiful plumage.

The other way to tell them apart is by their quacking, or lack of. Drakes make a characteristic rasping noise and ducks quack. Loudly!

Anyway, the boys are off to their new life on a pond with lots of other ducks. And I am looking forward to making duck egg sponge cake in the spring.

Its raining its pouring...more duck tales

After seriously heavy rain, the ducks are the only happy things on the farm. They are growing fast and have most of their feathers.

While the hens are looking a bit bedraggled, the ducks are overwhelmed with excitement at the puddles.

I still have no idea how many ducks and drakes there are, but I'm hopeful there's at least one duck.

The beech tree was a casualty of the high winds. At least there will be plenty of firewood given that we seem to have missed autumn and gone straight to winter.