Tag Archives: geese
Ducks are a-dabbling
Ducks are a-dabbling
The ducks have found the pond at the bottom of the field and now the stream is all flooded they can’t wait to rush off every morning to see what’s new. When there was just Desmond (drake) and the geese, they would stay around the hen house but since the two ducks have joined them (Izzy and Oli) they have been more adventurous.
This picture reminds me of a poem from Kenneth Grahame’s ‘Wind in the Willows’:
DUCKS’ DITTY.’
All along the backwater,
Through the rushes tall,
Ducks are a-dabbling,
Up tails all!
Ducks’ tails, drakes’ tails,
Yellow feet a-quiver,
Yellow bills all out of sight
Busy in the river!
Slushy green undergrowth
Where the roach swim–
Here we keep our larder,
Cool and full and dim.
Everyone for what he likes!
WE like to be
Heads down, tails up,
Dabbling free!
High in the blue above
Swifts whirl and call–
WE are down a-dabbling
Up tails all!
Poppies will grow anywhere
Poppies will grow anywhere
Poppies will grow anywhere but they need bare soil that has been turned over recently to germinate – which is why they grow so well in cornfields. We now have two ganders and one drake which are obviously not very productive so I need to think about some mates for them. We inherited the geese and the sensible thing to do would be to get two female geese and have one of the ganders for Christmas but, as with all livestock, it’s not easy to make difficult decisions and the more you put them off the harder they become.
We bought the drake to keep the duck company – and so we would have some fertile eggs if the duck went broody – but then the fox got Jasmine so we were left with one duck again. To make matters worse Drake started chasing the hens but I had to move them to a safer place out of reach of the fox anyway. Now winter is coming and I need to move the hens back into the hen house so need to decide whether to get two ducks to keep Drake happy or – well the only other option is to find a new home for him as once something has a name it’s impossible to eat it!