Today's catch

Chickens aren't fooled by our latest snowfall.  They know that the days are getting longer.  (It doesn't hurt that we've increased their supplemental light hours, too.)  Until today my record production day from this young flock was 2 eggs.  Today the ladies have started working in earnest with this 11-egg haul.

In addition, I've noticed the ducks "mating" again, so they must be getting ready to lay soon, too.  With our last thaw I've been letting ducks run loose instead of shutting them in their house at night.  They visit the chicken pen for food, bathe in an outdoor pan that I keep filled, and sleep wherever they like (barn, duck house, or under the porch).  They have found ample forage in the yard and pasture.  When they start laying, though, I'll need to reimpose some structure on their ducky lives.  Ducks usually lay in the morning and can be let out to forage after that, but they do not return to their house at dusk as reliably as chickens do.  Perhaps they should be confined with the pigs.  Then, the job of collecting duck eggs can fall to Trudy and Buttercup for their protein and calcium rations.

Snow duck

Our domestic ducks are not happy with the fluffy white stuff.  If this picture had sound you'd hear her scolding me for throwing her out in the snow. Those tracks you see are one-way only... back inside.  After a day or two duck and duck relented.  (Yes, I now think they are both female but luckily their preference for each other doesn't stop them from laying eggs.)  I wouldn't move their water bowl inside for them so they've needed to toughen up and head out for a drink and a bath.  We had six more inches overnight; I might sweep them a path just to be nice.

Adding a species

Karen, Katherine, Koda, and duck

Khaki Campbell ducks can average 360 eggs per year, much better than even the most productive chickens.  Why, then, do I get two fresh eggs every morning from my ONE duck and one drake?  Scott's pretty sure I have two ducks, and that would make perfect sense, except I have frequently observed them engaging in the duck/drake dance.  (Their daily delivery of fresh bathing water is usually cause for celebration.)  That and both eggs are always laid in a single nest, lead me to think that I do indeed have one special duck.  Now, I did employ the fine art of day-old-waterfowl sexing when I bought these guys, but I had only read about it in a book and I wouldn't stake my reputation on the results.  No photos of this process, either.  They might not pass the sensors of this blog.