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FIRST EGGS!

by with No Comment DucksGolden Cascades
First eggs from Golden Cascades, 14 November 2015

There were TWO EGGS in the duck house this morning! This is a full month earlier than the first eggs we’d gotten from our previous ducks.

One of the eggs (the larger of the two) was crushed, but the other was unbroken. They both had some blood on the outside, and the shells were not real hard. The smaller of the two was about the size of a medium to large chicken egg. I did not want to eat the egg, due to its messiness on the outside, but I cracked it open and it was fine on the inside.

One of the ducks, Bess, had a gooey mess hanging from her rear–I imagine she was one of this morning’s layers. A couple of days ago I noticed she had a quacking fit. Quack, quack, quack…constant for several minutes. Perhaps she knew this thing was growing inside her. I can’t help but wonder what these ducks must be thinking the first day they lay an egg???

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LIGHTS FOR EGGS

by with No Comment DucksGolden Cascades

The ducks are now 21 weeks old. I love the way their color camouflages them to protect them from predators. This is one of their favorite hangouts. Can you count all five? (Where’s Waldo?)

On Monday (10/26) I put a timer on a light in the duck house. It’s coming on just before dawn right now, and each week I’ll increase the amount of light they get until they’ve got at least 14 hours of light per day. Hopefully they will think it’s becoming spring, and this will stimulate egg production. We’ve also gotten a thermostat to put on a heat lamp, so on the coldest nights they’ll have some warmth. How pampered they are!

It was 17 degrees in the morning a couple of days ago, but usually around 25-30. I’m beginning to have to break up the ice in their water bowl each morning, and sometimes their pool. Eventually I will stop filling the pool, but as long as it melts during the day, I’ll let them continue to enjoy it. Soon we’ll be adding the water heater to their bowl, so at least they’ll be able to drink and dip their heads.

Golden Cascades

DOWN TO 5 DUCKS

by with No Comment DucksGolden Cascades
Golden Cascades, 17 Weeks Old, 4 Hens, 1 Drake

Now we’ve got the final count. After discovering that we had two drakes (rather than just one, as planned) we have now donated one of the drakes to a nearby Wolf Sanctuary.  I’m sure the wolves there appreciate the donation. The photo above shows the ducks we plan to keep indefinitely. Hopefully, the drake will allow us to have a few baby ducklings in the spring.

The last batch of ducks we had remained unnamed, other than the colored bands they had around their ankles (pink, green, blue, etc.)  This time they look different enough that I’m planning to go ahead and name them. The names are still up in the air a bit, but for now they are as follows:

Wily – This is the drake that fooled us into believing he was a she, and now his life has been spared. Other than the blue-gray bill, I believe his plumage is closer to the preferred colors for this breed. (Per Dave Holderread.) Also, he has better camouflage than the other drake had, which is my preference.

Next, we have Bess, until I think of a better name. I thought about “Brownie” because she’s quite brown…I could change my mind.

Here is Ellie May. I just thought it was a cute name, and this duck has no outstanding characteristics.

Meet Gertrude. I just thought a duck should be named Gertrude.

This is either Spot, or Splash, or Dory.  One of these days I will decide. Spot would be because when she was little she had a spot on her right foot. Now she has a couple of black spots on her beak. Splash would be because she’s the first one in the pool many a time, and runs there first thing in the morning, before going to the food dish.  Because she likes the water, Tim thought of Dory, after the fish in Finding Nemo.  So, Dory would be cute….but which name will stick? Any ideas?

THE DUCK STORY

by with No Comment Golden CascadesMountain Gaitway

In addition to building the house, we took on 13 ducklings, which arrived June 4th.

13 Ducklings, June 5

They grew, and grew, and at 12 weeks, they really filled the pool!

A few days ago we finally found time to “reduce the flock”. We sold two of the females, and butchered three drakes and two of the remaining females. As planned, we had six remaining ducks; presumably one drake and five hens, all the Golden Cascades.
The only problem was this little stinker. “She” turned out to be a “he”. This one looks pretty much like the other hens, and with 13 ducks, I hadn’t noticed that he talks like a drake. Just after the butchering was over, Tim noticed that this duck was making the drake sound, and sure enough, he also has the drake curly tail.
Golden Cascade Drake
He doesn’t have the white ring around his neck as the other drakes, nor the yellow bill. In fact, this bill is quite blueish-grey. All along I’ve just thought this was one of the hens. I had wanted to keep 5 hens for laying, but it’s not a real big deal that there are only 4 now. There will be plenty of eggs for Tim and me. We’ll have to figure out what to do with this extra drake, but we’ll figure it out.
For now, it’s awfully nice to have a mere six, calmer ducks. There’s less competition for food, they all happily float in the pool a great deal of the time, and it’s nice putting out half as much food for them. I don’t have to clean the water bowl or pool as often, either. Ahhhhh.
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GROWING DUCKLINGS

by with No Comment DucksGolden Cascades

Life has been busy here, making plans and working on the property and house. Little by little, the duck’s house is complete, and heeeere it is….

The DUCKAGON

It was made of materials left over from the barn. Our house is going to be round, or round-ish–it’ll actually be a tetra-decagon, with 14 sides. That’s how we came up with the idea of the duckagon, to match our round theme. The duckagon has only 8 sides, but it’ll be awfully cute next to the big house when it’s done! We actually put two doors in it, with the thought we may want to separate some ducks in the future (for breeding), but we are currently only using one door. Two of the roof panels are hinged and open up, for cleaning, and in the future for getting eggs out. Hopefully this will work out well.  

Here are some pics of the ducks today, at 5-1/2 weeks. Click on them to view them larger. The Golden Cascades are all different, as you will see in these five examples (two drakes, three hens).

All the ducks – July 10
One Golden Cascade drake.
The other Golden Cascade drake.
One of the darkest Cascade females.
This is the female I call “Pinky”.
This female shows wings coming out in blue.
The 4 White Appleyards all look alike.

 

 


It’s been fun watching them grow, especially now that their feathers are growing out. They’re getting BIG, too! A few days ago we switched from the smaller pool to the larger one, and even it looks small with 13 ducks in it!

13 Happy Ducks

 

IT’S OFFICIAL?

by with No Comment Golden CascadesMountain Gaitway

We’re continuing to make progress at the new Golden Gaits Ranch property. There’s a lot of grass in the fields that is just begging to be enjoyed by the horses. However, the property is not fenced. I (Tim) started working a bit on fencing in order to not let all that grass go to waste. Here’s a picture of the horses enjoying their newly expanded pasture:

The fence is not truly “horse-proof” at this point. It’s just a single strand of electric wire. But, the horses respect the wire and have plenty to eat. However, we put them back in the more secure paddock when we leave the property.

The ducks are growing amazingly fast. We’re starting to see real feathers sprout, replacing the baby down.

Laurie has lots more pictures and should be posting more details soon.

We’ve been hankerin’ to put up our Golden Gaits Ranch sign for a while and yesterday we took out time to do that. It’s kind of a temporary thing; we’ll likely re-do it later. But, seeing it up kind of makes it “official”. The Happy House will be located on top of the hill behind the sign.

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A neighbor came by the other day and said to Tim: “Are you Tim?”. I answered in the affirmative. She then asked: “Do you train horses?”. Again, affirmative. She wants me to work with her and her horse. I guess word is getting around. That should be fun.

It’s still hard to believe we’re really here. There is so much to do and yet so much to pause and enjoy. We love sitting on the swing in front of the RV in the evenings watching thunderstorms off in the distance or enjoying a beautiful sunset. We are truly grateful to our Father for this gift. We’re always looking for ways to share it with others. Come on out for a visit if you get a chance!

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New Duck House & Paddock

by with No Comment DucksGolden Cascades
The ducks continue to grow, and are a lot of fun to watch.  They’ve been in their new house and paddock area for about a week and a half now.  They’ve got a small kiddie pool, and we gradually increased their “pool time” each day, until we began giving them free choice pool time about 5 days ago. There are bricks around the side, and a big rock inside, to give them easy access in and out.  They are frequently in the pool. It’s been fun to watch them dive under water, even though it’s only about 6-8” deep, but now I think they’re getting too big for that. Soon we will need to graduate to the larger pool.

 

The ducks are beginning to grow feathers in spots. The little one with the pink bill shown in this post now is turning to a blotchy grey & pink bill, but I still call her “Pinky”. This Cascade is the lightest in color. They are all quite a variety of shades of brown. The males are getting a more distinctive look; their necks are light in color with darker heads, and their bills are yellow with a dark spot on the tip. 
Their cute house is almost complete. They are living in it now full time, but I’m holding off on adding a photo until it’s done. At night they are locked into the house, and the yard is secured as well. I think it would be quite difficult for a predator to get to them. (More on house and yard later.)  I find I don’t have much time to write posts, and this one will be post-dated to reflect the correct timing of photos and events.

Golden Cascade Ducklings: Videos

by with No Comment DucksGolden Cascades

Videos have been deleted from youtube. Leaving this post here as a placeholder in case I find a better host.

Here are a couple of videos of the ducklings’ first days:

This one was taken June 5, the day after we got them:

This was yesterday, June 11. Look how much bigger they are!

The ducks are really growing. Tim is working fast on their new duckhouse for this location. It won’t be anything like the last one, but we think it will be great.  Just wait to see!

GOLDEN CASCADE DUCKLINGS @ ONE WEEK

by with One Comment DucksGolden Cascades

Here’s a shot of the ducklings the day after we got them (above). The ducks are now one week old. All is going well, and the chores have now become habit. In addition to providing food & water, each day I clean out their brooder box. This procedure is a lot like what we did with our first ducks, and we are using the same car-top carrier box as before. There are videos of the 2011 brooder box & cleaning routine HERE.

The little guy front and center in this photo is my favorite, at this point. He (at least I think he’s a he) has managed to escape this box at least two times already! I think I may call him “Houdini”.  We’ve now begun to do a duck count every time we go in to see them.

Based on their beak and foot color, I’m guessing that of the Golden Cascades, we may have 3-4 males and 5-6 females. Two of the White Appleyards are larger than the other two, so I’m thinking the larger ones may be males. Time will tell! They’re awfully cute, and it’s amazing to see how fast they grow. I’ve taken a photo of each one, and will see if their coloring allows me to keep track of them as they grow and feather out.

“Houdini”

Meanwhile, we’ve begun to design our new duck house, and have decided where we’ll put it on the property. We will need a secure pen for them, too, and plans are underway to have this all done in about a week. Our 2011 ducks outgrew their brooder box and moved into their house at about two weeks old, so we assume these ducks will be ready to go by that time as well.

DUCKLINGS ARE HERE!

by with No Comment DucksGolden Cascades

Our new batch of ducklings has arrived! They were hatched Tuesday, June 2 at Holderread Waterfowl Farm in Oregon, and shipped out that evening. After a postal service mishap in which the shipment was delayed, we found that they were sitting in Colorado Springs and would remain there overnight unless we picked them up there. Off we went, yesterday afternoon, to get them. They were all safe and sound in their shipping box!

Per instructions, we gave them some water with a little honey in it prior to the trip home. We had their brooder area all ready for them, so when we arrived home we put them in under their heat lamps, with water & feed, for their first night here.

We received 9 of the Golden Cascades, and 4 White Appleyard. The Cascades have dark brown & blotchy yellow coloring, the Appleyards are yellow. It’s amazing that these little guys were packed into their eggs just two days ago–they grow so fast!

We’re off on a new duck-adventure!

Ducklings in the back of the car, just after picking them up at the Post Office