DUCKS ARE NOT EASY! I MISS CHICKENS! Whew. OK that’s out of my system. So arranging my back yard to accommodate a nice little bunny and five #@!%#$% ducks is consuming a lot of my day. But, I signed on for this adventure and I’m going to see it through. Until they can fly, they will be with me for at LEAST four or five more weeks. The first lesson I learned about the care and feeding of ducks is that they need “pond weeds” to eat. This is the mucky stuff that grows along the edge of the lake near my house. They need the nutrients in the plants and micro-organisms that grow in the water for nutrition. Plus domestic ducks who will eventually released in the wild NEED to learn to eat this stuff and get their digestive systems used to it so they will know what it is when they are returned to the wild.
This stuff is GROSS and the first time I got some I almost fell in, plus I got goose poop all over my knees! So guess whose job it is NOW to get the pond scum (this is our pet name for it). Poor Jim. He retrieves this gunk every two days so the ducks can have their yummy and disgusting treat.
The next thing they need is a place to swim. They know how to swim instinctively of course, so I didn’t need to get them a Red Cross instructor, but they do need to practice so they can exercise their muscles. Their wings need strength so they can fly and they need to learn to dive to get most of their food. It’s so fun to watch them in the water. Their first pool was a small Rubbermaid tub.
Later they graduated to a pink baby pool.
There’s lots of information about what to feed ducks and I’m trying to get the stuff they need from feed stores and pet stores. They’re transitioning from “starter” food to “adult” food gradually. We give them worms when we find them, plus chopped lettuce and all the bugs and grass they can eat from the yard. So far this experience has been 50% fun and 50% pain in the butt. Bunnies and kitties are sooo much easier!

Tony is very low maintenance.
Bella sleeps indoor with us most nights and sometimes Mulder gets confused.

That’s MY house you stoooopid cat!
I’m sure she misses Bandit, but she has a very pampered bunny life with us.

Why yes this salad IS organic!
That’s all the animal news for now. Some readers are anxious to see the results of the Memorial Garden and I can’t wait to show you how it turned out! Jim has a couple of tweaks before I’m allowed to share so keep coming back please. It’s the most beautiful project we’ve ever undertaken and I’m very proud of my smart, creative, hard-working man. Don’t tell him I said this. He HATES mushy stuff. 🙂