Well its fall up here in Minnesota. The leaves are starting to turn, there is a slight nip in the air, its getting dark sooner and staying dark later, and, my ducks are all revvvvvvved up! Yesterday it was raining hard and water was pooling between my concrete patio and my backyard grass. Of course the ducks were busy jamming their beaks deep into the ground digging at the roots; so tasty I guess. My ducks love the rain. They were running around, squaking like crazy and havinga great time.
But with fall comes flying (and seeing the mallards and geese going back and forth over my house). The other day the “Cranky Female” took off right at dusk (unusual for her). She took off and I had to roiund her up a couple of houses over. My other three mallards were very upset and scolded her for a long time once I gt her back. I do have the fear that one day a big flock of mallards making starting their journey south will call to my boys. Will they join in? I sure hope not.
Anyone raise pet mallards and have them fly south with all the wild mallards?
Fall is here, enjoy!
The Weather is Affecting My Ducks
Saturday, September 13th, 2008The weather is changing and so are my ducks. Up in Minnesota our days are getting shorter and the nights are getting longer. Our nightime temps are dropping into the forties and the daytime highs are in the high sixties low seventies. The wild mallards and Canadian geese are getting ready to migrate; flying back and forth between to local lakes; right over my house (and my ducks). And our ducks are changing!
I’ve noticed a few things lately. My ducks (4 mallards; 2 hens and 2 drakes) are a lot more aggressive. The boys are nipping at the girls and the girls are fighting back. My kids have nicknamed one of the hens “The Cranky Lady”. She is always running around the yard making a huge racket with her head down. She is so loud!
The ducks seem very interested in the local mallards (not so much the geese) flying over our home. A few time they have even gotten agitated and flown over our fence into the neighbors yard. So far they have come back but what about next time.
I have noticed however, that the two males (e.g., Jumper and Big Boy) have become more friendly when being handled. They’ll let me and the kids handle them and they remain very calm. This has been a bonus as the kids love to hold and pet them.
Make sure to check out the gallery at www.mypetducks.com/gallery to see the newest pictures.
See you next time, Dave
Tags: cold, fall, weather
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