Ciaran’s Random Writings

Yesterday our ducks migrated to a pond a few miles away, not on the wing but in the back seat of a Mercedes. Only the best for our ducks. Needless to say, they took to the water like….erm… Anyway:

They settled in well and soon joined the rest of the ducks on the pond, but I suspect that despite the safety advice I gave them before we left, they will be returning home to us in due course - riddled with bullets and oven-ready. In the meantime, the young chickens are over the moon about not having to share their shed at night.

The ducklings are now on the loose in the orchard during the day, but still going back indoors to the garage at night. Luckily this is an easy process, no sheepdog required, since all eight move as a single tightly-packed unit and can be easily ’steered’ around.

The young chickens are not quite sure what to make of them though, and much fun was had today herding the ducks towards them and watching them scatter left, right and centre. I tried to capture the excitement on video, but I guess you had to be there:

Talking of the young chickens, they’re doing very well. Unlike the ducklings, they’re extremely friendly and like nothing more than to be picked up and stroked. They have no idea that they’re going to end up on my dinner plate, and that’s just the way it should be. In the meantime, they’re a happy bunch, at least when the ducklings are not bearing down on them.

I haven’t done any work today. Actually, that’s a lie, I’ve poked around in Bugzilla a bit, reviewed some check-ins and discussed a few issues by IM. That probably adds up to a total of 15 minutes though, which is as near to no work as I’m ever likely to get. So, ignoring those 15 minutes, something interesting must have happened, let’s see…

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Here’s another duckling picture. They’re a completely different kettle of fish to pheasant and chicken chicks. Rather than a tendency to peck at each other, the ducklings preen each other, and even help each other out of the eggs. I scoffed a bit when I read that last part somewhere, but then I saw it twice with my own eyes.

The other main non-physical difference is that they respond to quacks. I can summon the whole group by quacking, and a different tone of quack sends them away again.

One late arrival this morning makes a total of eight ducklings. There are a few more that I don’t think are going to come out, but you never know.

Here’s a fantastic picture of the first duck having just hatched at twenty to eight. A second hatched minutes later. You have to look close up to really appreciate the cuteness of this little creature - I can’t wait to see what it looks like when the feathers dry out.

This morning, baby Mia is staggering around the yard at high speed, throwing stones at the cat. Her proudest moment was two stones launched simultaneously, one from each hand, and surprisingly accurately. From a distance of at least 7 feet* they fell only about 6 inches** short, but otherwise right on target. If this is normal behaviour for an 11 month old, I’m a chinaman.

*For seafaring types, in fathoms, this is 1.16666 recurring.

**For horseracing types, in furlongs this is 0.000757575 recurring.