#silver appleyard

[behold-the-ducks]

Day 27 of ducklings! They’re preteen ducks now, almost four weeks old!

And as an added bonus, we’re duck sitting!

Peep!

[thestudentfarmer]

Feb 20, 2023

Hey everyone! I hope you've all had as great a week as possible and been able to work on your gardens, homesteading skills and sustainable methods this week :)

We've had a little bit of everything this week for all the above here in our little plot.

Today's post is going to include an update on the lentils and then some info and caretaking stuff for ducks 🦆

So first up! The lentil experiment!

This is a pic as of today, there's clear spotting in the grow pattern. But I kind of expected that. I didn't have a lot for even coverage (and just tossed it out). It had a late grow period and the front gets a weird double micro- climate/grow zone in the winter.

A lil close up of what's come up. They are a bit darker stemmed and darker leaved than it looks. But those that sprouted are doing amazing!

I'm thinking about letting a section grow entirely to produce more pods and seeds just to see how well it'll do now and just doing a half row of till in.

🦆🦆🦆Now onwards to the ducks! 🦆🦆🦆🦆

If you've ever thought about getting ducks, please do your research on them.

Despite sis having done extensive research there's still things we don't know, didn't know until it happened and we're continually learning as we go.

As a quick mention our ducks are kept primarily as pets, for pest control and because we wanted their eggs. Sis and my Hubby love them, though only Hubby can eat them. (I don't overly enjoy the taste personally, but I can eat them)

Meet Nugget (the back left), Pie (back right) and some of you may recognize the handsome fellow in the front middle, Cheese! (Aka, Poppa Cheese).

These are our ducks. While we don't know for sure what Pie (we believe is a magpie) and Nugget (we believe is a magpie mix ) are, we are certain Cheese is a silver Appleyard.

Awhile back I noticed we weren't finding any duck eggs, well Miss Pie it turns out hid a nest. I believe I posted it awhile ago with a few eggs in it by the time it was discovered. We figured we would let her sit on them and gave them the hatch time plus a week to be sure. Sadly no eggs hatched. We will not be allowing large nesting again. And the next hatch will be done with an incubator. ( a fun experiment and share for later!)

This is what the nest ended up looking like on "pull date" (today actually)

I think one broke yesterday morning as there was that unforgettable rotten egg smell. For the comfort of us and our neighbours (as well as Pie.) It was time to remove it.

Found the broke one(s?) They were not rolemovable by hand. So a shovel was needed to remove them.

All empty. I did fully remove, trim and am planning to block this spot so she may not nest here again.

The hidden bounty was way bigger than expected and I have a feeling she wasn't really nesting now :( there was almost 60 eggs hidden here!)

The lesson this student learned? At this time natural incubation is a no for our homestead. Any found nests from now on, sadly will have to be removed. We have tried nesting a handful of times now and it just hasn't panned out.

As well a note to share with those thinking of ducks~

They need ponds and if you get filtration get the darn best filtration you can.

In addition to the nest removal and cleanout It was pond clean day happens every 2-3 days so long as it doesn't rain.

This is a pond washed out and refilled 3 days ago. (It rained, we don't do pond wash on rainy days.)

Dumped, be sure to rinse em well, this is why if u get filtration make sure it's heavy duty. This sludge probably could be watered down heavily and used for soil fertilization. For me tho, I'm only doing that in the duck area. Too many weed seeds for the garden to be a viable use for that and not a good filter system planned yet.

The lucky ducks enjoying the fresh cleaned pond (for now lol)

Their area is under some redesign as well. Projects I will be sharing later as they are done~

Thank you all for joining me today! What project or ideas are you looking forward to this week on your own gardening, homesteading, learning journey?

🌱🦆Happy Homesteading and Animal Husbandry!🦆🌱

[ticklishcicada]

iiiiiiiiiiiiits Posh Bob and Nancy!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[behold-the-ducks]

Day six of ducklings! They seem absolutely certain that everything is edible. They’re also getting a little bit bigger!

I’ve also discovered that their webbed feet can be used on my phone.

In N IM plfdddtuii ur hi - the duck on my phone

[behold-the-ducks]

Day 41 of teen ducks!!

They’re so big!

And they’ll only get bigger.

[behold-the-ducks]

Day 98, 99…and…100! Of ducks!!!!

Pippin

Pepperoni

Tomato Sauce

Mary

Cheese

Bowling Pin

And Kazoo

[behold-the-ducks]

Day 34 of preteen ducks!!!

They’re messy. But silly.

[behold-the-ducks]

Day 31 of what are now preteen ducks! It’s been a whole month!?!?!?

Pet the duck. Pet the duck. Pet the little duuuuccckkiieee.

🥺🥺🥺🥺🥹🥹🥹thank you 🥺thank you all for supporting me and the ducks

What about your ducks are worrying you, if I may ask?

@z-does-stuff (I can untag u if you want)