Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Ducks revisited

The summer is moving on and the Indian Runner has been doing her thing --sitting on eggs. For the past six years, she has tried and failed. This year was no different. She is a poor sitter -- no ducklings emerged. And I heaved a sigh of relief as I made sure the nest was clean. We had quite enough trouble with ducklings earlier.

The Junior Duck Patrol is much less bothered about people than the older ducks. When my eldest is filling up their water, they come off to the hose and demand a shower. They stand mouths open, wings flapping under the water. I must try to get a photo of this.

The JDP tend to move as a body. All turning at once. This can cause problems when one decides they are not going into the duck house. Then they all don't go in, and we play round and round the duck house with the dogs sitting at the entrance, guarding the escape route. Last night, I had about ten goes before the JDP tired of the game and went into the duck house. I was about to close the door, then the Runner flapped out, got past the two dogs, and had to be cahsed on the night time duck route (up the path, across, under several bushes, down and across by the pen, until she went into the house. I shut the door with a sigh of relief

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