Ducks, Chickens, Isolation, and writing.

Well, our KCs are getting bigger by the day. At more than a month old now, they are well on their way to becoming adults. When I left for Nashville on Monday, they only had baby fluff on their necks and sides. Suprisingly, it looks like the wings are the last thing to develop? Go figure. Here they are so far.
On Arrival, a box of quack. Frighteningly cute baby quackers. 2 days old.

Here they are a few weeks older, moving outside and here chasing a green pepper. Funny stuff.



And here, almost all grown up. The one on the left is a drake, we think. The sites all say they have yellow legs, but since they're related to Mallards they should have green heads and beaks too. Not all the yellow legged guys have greenish beeks...hmm. Anyway, you can see their feathers are comming along great!

We built them an improvised pond last weekend. Some scrap wood, a few T Posts, some plastic (more on that), a lot of sweat, and bingo.
Of course they couldn't make heads or tails of it for a while, but they'd been fighting over and trying to swim in a bucket for two weeks, so it didn't take them long to realize this was WATER! They had a great time, for about 24hrs. As God is my witness, I didn't know ducks had adamantium claws. They shredded the 4mil plastic liner like wolverine on a pack of ninjas. One day later it was empty. Joy got a couple cheap hard side kiddie pools while we contemplate a heavy rubber liner.

Patrick and I did 100% of the primary construction, Joy pitched in finishing the chicken wire surround to avoid escapes. Here she is telling me to put the f*cking camera down and quit screwing around (Patrick looking confused and hot in the backgroung). She loves having her picture taken!

Meanwhile, our Amaurana chicks have shown up. Like the ducks (ordered 15, got 18), we got 26 instead of 25. I think they ship a couple extra for casualties. But (knock on wood), we have yet to loose a single chick or duckling. I give Joy 100% well deserving credit for that. One of the chicks got sick and she nursed it through.

Here they are.

And Natureboy checks them out. Having some livestock and a dog has helped him a lot in handling and dealing with animals. He's still scared of bugs, but we'll take it a step at a time.

The second picture is only a little over a week later. The chicks were a lot different than ducks. They get wing feathers first (sufvival bonus?), and learn to jump. We had escapes from the brooder at two weeks, something that never happened at all with the ducks. They're also faster, and a little more easily scared. I added a roost to one side, and they won't go near it for days.

Well, with all that excitement, the Patrick went off to camp for a week. He gets back tomorrow. Joy is fit to be tied missing/worrying about him. But I suspect we're both right in thinking he doesn't even remember he has parents. It's a Kentucky state wilderness camp, and looks like a lot of fun.

Here he and his best friend Hamilton are heading off to adventure. Can't wait to talk to him tomorrow afternoon! Sucks that I don't get home this weekend.

On the writing front, another coworker finished Overture and raved about it. He wants to screen Sonata for me. So I'm trying to finish Aria, that way I'm sure Sonata is safe to complete editing and give to my test readers (now numbering about 6). The writers group I joined here is proving interesting, as is the gaming group I am playing with. Once a week for the gaming, once a month for the writing. Sometimes wish it was the other way around, but the gamers are good guys, low on the drama, high on the ROLE playing. I can handle this for another 9 months...I hope.