It's been an odd Summer weather-wise. Life-wise, pretty much the same. we've learned a few new things this summer:
Butchering ducks is not as easy as it should be. We've done 8 and it's complicated. It requires a duck with it's adult feathers in and a cool day, not a hot day. There's a technique using wax to strip off pinfeathers that works well..........when it's not hot outside. Another 20 to go....
Percy has found his dude-ness. He's hollering after he shags a girl. EVERY girl. It was cute the first 10 times. Now I walk out and say, "Percy, no one needs to know every time you shag a girl. You're not THAT good at it!"
We had one rooster that was terrorizing our flock of ducks. We have 3 roosters, so we had to be sure it was this rooster that was the offender. We put a band on his leg and observed him. Sure enough, it was that rooster. He was very tasty in with peanut sauce and rice.
There really isn't a need for more than one rooster anyways. They fight with each other, try to shag other species and just get really mean if they don't have their own harem of girls. We were just waiting for them to mature more before butchering them. Next summer, we'll be raising a brood of chickens to butcher instead of ducks. Much easier to feed, butcher and handle. The ducks were a good experiment and we'll keep the 4 for eggs, but no more flock of 30 for the freezer.
Sissy has either gone completely blind or has become a bit tetched. She stands in secluded spots totally away from the flock facing walls, trees, etc not talking, not eating just standing there. It's either that or she stands beside a pool totally alone. She'll stand there for a few minutes, then get a drink, then stand there more. I'm guessing totally blind. She can remember the layout of the yard. The only other thing to assist her is to keep all the food and water in the same place every day.
She should adjust to it after a time. Having a constant companion would help, but Ron, her mate is more concerned with the kids. Those kids aren't kids anymore though. We did puzzle at the fact that Sissy was not motherly like Molly is to her kids. She pretty much let the Uncles raise the babies. Blindness could explain that though. If she could not see well enough to raise them, then the Uncles did the right thing.
Molly's kids have been fun to watch grow. They started off looking very African-ish, but now show much more Toulouse in their looks. There is one definite male and three, maybe four females. They are getting their adult voices, which is a deep, "Bup bup bup"
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