New native garden for the duck pen

We have been passing a beautiful chook enclosure for the last couple of years on our afternoon walks. It's in north katoomba and is made up almost entirely of native plants. It's looks great and is perfect of poultry because they don't really bother with natives. So we have been planning our own version - and then we saw how wonderfully the indigenous "bush tucker" garden has taken off at the local community gardens that we decided this weekend to just 'bite the bullet' and do it in our duck enclosure. Luckily we had two truck loads of chip left over from our neighbours demolishing of a pine tree and used that to make paths. We then popped over to Weber Nursery at Mount Boyce near Blackheath and bought about 20 tube stock of natives. About 15 minutes after we finished planting it started to rain! - Perfect start to their new life. Here's a pic...

Raspberries are here!

After several months of working on the raspberry garden that actually started about a year ago (see this post) we now have a full crop of Raspberries flowing. The sucklings from the community gardens have taken off and are fruiting like mad! Also the bed preparation - 3 months of growing buckwheat as a green manure to prepare the bed before planting must be paying off. I am very happy as this is my long term goal to have a full raspberry crop every year. I have been saving Raspberry recipes for a few years...so smiles all around.

And on another note - who knew Ducks loved succulents. I now have banned our ducks from coming anywhere near the succulent garden.

Garden and Ducks

The garden is finally getting some sun after what feels like weeks of cloudy wet weather. The bean arch has almost connected in the middle! Here are a few shots of my vege patch. Followed by a photo from today of our remaining duckling of the two that have been born so far to the ducks. (versus the ducklings born to the chooks! - read back on entries!)
And the duckling (around 4 days old). The 2nd died yesterday.

New ducklings

Very exciting news. Our new ducklings have been hatching over the past 24 hours. The first one was discovered when I picked up our black chook off the nest just to get new chook eggs that have been laid (the chooks have been laying on top of her - quite undignified and we need to collect them each day) , quite expecting to see our duck eggs still under her (our fertile duck eggs that were placed under her when she went broody a few weeks back). And instead a small tiny black duckling was sitting there staring at me! Looking under the other chook soon revealed a couple of others including a cute little yellow one. The remaining two were hatched over night, and now we have 3 very clucky chooks, with 5 baby ducklings between them. We have had to put one of the more nasty bully mum chooks in a 'cage' for a couple of days - as she kept kicking one of the other 'mums' off her ducklings. She was even spied pecking at the yellow one. So she's been banished. We now just have quiet little Plum (our Araucana) and Blackie (an Australorp), looking after the brood. Plum has done the full hard yards, being broody for 28 days. Blackie has been broody for about 20 days, and Pearl - the one who has been banished, has only been broody for about 10. So in fact she's still broody and probably it's why she's getting nasty. (although A believe's she's just a plain nasty chook, born like that, will die like that!) We read that putting them in a cage for a couple of days can stop the broodiness. We'll see.

In the meantime, the actual two ducks - who have been broody for about 3 weeks are happily guarding another set of eggs, with Charlie their drake always near by. Those girls are quite happy sharing the one beautiful nest. And with all this rain, it's slowly getting flooded!

The ducklings...


The Ducks....

Sunday baking

I love Sundays. I've fallen into the habit of doing baking on Sundays more often than not - it seems so old fashioned. But I can see all the reasons that people through time have done baking on Sundays. It's calm. It's festive. Friends pop over. Weekdays can be too busy. I find it relaxing to cook and really enjoy just trying a new recipe to test the duck eggs with! We have so many...too many. The damn ducks! ;) Today I found the best so far. It uses 6 egg yolks and whites separately. That's a half dozen in one go! Coconut Friands with Lime Curd. YUM. YUM. YUM.

And this morning after our morning walk I also constructed a bird feeder. They are eating the duck food anyway, with our cat looking on threateningly I wanted to at least provide them somewhere a little out of reach. I get that feeding the birds can be frowned upon, but we will be using this for when the weather is just too awful for them! The poor baby birds can be heard screeching from the tree tops calling for their supper. Forgive me ! I made it out of a rescued rusted old flu thrown as rubbish in nearby bush and a big old flattish rock we had lying around. It's dug a way into the ground to stabilise it. The inspiration actually came from Chris Clarke's extra-ordinary bushfire house that he built after the tragic bushfires in Victoria last year. His newly built house was burned down 6 days after finishing it. So he started rebuilding a new one and what resulted is amazing. Click here to view pix of Chris Clarke's house..

Anyway - here's my bird feeder.

Ducks

Quick update on our ducks - they now roam around our backyard freely every day. It's so lovely and calming watching them wander around. They stick very close together, when we go out to the back yard they will run up to us, not too close though, expecting bread. Puddleduck (brown one) has started feeding from our hands. Here's a pic...Charlie (big white) and his two wives...bob (white) and puddleduck (brown)

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Banana Cake from Edmonds Cookbook

Today we made a classic banana cake from the classic NZ cookbook Edmonds. I actually found it from another blog here - (so thank you!).
We made the cake with our duck eggs of course! Yummy! I made it in two sandwich tins - but next time will just do the one. I also added a couple of drops of vanilla.

Lemon Meringue Pie - with Duck Eggs

What do you think? Tonight I made a Lemon Meringue Pie with some of our duck eggs. I found the recipe online here (using chook eggs, but I swapped) Both girls are laying every day now - so I need to keep baking baking baking! - Which isn't hard to do - as I have hungry mouths here - and I love it anyway. Thank god for Master Chef. Apparently our single older gentleman neighbour next door likes to bake and is happy to receive duck eggs instead of the Chook eggs we regularly give him. Now to eat....

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From various for blog

New Duck - Meet Charlie

Well unfortunately our beautiful Jessie Duck had to leave us. While we had all become very attached to him - with his non quacking growl like sound, his little mohawk that tried to scare you out of the pen, his 'i am the brave scary one here' attitude as he came right up to you - half wanting you to pat him - half trying to look after his ladies, and his 'I CAN fly - I CHOOSE not to fly' abilities - he did finally get a little too agressive. The other morning when 'A's' 8 year old girl was down feeding the poultry - 'A' heard a screeching terrified 'mummy, mummy, mummy'. 'A' couldn't have been there quick enough - lept over the kitchen bench and down to the back yard in about two seconds flat to find her little girl pinned up against pen fence by Jessie biting her leg quite visciously. Jessie is a Muscovy duck - and they are the one type which are known to get quite agressive as a pet. So with no fanfare or discussion - we decided to take him that very day straight down to the RSPCA and surrender him. It was sad. A was more moved than expected.
The next day we paid a visit to our local 'chookman sheepman' - who is the old guy who breeds poultry on a few acres nearby. Hes' lived in a caravan since his house burned down years ago. ANd is surrounded by all these chooks, ducks, his two dogs and the odd fox! We visit semi regularly to buy chooks and in this case our new duck! We told him our story of having two lonely girls who just lost their drake. And he sold us a beautiful calm white Pekin duck. Charlie. He also said we should have brought Jessie to him - as he would have used him as a breeding duck - as it's good to get non-related ducks into his breeding program. So we (8 year old and me) proceeded to go to the RSPCA and to reclaim our Jessie - who looked miserable and lonely in one of those awful zoo like concrete jungle cages. He kept flying away from the keeper - so I had to go in - he knew me and let me pick him up into the box. We returned to 'chookman sheepman' and gave him Jessie. He will have a happy life now. And we are all much happier for it!.
Anyway - meet Charlie... The funny thing that has happened now - is that Bob - one of the ducks has bonded and started laying. And Puddleduck - the rescued duck from Wentworth falls Lakes - has stopped laying. !

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Sponge cake using Duck eggs

Well the duck eggs are now coming in thick and fast. So I was due to start experimenting with them. Our first go - probably unwisely- was to poach them. Ick! Put us off them. Second go, was to 'bake' with them. All the googling had led to lots of recommendations for baking with them - especially sponges and meringue. So I just googled "duck egg sponge cake" - don't you love google? Up came a Duck Egg Sponge Cake recipe! This is the link for those interested. And below is the result.
!

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Duck Eggs!

Our three ducks have finally produced eggs! Well one of the girls although we aren't sure who yet. To update - after a few deaths we finally have ended up with three beautiful ducks - two, Jessie (drake) and Bob (girl) we've had since ducklings. The third Puddleduck (girl) we rescued from a Duck round up at a near by lake. A's 8 year old girl had her eye on this particular duck for a few weeks - people dump them when they are no long wanted as pets. It's really sad. So we ended up with the perfect family for ducks - one drake and his two devoted wives. I was keen on ducks mainly to experience the duck eggs! Althought they have turned into as much a part of the family as the dogs!

Then finally when letting them out of their pen last this morning - there they were. two eggs. Sitting there waiting for our wandering eyes - two perfect white duck eggs! They are a little bigger and more fragile than the chook eggs... now to find recipes!

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Stig the Duck has also died

Oh dear. Not a day after poor 8 year old's mouse died (of being obscenely obese - we think due to a severe illness and not 1 year into it's poor life), her second duck, Stig, has died. ( or disappeared. You may remember her first one (Nitsy) unfortunately died as a young duckling, and now one of the replacement ducks has been found dead. Not much evidence, no feathers missing, no blood. Just gone. Her family (jessie - nitsys sibling, and bob, Stig's sibling) seems a little rattled ,and Jessie definately had a few feathers missing suggest that they have been severely chased by something during the day. We keep them locked in their backyard area, and enclosed in their own dog kennel/duck pen at night. So it's happened on the sly at some point. We have yet to break the news to her.

It's tough - this life of animals. We had the chook slaughter last year, the heart attack of Mrs Fatso our mother chook, the only survivor of said earlier slaughter, the first mouse dying, the second mouse dying, the first duck dying and now the second duck dying. I am slowly getting use to it.

The mice very unceremoniously were placed in my office/studio after their nocternal habits kept a certain little girl awake. And they never left. They stink, they make noise, and don't do much. Then one day the fat one died. I glanced over and it was just lying there. Feet falling through the cage. Very undignified. - And I know I am getting use to this death stuff because, there would have been a time I just squealed and shivered and insisted it be removed. But instead, after telling A, I just continued working and A removed the body a day later.

Still, we all loved Stig.

The new ducks

So after Nitsy died - Jessie the other duck was so distress we immediately went out an bought two more. These ones are Indian Runners x Mallard and very timid. Both A & I aren't nearly as attached to these two new ones - however as A's 8 year girl is slowly taming them they are taking on a certain charm. We have no idea if they are drakes or ducks, but as soon as we know we will be making decisions about which to keep. We don't mind having one drake, but not two. Regardless we have named them Bob and Stig. (!?). We have now settled them in to more permanant residences of the dog kennel with a wire run attached. We think they are quite happy there. They are now down in our 'back paddock' where the chooks roam. All seems happy family so far. So without further ado - please meet Bob & Stig.... (with Jessie in this photo.)

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Nitsy, the duck, has died

Nitsy - our little yellow duckling has unfortunately died. She was found by A, buried with only her little webbed feet protruding from the ground. Very sad, very undignified way of losing your life. She has been caught by something and buried in shame. We are assuming it wasn't intentional as she had no scaring or obvious damage. So she either died of shock or broke her neck possibly. With Jessie - the other duckling, crying out for her, we have immediately gone up and acquired two new ducklings to keep her company - they are 3 weeks younger, half the size and are not Muscovy. These are Indian Runners x Mallard, flightless ducks which lay a lot more eggs than the Muscovy. The three are now curled up in the corner of their new pen (the dog kennel) keeping warm. Photos will come later when it stops raining! We did take advantage of about 10 minutes when it stopped raining, to start building a fence which will isolate the entire back part of our yard to allow for a bigger area for the poultry grazing. This area includes apple and citrus trees which is perfect for a grazing area. We will also be adding some coffee trees soon.

The rain has not let up now for about 10 days. Katoomba was on the Nine O'Clock news three times last night due to the awful weather. Thank goodness we are on a mountain top, otherwise there would be far more severe flooding in the area. The plants looks good!

Rain rain go away - The Ducks are happy

The ducks grow every day. Amazingly so. I swear each morning when I look at Jessie - (the darker one) she has grown overnight considerably. The rain wont leave, our Katoomba paradise is flooded and nothing but the plants and ducks are happy. Everything is soaked and even the chooks I think are depressed. Below are some happy snaps of the ducks, - taking to water ....like...well. Ducks! [The water is our flooded backyard!].

From animals

From animals

And under the watchful eye of one of our dogs...

From animals

Our new Ducks

Please meet our new Ducks. Just brought home only a few mintues ago. Muscovy ducks are apparently the best 'pet' ducks to have - don't really quack and get along fine with chooks. Now while they aren't the most attractive adult duck - in fact a lot look like they are just plain ugly - I am sure raising them from ducklings I will acquire an attachment to them. And importantly for me they will contribute to our sustainable mission with their Duck eggs. (good for pavlovas apparently!). Click here and here for some recipe uses (including pavlova)

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