Our ducklings are Getting So Big!

Hard to believe just a few weeks ago these little balls of fur and feathers came into this world all bright eyed and bushy tailed.  June has been such a wonderful mama to her youngins.

We sexed them days after they were hatched and chose two females to keep here on the farm, sadly the other 6 we have decided to sell.  We just posted ads for sale, but Im almost 100% certain June is going to be devastated when all her babies are gone (but Katora and Alu).  We are keeping the two separate from mom for now inside a brooder, under the heat lamp and handling them each and every day to build up our trust.  We want our animals to love and trust us so they're more friendly.

Here's a gradual progression of photos from the day they were born, June 5th until today, June 29th.  They're just a little over 3.5 weeks old and it's just remarkable how much they've changed! They're starting to lose the fur and get little baby feathers.  Their wings although small are starting to develop and it's super cute when they flap them.  We've enjoyed every day with these little guys.

First ones to hatch, June 5

June 6

June 6

June 14

June 15

June 23

June 29

June 29

*This is Katora and Alu, the two girls that will be staying here at Indian Springs. They just had a good swim right before we took this photo. They were pooped laying in the grass.  Too cute!

28 (more) Duck Eggs to Incubate!

Now that our female call duck June has hatched out 8 adorable little ducklings,  we are left with numerous eggs scattered throughout the yard, the duck house, and in a few other random places.  Not sure which eggs are June's, which eggs are Maggie's, or even which are new or old, we just weren't sure what to do with all of them.  Eggs that are dropped are only so good for so long before they miss their window for incubation. Additionally, eggs that are dropped are only so good for consuming before they go bad too....for all we know, some of these could've been dropped months ago in the beginning of spring. (gagging thinking of the idea of eating rotten duck eggs-barf!)  It's difficult to know for certain because we were just letting Mother Nature hold her course of action with the ducks as we didn't want to do anything to disturb June from sitting by snatching up any remaining eggs out of her nest- ALTHOUGH, if it were up to Tim, we would've been collecting these suckers every day and eating like kings as duck eggs are delish!   Sorry, Timmy... baby duckies are way better then a good meal! haha

After some solid thought, and a brief family discussion (ok, more like me making the decision and everyone rolling with it) we came to the crazy decision that rather than tossing them all out in the garbage or feeding the coons with them, we'd round up all the eggs we could find, cleaned them up and got them ready for the incubator.  Anything we collected up until today we'd incubate. Anything after today- we eat! Fair deal, right?

Well, sort of.. we don't actually have an incubator just yet- but we decided to make this a fun science experiment and make our own out of a Styrofoam cooler. Another post to follow with photos and step-by-step instructions on how we made it. And of course, lots of updates and candling photos to come also as we go through this journey for the next 28 (give or take) days. 28 days is the average incubation period for a duck.

 For now, here's our gorgeous rainbow of blues and grays just waiting to get growing.  All 28 of the that is...   God help us if these all take, or should I say God help Tim as he'll be building another barn!

Ducklings are Hatching!

After (many) long, drawn out weeks of (patiently) waiting for some egg-citement around here, it finally happened!!!  DUCKLINGS!  

Yesterday was a busy day, trying to get things done outside before the storm came rolling in.  I was working in the garden around the duck pen and I popped my head in but disappointingly, she was STILL sitting.  After a trip to the grocery store later in the afternoon, I came home and noticed  out the window while putting groceries away that June was behaving strangely in her nest.  I dropped the groceries and ran out with my phone in hopes to see some new feathered friends.  Sure as shit, there were two bright fluffy yellow ducklings all snuggled up next to mommy. I couldn't believe it, our first set of babies born on our farm!  Words cant describe the feeling of joy and amazement.  We had watched her drop each of these eggs, roll them into a nesting spot, build a wonderful nest and sit for weeks.  The process was long and miraculous considering it was all instinctive. We just knew she'd be a good little mommy when the time came.

By 10:00 last night we still only had the two ducklings.  Here's a few pictures of the first ones to hatch. The photos weren't that great as it was dark out, and raining. I did my best.

None of us slept very well last night, nervous about June hatching babies all night in the dark. I was up before my alarm even went off anxious to see if we had any more hatchlings.  Much to my surprise, there were 5 more babies all with different markings so we had a total of 7 by 7am. Several more eggs are still in the nest, so who knows how many we'll actually end up with.

We all have bets going on as to how many we'll finally end up with. I said 8, Kayla said 10, Bella said 11, and Kyle went with 12 (his lucky #).  By default we gave Tim 9, means no one chose that and he didn't put his 2 cents in before going to bed.  Here's a few photos I snapped early this morning of the new babies all cuddled up next to their mama.  Congrats June!

#7 is hiding, but it's in there!

And.... yet more painting!

Finally got the middle barn fixed after we had the tree land on it.  The support beams have been replaced/repaird and we got a new gorgeous barn red metal roof on it.  We couldn't be more pleased with how it turned out.  Now that this gorgeous red roof is in place, it only makes the exterior look dull and lifeless.

Some who know me well say I was born with a paint brush in hand.  There is truth behind that statement. Not only do I have an art backgound, but I have an obsession (yes, it's a sick obsession I reluctantly admit) to wanting to paint every surface I see.  Something along the lines of painting the town red, that's me!  My husbsnd, the good sport that he is, has come home from work many of days to find the house tore up, new colors getting thrown on the walls, me covered in most of it and a paint brush in hand.  I swear he never really cared because it was one less chore he was responsible for.

So in keeping with our wood cottage feel we have going on, I decided painting the shed and smaller middle barn both grey to match the house.  The gorgeous red roof will pop against the gray for sure.  We're redoing the shed roof next because it just looks terrible next to the brand new one.

As for the main barn.... that's going to be a surprise.  I know in my head how that's going to play out but I want to save the reveal for when it happens.  For now, two of our outbuildings will be shiny as new!

Here's some before and during photos.  Finished product to come in the next few weeks!

                                                              ORIGINALLY:

AFTER NEW ROOF:

PAINTING BEGINS:

Oh yea, I had the world's best painting partner to keep me company, our American Bulldog, Duke!  He's the best when you need company. If only we could drink beer and hold a paint brush!

Dark brown trim still needs to be painted, but we're loving this dark gray!

Until next time....

The Red Roof

Nothing better than updating an old structure to make it look amazing.

A few months ago, we had a jumbo tree fall smack on the middle barn roof. It snapped some of the support beams, dented the metal roofing and knocked all kinds of wood panels out of sorts.   When we purchased this home, we knew at some point we'd be moving onto the outbuildings for updating, but figured we'd get through the house renos before we touched them. 

We had to address the barn immediately mainly because we could've ended up with bigger structural issues down the line.  Fixing it meant getting a new roof as well.  Goodbye old dingy brown roof, say hello to our brand new shiny amazing gorgeous red one!  We couldn't be happier with the color choice and materials we chose, what do you think?

                                                                   BEFORE

DURING

AFTER 

Next up- fresh paint!!!  Final pics to come...

Let us know what you think!

Spring Planting Time!

One of my very favorite parts of Springtime is that first day that's warm, sunny and the perfect day to clean up the yard and plant some new shrubs, flowers or herbs!   Means this property has been a work in progress, we're still working on making the outside shine as good as it can.  When we moved in here, it was end of summer, so really last spring/summer was our first season in the house and with so many other things going on, like the pool- we hardly had the time to invest in yard work.  This year,  my goal is to trim some more trees, take some more trees OUT, and plant some new shrubs, perennials and (hopefully) start my garden.

A trip to Produce Junction today set me back a few hundred bucks, but totally worth it considering all I got.  Kayla joined me and helped pick out some new plants for the front of the house and around the new stone retaining wall we built this past March. She and I each had our own cart, and we literally filled up, paid and unloaded in the car 3 TIMES!  The back seat of my car was folded down, and I STILL loaded up on goodies from there.  God, I love that place!!!   Here's some of what I picked up.. now deciding how to lay all this shit out will be another episode.

Ducklings Coming Soon!

So June has been sitting in the duck house, on her nest for a few weeks now.  She is definitely brooding and we have been so uncertain on wether or not we'll even get babies because of the cold spring we've had and how long it took her to drop them all (7 weeks).  Being new to this whole experience it's been so stressful.  Of course Tim wanted to snatch the eggs up and gobble em up, but Kayla and I voted we let nature run it's course and see what happens with them.

Yesterday I couldn't stand the wait any longer, I just had to candle an egg to see if anything was happening- AND IT IS!!!  Much to my surprise, the very first egg (of many) in June's nest was a growing baby duckie!!!  My heart skipped a beat and I literally let out a squeal the neighbors could hear. Kayla came running over and had to see for herself.  She snapped these pictures with her phone. It's a little difficult to see really well, but you can certainly see the veining and air pockets along with the dark shape of a new little duckling to be!  

Can't wait to see how many we end up getting and what they'll all look like.  We're honestly not even sure if they're all June's eggs, Maggie being a female may have dropped some so it's going to be exciting to see who the ducklings will end up looking like. Hopefully in just another week or so... with all the excitement, I grabbed a second egg and we went to the garage where it was a little easier to see and candle.  These were the other pictures we got.