Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Meet our newest addition, Kiwi


A good friend of mine who convinced me to have runner ducks lost her male late last week. That left her with only one female at her house. Changes in life, with the busyness that happens to all of us, means that she needed to find a new home for her precious Kiwi.

Would I be willing to take in her baby? WOULD I?! You bet I would! This is a beautiful chocolate runner that has been hand-raised from a day-old duckling. Sweet as can be.

She joined our little flock this past Saturday, and wasted no time in trying to find where she fit into the group. The two blue's I have have never been high on the group list, Kiwi ignores them. Kiwi wants to be part of the main group, buttering up to the dominant female (the white and fawn hen, Spicy) and dominant male (the Mallard, Mario).

It is interesting to watch animal politics play out in the back yard, let me tell you! After a few hours of some pecking and feather pulling, things have settled down. Now it is mostly chattering and bluffing each other (just between Kiwi and one other hen, Chatty, who are battling it out for position).

She is learning the ways of our flock, following them into the pen at night, running up to the deck with them whenever I come outside (I come bearing treats of lettuce and oats...so they know momma has goodies!).

My youngest son has declared that we need another duck, because we now have an odd number. Ah, no. Nope, I don't think so. Good try, though. My husband thinks we need to put a sign out that we are fostering ducks. Again, no. I don't think so. I think we need a duck crossing sign in front of our house. YES!!

1 comment:

  1. She's a beauty!! :) Glad you were able to give her a new home and flock. :) PS I am so jealous of your green grass!!! Ugh...still have a bunch of snow on the ground here.

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