Back to Quack

Well... not exactly. My six new Muscovy ducklings will, in fact, never quack. It has been a few years since I have been able to live up to my nickname "MamaDuck", though it has always stuck. My son has made unbelievable leaps in dealing with Autism, I have healed from Cheyenne's passing, and we have bought our first home. All of this opens up so many more possibilities and I am loving life. Waking up to finally having more baby ducks in my life makes every day that much better. My husband wanted chickens, but ducks are what I know. We have been investing in resources and wanted egg production (and the poop... compost bin for the vegetable garden). I was set on Muscovy Ducks. We have neighbors and I am firm on letting them have their peace. Muscovy ducks don't quack. You can tell their soft, quiet, charming noise from the sparrows and finches if you can hear them at all. The only downside, really, is that they are a flying breed. I will have to trim their flight feathers, which will be a first. Tracking down Muscovy ducks to buy lead me on a wild goose chase (see what I did there?). I searched high and low for someone local without luck and after trying to find mail order birds their unavailability, extreme shipping rates for both ducklings and eggs, and their 20 bird minimums left me hopeless when I went to bed every night bug-eyed from searching all day on the computer. Finally, I found a sweet veteran a few days ago set to move today. He had nearly 3 month old ducklings he needed to find homes for and he really cared about their future. I brought four home with me. I'm a MamaDuck again! They were free range.... catching them was an adventure, but went well. They are accustomed to venturing away from people when someone approaches, but they are coming along already. They have trust in me after a lot of positive short visits and treats. I am so happy to have them! They are currently housed in a plant house I built (Ive taken on woodworking as if I needed another hobby). I'm currently adding on to it for more room to roam, a pool, and nest boxes. Their previous owner has texted to check in on how they are doing. I love that. Really shows how much he loves them! But, I still have that aching in my heart. With these outside, older babies I can't imprint them... my specialty. To my surprise, I found a man with brand new hatchlings! Indoor babies! My son wanted one, too. He never spends his money. I can't get him to give up a penny if I asked him to, but he was more than excited to spend five dollars of his hard saved money and get himself a baby. We went and picked out two. My son is very proud and handling the baby great... running around calling himself "PapaDuck". We are having a blast playing and cuddling with them. The yellow duck is my son's... he named him/her "Charger" (we are big football fans). The marked one is mine... his/her name us Turkey. oh, yea... one more downside of Muscovy ducks: They are nearly impossible to sex until they are much older. They do not get a curled tail feather. The best way to tell, so I've read, is by the sound they make. Boys hiss and nothing more. BUT! We have so much room here, we can accommodate anything we get. Alright, my computer is acting up REALLY bad, so I'm going to wrap this up with a few pictures. Click to enlarge :)