What you are seeing is the result of what we and the ducks have jointly done a brittle landscape with a long way to go but deep into recovery.
The contrast with the video from two years ago and with the surround land is to say the least, quite striking. When we moved in things were bare and bleak. Sometimes I feel we have not come far enough fast enough, it is easy to forget where you stated, make sure to look back from time to time so you can realize how far you have come.
Remember you can catch every single episode of the Duck Chronicles seasons One and Two at the main playlist here.
I decided to leave the ducks in a bit later today so I could video them coming out and getting their breakfast sprouts today. As usual it turned into a Bernie Sanders rally, a big crowd loudly demanding free stuff.
I also show you a simple experiment that has dramatically increased the sprout yields during even freezing weather.
Sure the green house is warm in the day but it is cold as heck at night.
We finish up with where I recently planted 7 new fruit trees and did some fertility and mulching upgrades to a small irrigated swale.
In Season two of The Duck Chronicles- Episode Thirteen – New Muscovies and February is Green we check out the new muscovies progress and even some newer ones that were added since the last episode.
The silvers are really pretty. The day started out with duck anarchy. Dorothy left the gate open and when I got up there were ducks everywhere. A quick call of duck duck duck along with a bucket of breakfast sprouts got them up front where they belong.
Fox and Dana the rat patrol have come along well. They spend their days mostly sleeping and playing. By working with them we have gotten them to be able to hang with our ducks and not really bother them. They also follow me around the property in my daily tasks, and have done great at not really leaving the 3 acres of fenced area.
The drain system for the water with the willow is a big improvement but more has yet to be done. We will be planting more trees and building a second drain system to split up the total water.
You also get to see today what happens when ducks get our early; you end up on a bit of an egg hunt. Today we found three so far. Nice big ones too. We also take a look and how we are healing land using quail waste material.
We finish up with a brief look at the quail aviary but if you want to see a full review check out our playlist of the step by step progress here. http://bit.ly/quail-aiv
This morning we were off to a bit of a late start, that means only about 30 minutes behind, no big deal. Well that is unless you are a duck waiting on your sprouted sunflower seeds.
To deal with this loss we just purchased a total of 16 young muscovies, many are chocolate and gray phase birds. The oldest among them (about 6) will be laying for us by the end of January, the rest should be laying in March, this will help us catch up with our loses.
This will also avoid the need to brood young birds in the winter like we did last year. We will be adding more Welsh Harlequins and 300 Layers and perhaps some silver apple yards, now in March, that will put them into laying in August right when the muscovies go to full stop.
We also just got 8 inches of rain in about three days from the remnants of Hurricane Sandra, while this storm was weak sauce overall it brought a TON of rain our way, way too much as usual way to fast.
This means 2015 was the wettest year on record in our area and yet we still had a five month drought between the spring and fall monsoons. Welcome to north Texas weather! Oh the weather guessers say our rainfall for this month was 2.55 inches, they really don’t do a very good job, our three day total came from measuring water collected in a 6 foot kiddie pool over those three days in an open field.
Fox and Dana also make several appearances, they are both coming along very well and doing just great in learning to trust people after their feral kittenhood. Fox has learned to leave the ducks alone; Dana is likely one butt kicking by Arnold, Hans or Franz from finally understanding that as well.
Remember you can see every episode of The Duck Chronicles from both Seasons So Far at DuckChronicles.com
In Season Two – Duck Chronicles Episode Ten – Let the Integration Begin, the baby girls get to meet the main flock. It will still be a while before we put them in the holding area with the adults over night but everyone seems to be largely ignoring each other.
I may have to do a rain dance soon, we really and I mean really need some rain.
Sweet Girl is now out and about with her three tiny babies. We visit her and another Muscovy that seems to want the job of “Aunt Ducky”, but we will have to wait and see if Sweet Girl accepts the offer in a future episode.
In Season two of The Duck Chronicles- Episode Thirteen – New Muscovies and February is Green we check out the new muscovies progress and even some newer ones that were added since the last episode.
