North American Beaver

This regular visitor to our pond is also known as the Canadian Beaver.  He weighs about 40-50 lbs and is a very active rodent.  He is seen here munching on some aquatic plants, mainly water lilies and pond weeds, oh, and did I mention, he fell the odd tree this past week; four of them to be exact!!  "That will be enough spring cleanup from you big guy!  If you take my weeping willows, then we have a problem!!"

Wild Iris

Wild Irises growing along the edges of our duck pond

Duck Olympics !!

" Water Duck Race "

At the starting line:  "Lucky" our 1.5 pound call duck, and "Tony" our 10 pound Pekin/Mallard duck

ON YOUR MARK.... GET SET.... GO !!!!

Uh oh !! Lucky just stumbled !!

By the look on his face, it seems like he is fearing for his life rather than winning the race !!

Hey wait.... !! Look at Lucky go....he is back in the race !! .... It looks like he is running across the water....

Can he catch up ?

It's a race to the finish line and Lucky wins by a feather !!!!

Your race officials for the day !!!! (Three sweet chicks)

Introducing ... & Remember Me ?

The 3 newest and ''unexpected'' members of our feathered family

These baby chicks are just under a week old....

Here is how it all began....

We free-range all of our ducks and chickens and we can't forget ''skittles'', our year old Barred Rock rooster.  They are really good to go to bed, especially when they see us coming with their food! At the end of July, one of our hens went into the woods one day and never came out at bedtime with the others.... we were devastated and thought that a predator came in contact with her....It was a sleepless night worrying if she was ok wherever she was... The next morning, she came darting out of the woods and ran to the coop, and I'm thinking to myself that she must be thankful to be safe with the others... NOT!!!! She got a drink of water and helped herself to some lay pellets then darted off to the woods again... A day went by, another day, a week, another week.... and we said if she is not out this week, we have to think the worst! Then, one afternoon, we looked out of the window and saw these little balls of fluff tip-toeing along the edge of the woods with the mother hen....we could not believe our eyes!!

And here they are with the mother at 4 weeks old, and as you can see, they are getting their brand new feathers....

It will be fun to watch them grow....it's still too early to know if they are boys or girls! Stay tuned....

AND .... REMEMBER ME.........

Squirt.... 3 days old

Wow, Look how much she has grown....She is 4 weeks old here!!

She is just leaving the pond from a bath and a short visit with the other ducks....She is our "little baby" and still sleeps with her two teddy bears every single night, and Lucky duck is sleeping in his house right beside her!!!! Remember this photo and story "My Name is Squirt":

Squirt is 5 days old here and snuggling up to her teddy bears

And now look at me.......................

All grown up at 8 weeks old....

Squirt loves playing with the other ducks and is enjoying her life here on the farm....

Kiss and Release

This goldfish was caught in our outdoor pond.  We have hundreds of them that live here year round and can easily be caught with a net (as seen in the photo above).  In the spring, we watch as the males chase and ''bump and nudge'' the females which prompts them to release their eggs.  The eggs then attach to the aquatic vegetation.  With 48-72 hours, they will hatch.

During the winter months, the goldfish stop eating and often stay on the bottom of the pond.  Plants are essential because they raise oxygen levels in the water and are part of the filtration system.  The plants are also a food source for the fish.

 

Ever since Skye was a puppy, she looks forward to 'kissing' the fish before it is released back into the water :-)

 

Goldfish are very hardy and colourful and make a great addition to any pond.

Dragonfly - Mealtime in the sky

What appears to be stars in the sky, are actually tiny flies and are prey to this dragonfly.  With the sun shining on all of them at that moment, it made for quite the spectacle....

Did you know a dragonfly will eat roughly 15% of its own body weight in prey each day, and larger species can easily consume much more than that. They are also the fastest flying insect in the world!!

Did you also know that dragonflies symbolize strength, courage and happiness? They also bring good luck for many years if one lands on you!!

Make Way for the Warblers!!

Well, you learn something new everyday.... and today I learned that the Palm Warbler is a "tail-wagging" bird!! who loves to show off its yellow undertail !!  They have a unique song of their own.. to hear it, click on this link: http://www.birdjam.com/birdsong.php?id=90

Palm Warbler

These beautiful little songbirds were very much welcomed upon arrival yesterday with some friends, the Yellow-Rumped Warblers, (see photos below) and there were many of them....arriving with much excitement....going from tree to tree & feeding themselves with all the insects they could find; not to mention, looking for the best nest making spots along the river & pond!!

Yellow-Rumped Warbler

This little guy seems quite content singing his tune!! Want to hear it? http://www.birdjam.com/birdsong.php?id=30

All Grown Up

Tony is 6 months old now!! 

 

And here is Tony being born May 2012...It never ceases to amaze me how wonderful mother nature is!!

Homeopathy for my Pekin Duck!!

Well a few weeks ago, our baby Pekin duck who would be about 11 weeks old at the time, was all of a sudden limping around.  We came to the conclusion that he stepped on a sharp object and punctured the bottom of his foot.  After a day or so, he wasn't walking on it and only layed in one spot and did not want to go in the water and swim with the rest of his friends :-(

Once we determined that there were no broken bones, we took him up to the barn and made a cozy little place for him to rest and after 24 hours, he was no better.  And it seemed like infection was setting in.  I tried some of my home remedies on him which started that evening:

St John's Wort Oil which would help him with any inflammation and infection.

(Arnica 30c) for the pain.

(Silicea 6c) This homeopathic remedy is used to extract any foreign object that may be inside his foot causing infection.

(Colloidal Silver) An ounce of colloidal silver in his drinking water.  Colloidal silver fights off infection, cleans wounds and helps build up the immune system, to name a few.

(Epsom Salts) One cup of epsom salts in tub of warm water. Soaked foot for one hour two times a day!

I phoned our vet, who is an hour drive away and asked her if the time came and the homeopathic treatments were not working, could we take our Pekin duck to see her.  She agreed!! You see, the closest avian vet is 7 hours away~~and we didn't want to traumatize our poor little Pekin anymore than he was.  Our vet said that she fixed a broken wing on a bird once, but never worked on a duck!!  We made an appointment for the vet the next day. We needed to create a name for the duck on file with the vet, so we called him "Peekee"

The next morning, after Peekee's epson salt bath, we set him down on the patio deck for a moment until we organized his little makeshift fort.  We used a little swimming pool filled with soft hay and a white sheet over his head for his roof to block the hot summer sun on him. We suddenly heard his little feet going pitter patter pitter patter and he was making his way to the other end of the deck!!!! It was an amazing sight to see.. He then waddled all the way to the other end, with no problem at all.. It was a miracle to see him start walking again.  He was still limping, but not nearly like he was before.  We called the vet and talked about how he was walking again.  We came to the conclusion that the homeopathy was working and we would continue with it.  We cancelled the appointment with the vet and we continued with the remedies on hand.  We massaged the foot with St John's Wort Oil twice a day for the next week and put colloidal silver in his drinking water.  We put him back down in the pond with the rest of his friends the next day and you could see that he was very happy!

Today, Peekee is swimming with his friends and walking around the grass and just having fun being a duck!! It is hard to pick him out of the group now.  He is keeping up with them as if nothing was even wrong with him!! We were thankful that it worked out for him and we will always make sure we have the above noted remedies on hand!

If you would like to know how we got these beautiful ducks, here is the wonderful story

New Additions!! Baby Pekins

This is one of the five baby Pekin ducks

that we just adopted!! She is 5 weeks old!

Baby "Pekin ducks" just born

I love my life!

 

 

These Pekin ducks were incubated in a grade 4/5 classroom and born on May 26/12 and then raised for a month by the children, who got to watch and learn all about this intelligent breed.  It came to our attention that they quickly needed homes, so after a few emails and phone calls, the school teacher made the four hour drive and delivered all 5 of them right to our pond!! They quickly adjusted and absolutely love their new home!! They are a joy to have and a great addition to our farm!!
Videos and 'baby Pekin ducks just born' photo courtesy of the elementary teacher!