Monday, May 20, 2013

Those Darn Ducks!


See the egg under the henspa? 
Look right behind it. 

That's Cinnamon. 

I have found the duck eggs.   I must have crawled right by them on Friday night. 


Uh huh. 
Notice the hen egg in there?  They were buried in the straw, that's why I didn't see them. 


It was a lovely nest.  Look at all the characters acting like they were NOT watching me


Sad, isn't it?  They all have to be thrown out. 


I don't know if you can tell, but I was covered in muck... jeans.... arms... shirt.... it was nasty.  The henyard, even with the covering, is nasty and wet.  Ugh. 

I'm gonna be thinking of moving some ducks to the other side, where they can't get under anything, at the old henhouse.  They could get out into the pasture there, and eat good green grass, too. 

I would have to be sure the pens were coyote-proof, for sure. 

We'll see. 



The potatoes, which were covered with straw last week... grew about 8 inches over the weekend! 



So, they were covered again, and we'll see how long it takes this time. 


At least I had a pretty view while I worked! 


Then neighbor Kathy came out and hollered at me, and I went over to see her absolutely gorgeous clematis, the one plant I have only grown successfully ONCE, at the old Calamity Acres. 
Isn't it pretty? 


Then I heard shrieking from the old henhouse, and I figured I knew why. 

I was right. 

I got that egg, too! 

Mr. T is a black rat snake.  They live under buildings and debris... and they eat snakes, rats, and other small animals.  Yes, they will eat eggs.  They also will kill and eat young chicks and ducklings, which we have found out to our chagrin.  We once had several yellow (Pekin) ducklings that were six weeks old, smothered by a black rat snake, but they were too big for it to swallow.  These snakes can also go up in trees.  They will also bite you if you back them into a corner, and I had a friend who worked in a large poultry operation when he was a kid (50 years ago) and he was bitten constantly when collecting eggs in the afternoons.  No, thanks. 
I check first. 

Now I'm posting early, as I'm off to take Nathan and his mom to dinner and then watch him walk for his 8th grade graduation! 
We are expecting bad weather again this afternoon/evening, so I hope to get the 150 miles down and back again before the storms hit. 






7 comments:

  1. oh mary ann i cannot believe you crawled UNDER that building knowing that gigantic enormous snake is living so closely by...i cannot hardly look at those pictures without having a panic attack...do they make awards for that kind of stuff! OMPUG!!!!!! I cannot grow that clementis at all...i always kill it. Drive safely!!!
    stella rose's momma

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  2. Your potato cultivation fascinates me! How long do you keep covering the plants?

    Your neighbor's clematis setting is just beautiful.

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  3. P.S. Couldn't you do the float test on the eggs to see if some are okay?

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  4. I'm interested in the way you cover your potatoes with straw too...I would imagine it really helps with preventing sun burn. My feet involuntarily came up off the floor again...I just can't seem to like your resident snake! :)

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  5. I love the picture of the clematis. I've tried several times to grow them here with out any luck at all. You are an adventurous soul. Crawling under a hen house and dealing with Mr. T would not be my cup of tea for sure. It's to be raining here the next few days and I am hoping for some breaks in the weather so I can get out to do some shopping. Hope you have a terrific Tuesday!

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  6. Those eggs scrambled would have made a nice treat for the animals.

    Black snakes get shooed out of our hen house. Sometimes the dogs remove them not so gently.

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  7. Oh lady, you would not even believe how I look some days after crawling on my knees while pulling weeds and planting in the flower bed. Or after cleaning stalls.

    Of course when I look the worse is when my noisy neighbor pulls up.....

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