Chickeeduck(eegeese) Update

This morning when I went to let the chickeeduck(eegeese) out they let me know with no uncertainty that I was late! As far away as the back door I could hear Marley quacking her displeasure. When the coop door opened, she and Phoebe were off like a flash to talk about very important duck stuff.*

Oops, I've been spotted by the rest of the gang. The nuggets want to know where their corn is!

Here are Phoebe, Marley, "Ida" (ducking behind Marley--ha!), and "Bolick" strolling through the yard.

Here's Easter. Or possibly Esther, who knows. I can only tell them apart when they're next to each other because Esther has (ahem) a fuller figure. But she has a beautiful face and a great personality!

Evelyn is a chicken with a purpose. Places to go, bugs to eat, bantams to peck...


*My neighbor buddy Opie is six. He is convinced I speak duck and frequently asks me to translate. Unfortunately this morning they began quacking in a whisper so I couldn't overhear the latest gossip. Usually it's all about the new chicks--can you believe how white they are? I heard they bleach their feathers--or about Chicken Nugget Bob--he's such a bully, but those feathery legs are so dreamy!

Picture update

Without further ado, here are my new babies!


Pilgrim geese are auto-sexing, meaning you can tell their genders right after hatching. You can clearly see the difference in coloring between Bolick, on the left, and Ida on the right. Males are lighter with pinkish bills and females are darker with black bills. So far Ida is the more adventurous of the two. She may be the first to try something new but Bolick is always right behind! They're inseparable and so much fun to watch as they waddle around right next to one another.

Geeks of the world, unite!

I told a young friend that I had gotten two geese over the weekend. Today he asked me how my geeks were doing.

I should totally get some Dorking chicks, just to mess with his head.

One moose two meese....

...One goose, two geese!

On Sunday two more little guys joined our backyard family. A member of a Yahoo! group I belonged to advertised that she had brand-new Pilgrim goslings for sale only 30 minutes south of me, so off I went!

According to the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, Pilgrims are one of six geese breeds that are critically endangered. This means that there are "fewer than 500 breeding birds in the United States, with five or fewer primary breeding flocks (50 birds or more), and globally endangered" (from the ALBC website). Obviously I can't do much individually to change those numbers with my tiny backyard flock, but I can join the effort to conserve heritage breeds such as the Pilgrim. One of my ducks is considered threatened and another is on watch. None of the chickens I have are critically endangered, although several of them are listed as watch or recovering. In the future I plan on adding critical and threatened breeds of ducks and chickens as well.

My new babies were hatched on my great-grandmother's birthday, so her name was given to my geese. Let's call the boy "Bolick" and the girl "Ida". They are so lovey! I used a towel to wrap up one of Grandma's clocks I inherited (she had collected dozens over the years, each set to a different time so she could have continual chiming throughout the day) and they fell asleep snuggled against it. Hopefully it serves as a soothing reminder of their mama's heartbeat.

Pictures will be coming soon!

Visiting Aunt Ada

Last weekend my niece and nephews came by to “help” me with the chickens. One of their chores was to dig around and try to find some worms. Unfortunately we didn’t find any in the five or six minutes that this activity kept their attention!



Luckily for my sanity niece and nephews, I have an incredible toy known to some as a hammock. Silly me, I thought it was only for lying back, relaxing, and keeping an eye on the birds. Thank goodness for Alyssa, Aidan, and Milo*, who showed me that it could also be a climbing net, fishing boat, spider web, swing, or amusement park ride. In the space of about an hour it served all these purposes and more!



This was one of my favorite times during that day. Aidan is an active five year old with a big imagination and even more energy! It’s not normal to see him sitting down, especially when there’s an opportunity for playing Spiderman or running races. But sit he did, as he cuddled with little Devonking. If there was ever any doubt about the therapeutic or soothing benefits of animals, I think this fifteen minute period put them to rest.

*Names changed for privacy
**Family members who want more pictures--you know who you are!--email me and I'll send them to you :)

Hide and seek at the creek

A few days ago, I led the ducks to the creek at the edge of our property for the first time. They weren’t too sure of it and didn’t stay in the water very long! Then, when it was time to head back up to the yard, they decided they’d much rather hide under a labyrinth of fallen pokeberry branches. Do you know how hard it was for me to convince them to come back out? Calling didn’t work, offering wild violets (a favorite treat!) didn‘t work, and shaking a stick around their general vicinity didn’t work. Let’s just say the neighbors got a mighty great view of my mighty great rear as I headed in after them on hands and knees. I have an inkling that this might end up being a nest spot in the future, if only because it’s proven to be practically “Ada-proof”.

How to feed chickens

This is one of my little friends who loves to come visit “Miss Ada’s store” to see the baby chicks and baby ducks. He enjoys helping me feed the chickens out in the front yard. His method of food delivery is unique in that he prefers to come up behind the chickens singing “here chick here chick here chick” and then dumping a handful of feed on the unsuspecting chicken's head.