No duck eggs

And the ducks appear to have stopped laying . Or something is taking the eggs . Or they are laying somewhere else .













It could be hooded crows , so we have put up some deterrent to try and stop them going into the hen house to take eggs

It could be stoats or rats taking eggs . So we have rat traps. And found this. So this one isnt going to take any more eggs ( if it ever was) .

Ducks are not renowned for their intelligence.

Question - which is more intelligent , a duck or a carrot

Answer - A Carrot 

 We moved them to their new home in October and then gradually gave them a bit more space as they seemed to have got the hang of laying eggs in the  duck houses.

But they have forgotten ( or something) . We have found an egg in the pond and one laid on the bank.

So its back to plan A , and restrict them  so that they can 'remember' where the are supposed to lay their eggs

Something must be done

About the ducks. 

They need access to water and they are incredibly messy eaters.
So put 18 ducks in a pen , and some water and some food and you get this

And its not even winter and  its been dry recently. Attempts to improve drainage by adding hardcore and digging channels have failed. The water needs to be  changed every day .

So they are going to be moved to where they will have access to water , so the filling and carrying of buckets wont be necessary. And the bit of land that is the pen will  need some natural drainage


We have another pond  that they use.
 

But it will need a bit of work.

It need to be made otter-proof, so the inlet and out let will need to be suitably meshed

Outlet

Inlet

And then we will need somewhere to put the duckhouses. There is a bit of flat land which will (hopefully) drain if it gets too wet .

The bush in the foreground will have to go.
And the tree that is leaing at  a jaunty 45 degree angle will have to come out as well.
The slope down to the pond will ( hopefully)   provide the drainage.


So a bit of work to do then,   Before the weather gets bad.

rediscovering the pond

Ive discovered that in the summer trees and bushes grow a lot - it may not be that warm  ( mid-20s is about as hot as it gets) but because the days are so long , stuff grows.  So next Spring I'll have to have a more drastic prune of things.





One of the ponds was  being overhung by trees and bushes , so I took some secateurs and loppers to it , and  have ended up with  a pile of cuttings . Once they have dried out a bit the will edn up on he fire in the winter





And the geese and the ducks  have rediscovered the pond now that they can see it and get access to it

At least its better them finding their way onto the road and  playing with the traffic

Dreich

a storm blew through last night - the wind was due to peak at about 1am. So this morning we could have a look and see what the anenometer said. the wind was coming from the   north-east so it is only sheltered a little by the stack.  So  gusting to almost 41 mph

And this morning it is really dreich .

And I took a couple of pictures to prove it.

And we have had a lot of rain over the last 18 hours or so.  Earlier in the year the pond was quite attractive

 now its  overflowing

 but the ducks are of course nowhere in sight - too stupid to  realise and prefer to waddle  around in some mud. 
 
 And the burn is very noisy - and very full.

I feel a hydro micro -generation project coming on !