CollieBird & Eligh
Prepare for greatness....
Johnny & I drove out to a farm in North Plains and got a beautiful companion for Columbine today. I named him Eligh, and yeah... that's the spelling I wanna go with, I haven't looked up what is considered "correct" and I don't care.
So, anyway... The farm was so pretty- rolling hills, big Oregon trees, a pond, a log cabin, goats, sheep, peacocks.... and ducks. Eligh is an Ancona duck, which is a rare breed. They've only been available to the public since 1984. If I wanted, I could actually show him at the fair this year- he's top quality. I was torn between him and a white faced Ancona, but Eligh's green face stole my heart. He's just so pretty.
The lady from Eligh's farm is named Mary, which is kind of funny since my friend Mary Jane was the one that brought CollieBird into my life. Anyway, Mary has been raising ducks since she was a little girl & I picked her brain for as much information as I could get.
She was surprised to find out that Collie is about the same age as Eligh (10 months or so) but has not laid an egg yet.
Mary said, "Are you sure she's a girl?"
I said, "Well, I haven't looked under her skirt or anything...."
But then I told Mary that I wasn't sure of anything at all, and that I was very new to the whole duck ownership concept.
So Mary gave us a tip that they might breed right away. Johnny was worried. Eligh is so big compared to Collie, she didn't want to see Collie get hurt.
We filmed their first glorious moments together. The following video stars Johnny and our amazing & wonderful roomie, Amy. Note in the very beginning you'll see where I'm digging up the yard to create a better duck run.
And now, our feature presentation...
And after THAT happened, I let them both out so that I could clean up the kennel. Real fun getting Eligh back in. I was chasing Eligh, & so was Collie. Poor guy. That was a rough first day. Too much stress. I'm going to have to work with him for a bit to get him used to being held and petted. He doesn't bite or peck though. He's just a big sweetie.
Turns out, if we have two boys, we are still okay. As soon as Columbine (or Columbus?) gains an understanding of the gender dynamics, things should settle down. You can have 2 ducks in any combination. Boys, girls or one of each. But if you have two males, and introduce a female- then there's trouble. That gets the boys fighting with each other. CollieBird just needs to figure out that Eligh isn't the ummm... "kennel bitch".
But for the rest of the day... I'm letting everybody cool off:
Tonight I let Collie stay in the little kennel for the night. I'm hoping Eligh might start feeling a little ownership about the kennel and assert himself a bit more in the pecking order tomorrow. I moved it to a back corner though. I don't want the ducks sleeping too close to the chain link. I'm actually going to build a skirt around the bottom of the kennel. Mary told me some nasty things about raccoons. Those little f'ers will actually reach through chain link and grab a sleeping duck. Then pull the duck THROUGH the chain link- piece by piece!! What a horror show!!
So when I went out to move Collie's kennel, they were both laying as close as they could to each other. Even with such a harrowing first meeting, a duck's social nature prevails. No wonder so many people hate the thought of breaking up their duck sets. The social attachment is obvious right off the bat.
Johnny & I drove out to a farm in North Plains and got a beautiful companion for Columbine today. I named him Eligh, and yeah... that's the spelling I wanna go with, I haven't looked up what is considered "correct" and I don't care.
So, anyway... The farm was so pretty- rolling hills, big Oregon trees, a pond, a log cabin, goats, sheep, peacocks.... and ducks. Eligh is an Ancona duck, which is a rare breed. They've only been available to the public since 1984. If I wanted, I could actually show him at the fair this year- he's top quality. I was torn between him and a white faced Ancona, but Eligh's green face stole my heart. He's just so pretty.
The lady from Eligh's farm is named Mary, which is kind of funny since my friend Mary Jane was the one that brought CollieBird into my life. Anyway, Mary has been raising ducks since she was a little girl & I picked her brain for as much information as I could get.
She was surprised to find out that Collie is about the same age as Eligh (10 months or so) but has not laid an egg yet.
Mary said, "Are you sure she's a girl?"
I said, "Well, I haven't looked under her skirt or anything...."
But then I told Mary that I wasn't sure of anything at all, and that I was very new to the whole duck ownership concept.
So Mary gave us a tip that they might breed right away. Johnny was worried. Eligh is so big compared to Collie, she didn't want to see Collie get hurt.
We filmed their first glorious moments together. The following video stars Johnny and our amazing & wonderful roomie, Amy. Note in the very beginning you'll see where I'm digging up the yard to create a better duck run.
And now, our feature presentation...
Click to viewAnd after THAT happened, I let them both out so that I could clean up the kennel. Real fun getting Eligh back in. I was chasing Eligh, & so was Collie. Poor guy. That was a rough first day. Too much stress. I'm going to have to work with him for a bit to get him used to being held and petted. He doesn't bite or peck though. He's just a big sweetie.
Turns out, if we have two boys, we are still okay. As soon as Columbine (or Columbus?) gains an understanding of the gender dynamics, things should settle down. You can have 2 ducks in any combination. Boys, girls or one of each. But if you have two males, and introduce a female- then there's trouble. That gets the boys fighting with each other. CollieBird just needs to figure out that Eligh isn't the ummm... "kennel bitch".
But for the rest of the day... I'm letting everybody cool off:
Tonight I let Collie stay in the little kennel for the night. I'm hoping Eligh might start feeling a little ownership about the kennel and assert himself a bit more in the pecking order tomorrow. I moved it to a back corner though. I don't want the ducks sleeping too close to the chain link. I'm actually going to build a skirt around the bottom of the kennel. Mary told me some nasty things about raccoons. Those little f'ers will actually reach through chain link and grab a sleeping duck. Then pull the duck THROUGH the chain link- piece by piece!! What a horror show!!
So when I went out to move Collie's kennel, they were both laying as close as they could to each other. Even with such a harrowing first meeting, a duck's social nature prevails. No wonder so many people hate the thought of breaking up their duck sets. The social attachment is obvious right off the bat.