Muddy Puddles

April 25, 2025

Two wee lambs who live with a number of other lambs and sheep in the field in front of us

I understand that this is a duck blog now, but I have never heard anyone complain that they heard too many cute stories about ducks, so in the mean time I will bow to our feathery overlords. Owner? Nay I am merely staff, and since I am not just any staff member, but employee of the month, each night I ensure that not long after the chickens put themselves to bed, the ducks follow them into the pen. I have realised that chasing ducks into the hutch when it’s still light outside is a fight I don’t need to have, and instead I ensure they’re safe in their pen (thank you mealworms) an hour before sunset, and then shortly after sunset I go outside to close them into their hutch. Ava and Goose are already in at this point, and Geoffrey - a noble and chivalrous boy - is standing guard outside waiting for me to close them in. Unfortunately we realised that Bilbo and Ginny have come to us with scaley leg mites, so we have been treating them for this each night at ducky bed time. It’s a lot easier to handle them when it’s dark, and I find them to be a little less stressed because of the dark. Getting chickens with bumblefoot, scaley leg mites and no feathers is a given when opening your home to rescue chickens, but it’s always worth it. We are treating Bennie too as a preventative measure but jfc she is a big girl now and inarguably a two person job! We have swapped straw in the duck hutch for wood pellet cat litter as we live in quite a wet climate and believe it’s important to allow ducks access to water during the night. The most effective way to clean the hutch I have found thus far, is to remove all bedding and shite, spray with vinegar/water mix, and leave it for 30+ minutes. Everything lifts very easily after that, and I don’t have to worry about harsh chemicals making the ducks or chickens sick.

While Bennie is very friendly and will run up to me when she sees or hears me with Ginny and Bilbo following suit, the ducks are a little more cautious. Each day they get a little closer to me, and we’re now at the point where they will eat a little out of my hand, even if they prefer to eat from bowls of water dotted about the garden. When they would like a fresh bowl or bucket of water, they follow me around the garden, quacking playfully at me until I willingly oblige. Ava is a lady, and is the most shy towards me, while Geoffrey and I now seem to have a mutual respect for each other. Goose warmed to me the quickest. She is clumsy and soft, and sometimes I catch her watching me while I’m squatting down planting broccoli or tying peas. Just watching with this calm curiosity as if she thinks I might be a very strange looking duck.

It has been very rainy this past week, and while Cow is very annoyed about this, we are absolutely delighted. We don’t have to worry as much about watering any crops, it gives our brassicas a break from the heat, and our ducks are having a ball, splashing around in muddy puddles. Last night it absolutely poured. Because of the grey skies, sunset hit a bit earlier than usual, and I went out to find Ava, Goose and Geoffrey. Upon turning the corner of our lane, I found them at the top of the very steep field behind us. I knew I had two options - I can run up to them and try to chase them down the field, along the lane and into another field then into the pen, or I can try to get them to follow me. Soaked, tired and reluctant, I walked slowly towards them and quacked a few times. They quacked back and bobbed their heads. I walked a little closer and quacked again, crouching to be level with them. And to my disbelief, they came wapping over to me. I slowly stood up, wiggled my bum in a duck like manner, and started walking down the field, with all three ducks in tow. It was all going so well until we got out of the field. I turned left, Ava and Geoffrey started to follow, but Goose turned right. Instead of starting a chase, I watched to see what had caught her eye. Because this part of the lane is at the bottom of a steep hill, a lot of rain gathers in deep, stream like puddles. Wee Goose had spotted one of these and clambered in. I will remember the sight of her swimming in this massive puddle on a rainy night until the day I die. I stood, soaked, watching her with a full and joyful heart. Ava and Geoffrey joined her and I waited until everyone was ready to go, before leading them all into their pen and giving them some peas in water.

After two weeks of unbroken sun and one of heavy rain, it feels as though everything has flourished overnight. I was very fortunate to receive some tulip bulbs as a gift in December, and despite planting them a lot later than I should have and the enormous storm in January, quite a number of them have bloomed in the past few days. As I write this I realise we are very fortunate to have such kind friends, because in the past month we have also been gifted flower seeds from friends who live many thousands of miles away, and some baby chestnut and holly trees from a friend who lives much closer, and visited us a handful of weeks ago. The chestnut trees will swiftly grow much too large for our friend’s garden, but a little squirrel is utterly determined to gift her with chestnut trees. We could cut the middle steps and take the squirrel, allowing said squirrel to plant as many trees as they want, but I wonder does it have a little squirrel family for whom it plants these trees, a favourite garden safe from the big ginger cat, or childhood (baby squirrelhood?) keepsakes in the stump of a long dead tree. I also imagine that catching a squirrel is not an easy task, so will instead just be thankful that the fruits of this squirrel’s labour are making their way to me regardless. We try to make sure we grow a mix of native plants that will thrive here, and non native plants to increase biodiversity, but find ourselves laughing a lot at our own ignorance. Last year these random baby bushes kept appearing, and assuming they were some mad invasive species, we hacked them down each time. After doing this for months, we got a plant identification app, which kindly informed us that these baby bushes were damsons, which we had already been trying to grow from seed. While we have had other incidents like this - like the time we bought hazel trees only to find heaps of it in our three surrounded fields, or when we bought currant bushes only to find them sprouting up all over the place - we find it difficult to be annoyed. We are still trying to work out what amount of intervention is the right amount to allow nature to thrive, and find we are delighted when we look at the list of native plants, only to find most of them already present.

Thanks to spring, we have seen a lot of wildlife in recent weeks, and in this week alone we have seen a family of Goldfinches, and one Eurasian Jay. Upon reading about the Eurasian Jay, I discovered that while they are not rare to exist, they are rare to see due to their shy nature, and spend much of autumn burying chestnuts. This made me wonder if our squirrel friend is actually a Jay bird friend after all. This winter I hope to better support our birds through feeders, and our pollinators through winter flowering plants. I am hoping to take a cutting of my Nana’s clematis in coming weeks as the first step towards this. To further support local wildlife, I am in the process of making a very small pond, away from the ducks and chickens, to see if I can encourage some more frogs and newts. It is my dream to one day see a slow worm in our garden, but I fear it will likely remain a dream since they are quite shy.

(aj)