Meet Bonnie the third...

She is a 2 year old Muscovy I traded some fencing for. She was at the bottom of the pecking order which meant non stop harassment from the others. I now have her with Clyde in their own pen and housing with a top to prevent any escapes to the pond. She has settled in nicely much to the happiness of Clyde. He is not overly aggressive and seems very happy he has "one of his own". I have to mention that he is a bit clumsy in the mating department. Poor girl. He stomps all over her and she just takes it. I think being raised by/with chickens may have interfered with his knowledge on the subject.We will leave any eggs she will lay to hatch out. Maybe I can sneak a few of the turken & americauna eggs in there. Anyone have input on that? Will she be too heavy or will they hatch out and be killed by her? I know ,maybe coordinate it with the hatching time of her eggs. Put in the chicken eggs 1 1/2 weeks after she is "sitting". Muscovy eggs take 35 days compared to chickens at 21 days.Does it matter if they hatch with the ducklings? Maybe I should let them hatch earlier and just take them away so she will continue to sit and hatch her ducklings. Thats all I need. A bunch of baby chicks following their momma into water.
Had to share how Handsome Mr.Turken has turned out! He turned 1 year last March.
He is a very large bird and up till the other day, never attacked a human. Frog was walking by him at dusk. I think he may have felt intimated due to her relative height. He pounced onto her back which luckily she was not injured. An instinctual swift football kick (to get him away from her) and 5 minutes of chasing him ensued to correct this behavior.After being caught I held him in my arms for awhile, talking to him and going over the big barnyard rule: If you hurt my children, you will be dinner. Some may find it cruel but there is no negotiating with a rooster. You must show him dominance or it will continue to get worse. He has spurs growing- you may be able to see them in the picture- which is why I must learn how to de-spur soon and continue to keep a "nice" roo. He has claws too, which is plenty to fight with. I have held roosters down before but this was not enough to show them dominance. After a few trials with others, I found this to be most effective. Mr.Turken is a very nice rooster but sometimes he will test the "waters".
This week we will -hopefully- have the goat cabin moved to atop our hill and the permanete pen will be in place. No more moving animal areas. I started my lettuce seeds and will start the black cherry tomatoes, watermelon, basil, multiple squash, & eggplants this week too. Indoors for those in 3" peat pots. Already dreaming of picking those strawberries and making more strawberry wine. Still on the fence about Dandelion wine making since I have as of yet to drink what was made this time last year. The Captain has been so kind as to up his beer taste for me. I like the bottles Grolsch premium lager comes in and since he drinks beer-I need bottles- why not drink the beer and keep the spring top bottles for my wines/ciders.
I would pay the same-if not more- for empty bottles as we do for the ones filled with yummy Lager. So we both win on this one.Its finally WARM!!! I'm off to enjoy it.
Sweet dreams,
Tammie