Wednesday, April 9, 2008

My how they grow....




Well, our goose Duck-Duck is growing nicely. He/She (we still don't know) is 5 times the size he was when we got her and a lot of fun...but boy can that goose poop. I mean every 2 minutes...no exaggeration. Anyway, after about 10 days of having that cute little goose following me around (which I loved), and constantly pooping (which I didn't love), I finally decided he was big enough to mingle with the chickens. Oh by the way, we got 6 new chickens - 3 Red and 3 Black. I was excited to get them as they were 10 weeks old instead of chicks. Chicks and baby things are a lot of work. Anyway, Duck-Duck has won her way into their hearts and it seems he is accepted by them. They are still a little cliquey...they even separate often into color of hen. Usually blacks with blacks and reds with reds. Weird! But Duck-Duck tags along in the group and now instead of being a couple of feet away as was in the beginning, she is right there in the mix. The only problem...hens roost at night. So when they all fly up to their roosting spot at night (tonight was the trampoline), little Duck-Duck is left on the ground and all alone. We feel sorry for him, so we let her in the house to sleep in his box and then put her back out at night.
So, one thing you need if you are going to raise a goose...and a turtle for that matter...is a pond. We have had a turtle...named Turtley-Wurtley. She is a water turtle, but doesn't seem to know it...but that's another story. Anyway, this weekend, between Saturday conference sessions, we built a pond. We had to dig a 5'x3'x1' hole...which is no easy task here in Arizona...can we say caliche soil? Yeah, and huge bolders along with that. But within two hours, we had dug our hole. Then after the second session, we finished it. The water was cloudy at first because we let too much dirt get in, so we had to drain it and fill it again. Then we got a bunch of gold fish (10 regular and 2 fancy) and a suckerfish...for cleaning. And now it is done and we love it...Duck-Duck likes it too. I pluncked him in there and she just started swimming around. Very cute. Unfortunately, Turtley-Wurtley was not impressed and wandered off to heaven knows where...I guess we will see her in a month or so. Ah well, you can't please everyone.