The ducks are laying eggs again, but that's really just an excuse for me to post up some half decent photos I managed to get of them. I have three white ducks and three black ducks. You may notice that the number of black ducks has gone down! Two drakes were just proving too much for three girls and one of the girls never got over a serious limp, so when the turkeys finally went to turkey heaven, two ducks went with them too.
As a trio, the black Cayuga ducks now seem much calmer and it was only two days after the 'cull' that they started laying for the first time in 2015. Strangely, one lays blue eggs and one lays white eggs. Pure Cayugas lay blue eggs with a black film. The white ducks lay for a longer season, though one egg a day between the three of them seems to be about as much as they can manage at the moment.
So back to the photography. I always have all sorts of problems with contrast when trying to capture the ducks on 'film'. The Cayugas are wary, only approaching close when I am turning the soil.
The white ducks have become quite friendly though. They have become more adventurous and often wander far into the orchard next door. But they always come waddling back when I call them "DUCKS! DUCKS! DUCKS!"
And when it's time to go into their house for the night they waddle ahead of me, wagging their heads and quacking contentedly.
When I fill the chickens' water buckets and the ducks' paddling pool, they quickly jump in and empty most of it back out again! But at least they are gloriously happy for a while.
Occasionally, if I'm too close, they give me a friendly splash too.
