Newest kid on the block

One egg pipped on Monday, Tuesday saw no action, but this morning when I got up there was quite a hole in the egg and I could see a beak, and here good strong peeping.  I told the egg I was off to take the dogs for a walk and it had better be hatched by the time I got back.  And so it was!!

Here is Claire Duck, she is very calm, sitting for this photo, and very plucky when transferred a minute or so ago to the brooder box, apparently my cleaning efforts were less than thorough and there was a cobweb in the corner of the box, complete with airy fairy little spider.  Claire saw it immediately, scampered over, hurtled 3 times her own height up the wall and grabbed it!!  First meal 100% spider protein!!

I dont know if its a duck or a drake yet, but I promised my (recently) adopted daughter Claire that the very next duckling could be named after her, so Claire it is :)  She'll be a bit lonely until another duckling turns up, which hopefully wont be too long.  Her Mum is Ella and her Dad is Tony, and there were other eggs, but one by one they have fallen by the way side, she is only egg from 8 to hatch, but 'we've got more'!!  LOL!!

I gave her a good scrub with a towel after this pic, and she looks a lot fluffier now.  Normally ducklings peck at each other and remove all the dried 'stuff' on their feathers, but if you're on your own, you have to cope with a rough old towelling!!  She looks like a blue fawn, but genetically I think has to be a blue dusky, time will tell.

M an' M

Mephisto and Magneto this afternoon :)

Just for Fun

The dogs toys were collected up in prep for the mower being dragged out, since then its rained, quite liked this collection of chewed bones, dimembered Teds and toys that had settled into the concrete lid of the bio-septic.

On my way back to the house the kitchen light lined up with the gel tulip on the window... dont look at all the cobwebs OK?  LOL!!

More of the Paddock

This flower is in the paddock, it is very small, no more than 5mm across.

Closer to the house I have a pot of flannel flowers that is doing quite well.

Ducklings and Ducks

Here are Ariadne and her ducklings today, you can see that Ari is moulting and has NO primary flight feathers, bit of a strange look.  Reb is HUGE, what is it about the choc gene??

The ducks are enjoying the milder weather.  You can see we are progressing with the new blue Duck Hilton extension.  I am supposed to be getting it 'wired' this week, but I'm falling behind with jobs!!  You can see the resident free-loading Wood Ducks and a pair of Pacific Blacks, we have up to 3 visiting pairs.

As I get closer the wild ducks leave and its just my own ducks in this pic!!

The Garden and the Paddock

There a few nice things happening in the garden today, first is the Ian Thorpe rose, full blown and bud, always gorgeous.

Next is Blue Moon, lovely bud.

Down in the paddock there are some interesting toadstools, who seem to have grown very long stems, makes them look a little strange and eerie.

Sparky - RIP

Sadly, little Sparky died last night.  Inexperienced parent birds, and inexperienced foster care.  Hopefully Marla and Pablo will be successful next season, and wont need help from me.

Sparky - full belly

Here is Sparky this morning, after a very efficient feeding session.  You can see the pale creamy yellow food in his crop... and that he's managed to get a lot of food on the outside as well!!  I did tell you that he was seriously unattractive!!

He is so tiny that holding him is a bit scary.  But he is in good voice this morning, and leaps about in my hand 'looking' for the food.  I think he is bigger than yesterday, but its still a long road ahead.

Sparky update

Inconceivable, unbelievable etc etc - Sparky is still with us this evening, he sleeps like a crucifx, spread-eagled in the 'bator.  But he has eaten a bit, and is still hanging in there, he has even squeaked!!

He is butt ugly, and I have received heaps of advice on how to raise him - thanks to all my fellow bird nuts :)  I've been told 250 million pieces of info and advice, his skin is sooo transparent that I can see the food going down his little throat!!  And his abdomen looks like a cess pit!!  Still, it seems to be working :)

Fingers crossed, stay tuned!!

Catchya
Rosie

Roses

Chatted to my across the road neighbours - they are about to sell their house and wanted to get some shots of their garden before they go... their roses have been more savagely affected by the recent heavy rain than mine but they have some lovely blooms in amongst the spoilt ones.

This is Henri Matisse, a gorgeous speckled rose... You'll just have to get over the tres elegant (not) vase aka high ball tumbler!!

Sparky!!

I expected to have all sorts of garden news to talk about today, but its all been surpassed!!  This morning my Scarlet Chested Parrot hen bird, Marla, got off her nest and flew away.  This is the second nest for Marla and her partner Pablo.  Last time the eggs were infertile.  They are a young pair and I wrote this off as beginner troubles.  They very quickly made a new nest and Marla laid again, but with no noise from the nest box I feared that they had yet again been unsuccessful.

I put up a climber frame - star pickets and some old gates I bought from the tip buy back centre - and planted out the ornamental grape vines.  On the way through the orchard paddock, I thought I'd steel myself to collect Pablo and Marlas' nest box, disinfect it and get it set for next season.

I had all the tools and stuff in the wheelbarrow, and stopped off at the aviary.  I am saddened to find not unhatched eggs, but a baby at the bottom of their nest box.  I went to throw it out, and it moved!!  I grabbed it up, it was very cool and lethargic, abandoned the wheel barrow and dashed inside.

Popped little Sparky in a tissue nest and straight into the incubator with the eggs!!  A dozen phone calls, and a few trips to pet shops/grain stores later we have Sparky set up in his own incubator, set at a lower temp.  He's had something to eat, but this next 24 hours is critical... DO NOT GET TOO ATTACHED, OK??

I had Sparky in with the eggs, and I gave him (if its a she its bound to end in tragedy!!) some Revive (orphaned/injured bird mix).  And waited for my daughter to get home with the parrot rearing mix... he was sooooo uplifted he shuffled out of the tissue nest and managed to get himself caught in the mesh bottom of the incubator.  Picture this - teeny bird - see above, wedged in plastic grid, head down, only bum and flailing legs visible, millimetres above the water/hydration tray at the bottom!!  Grabbed the eggs, almost threw them into the other incubator - you know, the parallel system that ALL good breeders run!!  LOL!! - grab the plastic grid, find this idiot bird's tiny wings and push them back through to the right side and tip him up the right way!!  Have we got another Chumbawumbah here or not???  LOL!!  If he makes it through the next 24 hours it will be a miracle!!  Keep your fingers and eveything else crossed.

Garden and Inch1/2ie

The begonias are looking whizz bang at the moment, and with the flash this one looks nearly spooky. 

Lines, lines and more lines, today its the aloe vera.

OK, bragging, the lotus pond (sans lotus, bloody carp!!, glad the heron ate them!!) is still looking good, this is a first waterlily on the second plant.  Dont know if you can see it, but there are dozens of fish in the water, and underneath the liverwort is doing really well :)

Today's Inch1/2ie is a canvas work one, I painted the canvas first and then stitched.  Not the best shot, but be impressed by the amount of effort!!  Canvas work is s-l-o-w!!

Ducks and Ducklings

Nothing - OK? NOTHING, beats the beetle sheen of a black drake in the sun, why do the girls never achieve this colour???  Here is Frankie looking drop dead gorgeous this afternoon.

And Phoenix gets better and better, not a very tame boy unfortunately - so much for hand rearing!!  But lovely shape and colour, nice big eyes, and a calm drake, just not big on people!!

I thought I had posted a lot of pics of the ducklings in the water... they do have legs, see?!  From bottom left, Evie, Ariadne (Mum), Joey, Jesus and Mary.

Was trying to show Joey's exceptional beetle sheen head and really speccy blue speculum... you'll have to come look for yourself.  This boy is a keeper, love the colour.

More of the Garden

The Gammill is out of action today - motors on the IQ need re-aligning, so I am mucking about with camera in the garden, doing a few duckie jobs and generally avoiding mowing the lawn or tidying the kitchen!!  The Canna is looking wonderful in full sun.

These are the 'leftovers' from last year's flowers on the Isopogon, very structural and handsome.

I'm allergic to bee stings, but had to get up close to this one on the lavender, for his part he was too busy to notice me :)

The Japanese Maple has been burnt to a crisp for the most part, but after the recent rain these are the first 2 new leaves in a second growth spurt for this tree.

Runners away from home - and their babies!!

Now getting news that Runners Away From Home have reproduced is very exciting :)  Mel (Gundaroo) sent me these pics of babies hatched from Runners who used to live at the Duck Hilton.  What a fine bunch they are... although getting pics was made more difficult by their adopted parents - the geese!!

These ducklings left home at one week old, and have grown into a fine young trio... I think :)  Even though they seem keen on running the older ducks out of town, ousting the geese and generally ruling the roost!!

Duckling Update

Judas continues to have problems intemittently, but today only has a limp, so that's good.  Here is a group shot taken this morning.  It does not do justice to brilliant blue speculum that Joey is developing, but does show how big they are getting.

From the left - Mary, Eve, Jesus, Joseph (Joey), Rebekah, Judas, Ariadne (Mum) and Moses (still has a couple of pincushion feathers in the tail).  I think I've guessed wrong on most of the sexes, Judas and Jesus are girls and I think Rebekah is a boy... but I'll know for certain next month, when we'll do the quack/peep squeeze and work it out 'fersure'.

Phoenix is a Blue Fawn Call duck that I hatched from an egg from Cilla in Tamworth.  He has grown into a handsome young drake.  Seen here with Tash (Left).

In the Garden Today

We've had almost non-stop rain over the weekend, more than 75mm and EVERYTHING is wet. This morning the garden is washed, clean, steamy and full of mushrooms and toadstools.   This luminous yellow/green trio appeared in the no-dig garden this morning.

The Canna Lilies are thriving, for the first time, seems they needed water to do well - who knew????

This rose is called Just Joey and has a magnificent perfume.  I obviously like orange/apricot/peach roses, and maybe having Just Joey, Ashram AND Warm Wishes is overkill but they are each slightly different and so they've earned a place in the rose bed where I dont have any white or yellow roses!!

Abracadabra

The bush is very small, and the bloom is also small, but Abracadabra is a very speccy rose.

Inchies

My friend Janet has been here this week, we've had a fabulous couple of days.  She's helped with the block maintenance - mowing!! - food prep and such like, and we've had a ball.  Today we've been out to Berry for lunch and continued our work on 'inchies'.  We decided that one inch square was too small, and have opted for an inch and a half.  Here's some of the 'blocks' we made today:

Janet brought her Embellisher Machine with her, we've had a lot of fun playing!!

Missing from this are blocks made by my daughter Freya, and some half made finished 'jobbies' from Janet and I - stay tuned!!

Ariadne's ducklings

Its been a better week for the ducklings, but we still have a little way to go.  They are nearly as big as their mother now, and Joey's wonderful beetle green head sheen is starting to show through.  Not the best pic, will try harder tomorrow!!

That Waterlily!!

The pond looks so good, full sun and fully open, still looking gorgeous :)

Runners away from Home

Some ducks leave the Duck Hilton as fertile eggs - these lucky ducks have been hatched by and live with Alicia in Melbourne.

This is Edith Egg aka Eddy - so named because the egg was laid by the lovely Edith, and it turned out to be a drake, and needed a bit of a name change!!  He is the most fabulous looking black Runner I've seen in a while, and the spitting image of his father Captain.  Alicia says he is always first into the water, and last out.

The Drake in the pool foreground is Harley, Eddy is in there too. Standing Beside is Wiley, Goggleduck and also the little brown duck.  So nice to see them growing up and having such a pampered life.

Roses and Wildlife

This is Warm Wishes, a lovely rose.

And this is Sonia, I love the almost plastic quality of its colour.

We have quite a few skinks in the garden, this is  a fairly large one, and often seen sunning itself. The theory that if you have lizards, then you dont have snakes sits well with me, hope its true!!