Look what I found today

I was going to the midden to feed a) the two Muscovy ducklings and b) the three kits when I noticed this.


I knew one of the Muscovy girls was sitting on eggs in the hayloft but was surprised to see this little gathering. She had decided to bring them down to the pond.



The big problem is that it is starting to get colder and they may be a little late in the season to survive. We'll do our best for them.

Anyway continuing to the midden I managed to get a few shots of Pippa and Pol with the three kits.
Pippa was actually bumping noses with Smokey but I couldn't get a good angle to photo it properly.


And the little one him or herself


Meanwhile Pol watches


and Pip is intrigued.

Good shots Bob, and you can only do the best you can.

AWWW! All just too cute. For the ducklings, can you set up a warm room with a light bulb? I know the people down the street do that for their chicks. But, I don't know if ducks will agree to nest in a lit room. Now that incandescent light bulbs are going away, it's probably hard to find the right king of light too.

Our local feed store sells the warming lights in red, which makes a light that the birds can't see, so that they can be warm and also get some sleep.

The ducklings are almost too cute. At least the cat didn't seem scared by the dogs.

Precious ducklings. Precious kitties. Precious dogs! Hoping for the best for the little ones.

Good shots and you should have posted a cuteness warning.

i have a friend in upstate NY who has chickens and ducks and her duck hatched a batch just about the same size and they look just like them! I say try to find one of those red lights if you can....if there's a box with lots of straw and the light they should be warm enough for this time of year even off your way. (now if it were snowing i'd really start worrying).
i love the kitty...must get the little bugger to turn around so you can find out if its a he or she! But Smokey goes both ways name wise.
Never seen a kitty that was so solid and dark from the neck down and stripey faced!

I'm melting! Wonderful pics of beautiful kits with our beloved dogs! And who knew Muscovy ducks (whom I've never found to be particularly attractive) could have such adorable chicks! Mom has good instincts, taking them to the pond. I hope everyone weathers the winter well.

I'm not so worried at the moment I just hope the little ones can get a bit bigger before the weawther really starts to bite. The two who were born about the same time last year got through until January and then we lost them.
When I checked last night she has already lost two of the ducklings. Muscovys are hopeless parents. I caught the ducklings, tried to get momma duck to follow me while I put them in one of the dog runs but she just walked off towards the pond as though nothing had happened. I had to let them go to follow her.They do cluster under her at night and she is protective. One of the midden kits got pecked on the head when it got too close to them. lol
I'll give it another shot at catching them and mom. I just wish I could get a bit of back up from he who shall not be named (David ) but he just shrugs and says 'that's nature for you'.

I know nothing about ducks other than they swim. Are Muskovy ducks pets? I've never seen a duck like that in the wild. (Then again, I only see Mallards and Wood Ducks here, so I really don't know.) Since they have such poor parenting skills, I'm thinking they must be domestic animals. They sound like they are sure somebody is going to care for the kids while they do their thing.

Muscovy ducks are domesticated ducks but can do quite well in the wild.

Good news. Mrs Muscovy still has six of her babies not five as previously reported. I think one must have been hiding under her petticoats.

Amazing how ducklings seem to look the same no matter what the breed is!

By the way, is a midden something like a compost pile? This is the first place I've come across such a word...and Google wasn't much help

ARNIgal wrote:Amazing how ducklings seem to look the same no matter what the breed is!

By the way, is a midden something like a compost pile? This is the first place I've come across such a word...and Google wasn't much help

Helen called it the midden and yes she had a compost pile there, but she also used it to grow vegetables as it was very sheltered.

World English Dictionary
midden (ˈmɪd ə n)

— n
1. a. archaic , dialect or a dunghill or pile of refuse
b. dialect a dustbin
c. dialect ( Northern English ) an earth closet
2. See kitchen midden

[C14: from Scandinavian; compare Danish mödding from mög muck + dynge pile]

Midden shoyuld be in our learn something new every day string.

such adorable ducklings, and the kits are soo sweet

lovekitties wrote:Midden shoyuld be in our learn something new every day string.

True - I looked it up to figure out what Bob was talking about when he started this topic!

i didn't know specifically what it was but figured it was a little patch with some walls from the way it was described and the pictures. "earth closet" i like that.

Midden is a very common term in archaeology. Basically, it means a trash pile. It's the place ancient peoples (usually small, nomadic bands) threw their kitchen garbage, hunt-butchering leftovers, empty clam shells & fish tails, gnawed-clean bones, and anything broken or useless, like old, leaky clay water/cooking pots and broken knives/needles/tools. Archaeologists LOVE middens! They tell us a tremendous amount about how people lived. What they ate, the tools they used & how they made them, what they were willing to repair and what they considered expendable. Not to mention the animals, plants and materials they had at hand while they lived there. Even how long they lived there before moving on. Ha! One of my thoughts when I was an Anthro major in college was that people might have moved on sooner than they may have done otherwise because the midden had gotten so danged stinky! I mean, can you imagine? A giant landfill right next to your sleepy place?

BTW, Jeane, an earth closet is an outhouse.

Why would I know that? For some reason, this English major knows what a midden is. Maybe it was all that vocabulary stuff I had to do in high school.

So, Bob, is "midden" as you use it a dumping place where the animals have decided to live, or is it a small enclosure used specifically for animals? Colloquial meaning is often a shade different from the way the rest of us think of words. :-)

Maybe we should start a "word of the day" in the off topic section.

I knew what a midden is since I'm an Anthro/archeology geek. LOL
As for earth closets, (or outhouses), there is an organization here in Brooklyn who go into peoples backyards (with permission) and excavate their old outhouses from the 18th/19th century and come up with some amzaing things. Alot of the old bottles they find are cleaned up and sold.

Who'd have thought a midden would spark this level of intellectual chit chat.

Just to let you know that Mrs Muscovy still has all 6 ducklings and they are taking a stroll around the pond each day, then coming round to the side of the midden (there's that darn word again) for their food. Grain and bread. They love it.

Why, Bob, I'm surprised at your surprise. We are all very evolved humans here (as evidenced by how we treat our animals) and you know we're certainly never averse to going off topic, especially in intellectual pursuit!

I'm delighted Mrs. Muscovy and all the little Muscovys are doing well! Somebody's going to say it, so it might as well be me. Reminds me of Make Way for Ducklings.

hehehehehehehe...........love that reference Suzzzz.

So happy to hear all six ducklings are doing so well.

Yep they are fine. Course I popped down to Liverpool on Thuirsday, stopped over at Beryls prior to bringing her up to the farm. When I got back yesterday Dave had finally seperated the Goldies (see Farm update for more of Charlie's adventures. Sheesh). I went to feed the ducklings on the lagoon (the first two who are now like battleships) and saw that Dave (why am I surprised by this?) hadn't put the obligatory grain down for the duck round there. I threw the bread I'd brought down to them, put some around for Ben(the male Muscovy) he always expects his cut, and went to get grain for him and when I got back Mrs Muscovy and the ducklings were there so they all tucked in to the grain. I'll video them today so you can see how they're coming on.
Went to feed the midden kits. I now feed them in the cubicle house at the back of the barn as they've taken to sleeping in there. I got the tin of food for the hayloft cats and as I headed for the ladder I had to step aside and wait as two of the kittens climbed up to the loft and waited at the top for me to follow them. When I got up there, Ant and Dec were quite unconcerned by them being there and let them join them for dinner. I went back down and put the tin of food into the kittens bowl and the third one moved in and started eating.
I reckon that Ant and Dec are their brothers, as I think kitten and the tabby Tom are the parents of both sets.