Spring is finally here, which means all the animals are spending more time outdoors, eating that fresh spring grass and foraging for various bugs. The ducks and chickens will be outside the entire day and come back to roost at night, right around the time the sun goes down. The ducks will venture out in any kind of weather, especially when there is rain involved, because then they can splash around and play in all the puddles.

Recently, the farm became home to a special female duck, who was previously owned by our neighbor, whose flock was taken by the neighborhood fox. This duck’s name is Quackie. She lives up to her name by speaking very loudly, and can be heard quacking from all the way across the property.

For a while, we were searching for a female duck or two that would fit in with the males we already had. The males started to become rowdy with the female chickens, trying to mount them occasionally. That could be fatal for a female chicken, so for about a year, we were looking for someone who had adult female ducks that could be paired up with our drakes (male ducks).

After Quackie arrived, the male ducks were terrified of her. They would run away from her when she would try to hang out around them, and would not dare sleep near her at night.

After a week or two, the boys warmed up to her and started following her around the property. Although we thought that a female duck would help with the ducks trying to mount our chickens, the boys are unable to get that close to Quackie.

It took some time, but the boys now trust Quackie and she leads them everywhere, does whatever she wants when she wants, and bosses them around!

We like to call her the mud duck, because her favorite thing to do at the farm is to dig around in mud puddles, and she is always covered from bill to feet in mud.

Quackie lives up to her name by speaking very loudly, and can be heard quacking from all the way across the property.

Quackie and the other birds.