Babies bustin' out all over

There is a lot going on here in the realm of birth and growth. In the growth category, goat kids are growing!

As you can see, they have new collars now. They're getting heavier, and it's lots easier to redirect a stubborn goat when she or he has a handle attached. Paco is adorable, still. Quinta's coloring makes her look stunning to me, and quite fetching in her purple collar.

Joan and I decided that the chicks have grown beyond bite-sized, so they have moved back out to the coop.

It's a small space and mama hen isn't happy with it, but we're planning to experiment with letting them out for a little while this evening, supervised, of course.

This is a wren's nest on the front porch in the crook of a folded sling back chair.

Joan was able to look in yesterday when mama was out and saw three eggs. We had 2 wren nests at different times on the back deck last year in hanging planters. This year she chose the front porch. Perhaps the back deck was too busy. Unfortunately we had to forego sitting on the porch yesterday evening to watch the rain. She flew off when we came out, and we didn't want her to have to be off the nest too long.

This is another story.

This poor over-grown and under-maintained rose bush is home to a family of brown thrashers and a couple of black runner ducks. A few weeks ago one of our 3 (at the time) female black Indian runner ducks started disappearing at night. For a few days she would show up once a day to get food, water and a swim and to chatter with her sisters, then disappear again. The first night she came back to the coop late, and we happened to hear her so we let her in after everyone else had been closed in. After a few days she completely disappeared. I thought she had gone broody and collected a clutch of eggs, especially since she started disappearing shortly after mama hen went broody. But since she stopped coming back for food and water, I've decided she must have been nabbed by a predator of some kind. I know she can forage for food, but there aren't good sources of water nearby except our watering stations and pools.

Soon after she stopped coming back in, one of the other two started disappearing during the day. She would come back in the middle of the day for food, water and a swim and hang out with her sister briefly. Every day we worried that she might not come back at all, and we felt bad mostly for the one remaining runner, seemingly left on her own. The runners are small, and the hens sometimes chase them away from food. The Pekin drake is at least twice their size and chases them down to mount them. They try to run, but he usually catches them. So, not the best quality of life for a lone little runner duck. Now the two runners, for the last few days, are both living in this rose bush. I tracked them there and can sometimes see one of them deep in the brush. They take turns coming out to eat, drink and bathe. I've left that blue pail of water nearby in case they don't make it to the back for water. Yesterday we left some food out there for them. Sometimes one of them will come in to sleep in the coop at night.

If they have viable fertilized eggs out there, they are a hybrid of Pekin and Indian runner, or perhaps chucks (a very unusual chicken/duck hybrid). If the eggs are going to hatch, it should happen in the next few days. If there are no ducklings, hopefully the poor little last two runner ducks will give up on this broodiness and start sleeping in the coop again. We're discussing when we should go into the rose bush with clippers for a much-needed trimming, assuming no ducklings come parading out of it in the next few days.

Then we will talk about whether we need to get more Indian runners to keep them company. Oh and about harvesting a rapist drake and rooster.