Teeming With Ducks

My last post was about the three new young ducks we bought today. When last we saw them, they were hiding in the brush. A little while later, my husband went out and threw them a handful of grain...and all of a sudden, they're out in the open. They've teamed up with the other three ducks, who are wary and disgruntled, but not entirely unwelcoming.



They're staying in a tight group, and every so often one of the older ducks reminds them who was here first. Miss Penny, our older female duck, attacked them by pushing at them with her breast, rather than pecking at them the way the others did.



We have a bowl of corn for the ducks just outside the fence to the pasture, reached by crawling under the gate. (That's so the goats can't get to it. They luuuuve corn.). The older three ducks went to it like usual, but were met by our cat Boot. A brief face-off, and then Boot continued on his way to dinner. (In case anyone is worrying, Boot is 18 years old, and has few teeth left. Most days he's lucky to know where he is, much less hurt ducks.)



The new ducks followed the older ones under the gate, and fed excitedly for a while, then apparently got disoriented, and started squawking loudly. My husband had to come down from the porch to help, and we herded them back into the pasture.



The goats have serious doubts about our sanity. They had concerns before, but they're pretty sure there's an issue now. We're just happy they have no way of contacting the authorities...