Little Orphan Lamby

Earlier this spring we had a ewe sheep die of natural causes, no need to be alarmed; however, she left her tiny couple week old lamby behind.

At first I was kind of excited about the prospect of having this adorable, fluffly little thing to feed and take care of every day, but the responsibility eventually starts to wear on you.  So naturally, like good parents, we pawned the responsibility off onto the kids.  It was now "their" lamby...

A month or so old here. Isn't he adorable!?

By the time we went on vacation in July, Lamby was several months old and subsisting mostly on grass, so we figured it would be safe to put him back with the rest of the herd and hope for the best.  Sink or swim. Eat or die.

Spoiler alert, the lamb makes it.

Since then, we have moved the sheep to a field much nearer to our house and the prodigal lamby has taken it upon himself to return. He just shows up in our yard one day, demanding food.  Now we are bottle feeding him again and he has made himself quite at home. At night I think he returns to his regular flock but comes in every morning for his feeding and a couple pets.  If you show him any attention though, he follows you around, everywhere, Baaaaing away.  I was leading our guard dog back to her kennel and he is trailing right behind us, baaing  "Eat me, eat me! I'm adorable and tasty!"

Not the smartest lamb in the yard...

But it is pretty darn cute a sweet having this thing hanging around.  Plus he is always thrilled to see you!  Just start calling me Mary.

Isn't this just.. awwwee

The Duckling Conundrum

We got Duckies!  I am super excited! Sort of... Well...

Okay, here's how it happened.

Partner #1 went to town unsupervised.  He's not going to appreciate that comment, however...  So when he came home and told us there was a surprise in the back seat my immediate reaction was "Noo not another puppy?!".  That might seem a strange reaction, who says "Noo!" when they see a puppy?! I do, because we currently have 12 and another may unravel my fragile mental state. But nope, not a puppy.

I open the back door, see a small-ish box, "Is it a kitten?!" Oh please oh please let it be a kitten! I like cats. I used to like dogs too but, nope.  Not a cat either.

Open the box, Oh my god it's ducklings! The 3 cutest damn ducklings you have ever seen!  All huddled up in the corner peeping in terror as this giant lady-thing grabs one of their siblings and hugs it close, practically shrieking "Oh my god! DuckIEEES! Oh they're so CUTE! Awwwwe!"

Now the double edge to this super cute sword is that we have absolutely no set up for ducks?! No predator proof pen.  No pond.  No flippin food! And really no idea how to take care of baby ducks whatsoever!

But gosh darn it, they are so cute!

So several weeks earlier, I had conveniently noticed a kiddie pool in our old barn (odd thing to find in a barn...), so we drug that out, filled it up with water and threw a calf shed over it with a heat lamp, which we happened to have from when our chickens were chicks.  Then promptly started researching duck care and maintenance.

We have had them for at least a couple weeks now and you know what I have learned about ducks? They stink! Like really smelly.  Especially when cooped up in a poorly ventilated calf shed with a heat lamp on 24/7 just fermenting the place... I am legitimately concerned about them developing respiratory problems.  They are going to be wheezing like senior citizen ducks before their 6 month birthday.

We have all the materials now to build a duck house and a wicked plan to make it super cool! Thanks to a plumber friend of mine, we even have a bathtub coming to convert to a pond! I had the genius idea of draining the tub on the downward slope of our yard onto a sort of tiered garden of fruit bushes.  Viola! Ultra fertilized irrigation system! Genius right?

It's okay to be impressed, I am impressed with myself!

Now it is just a matter of actually building the darn thing! Time is a high-priced commodity around here with very little of it to go around, let me tell you.

In any case, the ducks are doing really really well.  Despite their temporary accommodations, they seem to be super healthy, growing incredibly fast! In all my research I discovered a way to sex the little things, see whether we'll have laying birds or meat birds.  I'll spare you the details, but I did managed to discover that one is definitely female!  So yay!  Can't wait for duck eggs!

My plan was to write this blog when we actually had the duck house built, but I couldn't wait! I was too excited! The tub comes on Friday, so hopefully I can write an update post soon on the house building progress.

In the meantime, enjoy this terrible picture of me but adorable picture of this duck!

Also, that white thing to the right is a calf shed, in case you were wondering....