News

Welcome to the News section of my site. Here is where you can find info on changes to my site, and updates on how my personal ducks are doing. The list below is in reverse chronological order.

12/11/02:
I have good news. Finally, after hours and hours of submitted my site to various search engines, it was actually viewed by someone on the outside! I didn't know that could actually happen to a little old Geocities site. But, anyway, the person I talked to on AOL wanted to raise some ducks. I can't wait to see what happens in Spring. It is getting near Christmas time now, and time sure is flying. Merry Christmas to everyone, and to all a good night!

11/09/02:
Everything has been going about the same with the ducks. We got some more horse food for them to eat. Also, I have decided to provide news updates every two weeks, so keep checking. More news next time!

10/26/02:
Guess what! All my ducks are now fully grown. Both the males and the females have finished developing their feathers. I figured out something pretty funny: At any given time during the day, if I shout something towards the lake while the ducks are swimming around in it, they will all start quacking very loudly in unison. It almost sounds like they are laughing at me. The coyote is old news and I don't think any will be back for a long time. Anyway, my prediction about the ratio of drakes and hens (5 drakes, 4 hens) was correct. Norman definitely is a fawn runner, and the 3rd generation ducks still need names. If you have any off the top of your head for them, please Contact Me. Well, that is all the news I have for you so far.

10/11/02:
The ducks are doing good as far as I know. The 'little ducks' are growing up so fast, and you can just look at them and see how much they have changed. All of the males have gotten all their feathers except for a couple on their faces. The females have also developed arresting brown feathers. Also, some big news is that we have been seeing a coyote around the house lately, and we were afraid for the ducks and chickens. Well, last night, my mom told me to go outside and see if there was a coyote. At first, I didn't think much of it because she exaggerates when it comes to coyotes and wolves, etc. Then, Tramp started barking like crazy. I knew I could trust him, so I quickly got about five shotgun cartridges, and retrieved my 4-10 shotgun and a flashlight. I loaded it and turned on the porch light. I walked up to my front door and saw it. It was about 20 feet away from our house. I slowly opened the door and took aim. The coyote must of heard me, because he started walking to the side. Too bad for him, this gave me an even better shot. I looked around for Tramp or any other 'good animals', then fired. I could tell I got him pretty good (most likely in the stomach and hind legs), and he quickly limped off. After a while of just looking out the window for him, I went to bed. This morning, on my way to school, I saw the corpse lying on the side of our driveway. Just a few minutes ago, I went out and made sure it was dead, and I think my mom is going to call the county to come and get it. Well, that's about it!

10/07/02:
I know I haven't posted in a long while, and now I am going to make up for it. My ducks are doing very good. In fact, we just went through two tropical storms/hurricanes in a row, but my ducks actually seemed to enjoy standing out in the middle of the rain. I can already tell that I will have about 5 drakes and 4 hens out of my 9 ducks (besides Norman, Ralphie, and Lisa). They are all getting green head-feathers and the females are getting bigger, darker brown feathers. Now I have to think of names for all my new ducks and figure out how to tell them all apart (which I will probably never accomplish). Also, I strongly believe that Norman is a fawn runner because of some pictures I saw in a book about ducks. He looked just like the one in the picture. Well, that's all there is to hear about ducks so far!

09/04/02:
My ducklings are doing great. In fact, I don't think it's fair to call them ducklings anymore. I usually feed them horse feed every day now. They will literally chase me when I go out side. It's pretty funny because you can hear all 24 feet going plop plop plop really fast. Also, as they run, their heads bob side to side every time they take a step. On other news, I am still considering raising a few guineas. I can't decide whether to wait until next year to raise them, or go ahead and do it. It seems like the winter shouldn't affect them that much, but I will think about it and discuss it with a few people.

08/27/02:
The ducklings are very healthy and, in my opinion, are able to fend for themselves. They have grown in a lot of feathers and are just as big as their mother. Every time I see my flock of ducks, I feed them whatever I have. I threw them some grapes today, and then I fed them some horse feed at the barn. They loved it. Now, if they see me walking around, they will immediately start to follow me around. Out of all nine ducklings, I may have only one or two hens. No worry, I have a feeling that once this brood has grown up, Lisa and Ralphie will have another batch. Also, my mom said it would be interesting to raise a couple guineas. They are small, turkey-like birds that can be extremely loud. They are supposed to make very good "watch birds". I am currently researching them and I am thinking about getting two or three of them. That pretty much wraps up the news.

08/18/02:
I made a real image map for my navigation frame and fixed it so you wouldn't have to scroll as often. The ducklings are very healthy and are semi-independent of their mother. I am looking forward to having another brood of ducklings in the future. Now that school has started, I haven't been able to spend a lot of time around my ducks. Bill and Ralphie are starting to follow me a lot. Then Lisa and the ducklings will follow. If I can get them to the barn, I always give them something to drink. I can already tell that I will have mostly drakes by some green head feathers that are starting to grow on their heads. I just hope the competition won't be too violent.

08/10/02:
I have made a stylesheet for my entire site, so all the headers, links, and text will look the same, and when I change the style of just one, it will affect the whole site, giving a very consistent look. Also, I have decided to put all of the FAQ questions in alphabetical order, and I am going to try to come up with some questions that you might ask when you are raising ducklings. I am also going to research salmonella and post my results in the FAQ. I was late getting the news out because I just got back from "vacation". There are still nine ducklings and they are huge! They have grown in a lot of feathers and pretty soon they'll be juveniles.

07/25/02:
I have made the links a little different, proof read the whole site, and made the navigation bar better for everyone. If your screen area is small, then instead of having to scroll the navigation bar, the images will adjust for your screen, which makes the whole site just a little more user friendly. Well, enough computer talk. Here's the real duck news: There are still nine baby ducks, which means we haven't had a duckling death for 4 weeks and 4 days. I haven't seen the ducks as often as I usually do. My chickens have been moved from the barn to their pen, and they seem to be doing pretty good. There hasn't been too much activity lately, so I guess I'll catch you up on the news later.

07/18/02:
All sections of this site are now functional. I have revised and updated ALL sections. I have been unable to find a digital camera that uses floppy disks, but as soon as I do, I will take as many pictures as I can. There are still nine baby ducks, which means we haven't had a duckling death for 3 weeks and 4 days. Lisa is doing very well as a mother. And with the bodyguard skills of Norman and Ralphie, I don't think the ducks will have a problem with predators. I have collected some pictures of ducks off the internet and posted them with there descriptions on the Pictures section. I will begin adding pictures that I found into different sections of the site where they are appropriate. I am planning to add a lot to the Care section of this site. Well, as far as ducks go, that's all folks!

06/23/02:
Bad news-One of the ducklings have died. This is a great loss, but it is nature's way. There are still nine other ducklings to look after, so I can't let this discourage me.

06/20/02:
Happy Birthday to me! Yes, today is my birthday and I have received one of the best birthday presents ever: baby ducklings, ten of them. They are mallards, and apparently belong to Ralphie and Lisa. We caught about three of them and inspected them. Lisa was very unhappy, so we gave them back. It was very exciting. We also found the nest later! Lisa had made her nest in the barn by the hay stack. We counted about 15 eggs, and a few were unopened. We cracked one open to find that they were rotten. We threw them away, and put the nest back how we found it.

Before 06/20/02:
I bought three white ducks: Bill, Furdy, and Norman. We raised them in a cage and then once they grew out of it, we put them into the barn. I showed them all the bugs that were available at night under the big floodlight. After they were fully grown, I let them out to be free. I fed them at the lake, but they still came up to the barn every night to eat bugs. After a while, Furdy disappeared. It is believed that he was eaten at the barn by a fox. Then, Bill was missing. His cause of death was never discovered. The next duck raising season, which is basically the next summer, I bought two Mallard ducks: Ralphie and Lisa. We raised them in cage also, but instead of putting them in the barn and then freeing them, we put them in the Chicken Pen with all the chickens. Ralphie learned how to fly, and would escape daily. Lisa could not fly because of a defect in her wing. Norman, Ralphie, and Lisa all got along nicely. Next season, I bought four more mallards which I never came up with a name for, but instead I called them the Little Ducks. I tried raising them in a cage on the porch, but after discovering that that was not going to work, I relocated them to the barn. My mom made me free them early. I was planning on keeping them longer, but she insisted. They disappeared for a while. One day, they returned as I was mowing, and they were attacked by the Big Ducks. I got the Big Ducks away, and tried to see if they were hurt. After that, they were never seen again. This left just the three ducks: Norman, Ralphie, and Lisa.

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