Hello again!

Well hello all and welcome to my 2011 duck blog. After a large gap due to my Madagascan exploits and super busy-bodiness, it is my intention to start updating again a touch more regularly...

After a week off to recuperate I returned to work on the 14th March, and jumped straight into preparations for our DVE programme. Every year we innoculate susceptible sufferers of duck virus enteritis in a systematic format throughout the grounds. This jab keeps our birds safe from this nasty disease for a full 12 months, and gives us an opportunity as Aviculturalists to cast a personal eye over every single bird within our care.

The photo adjacent shows us breaching the waters of the Australian pen. The concerned look on my face relates to the near total loss of wading muscles that has occurred during my 3 months away! I have returned to work perhaps at 50% of my previous strength. When you have sticky cloying mud up to your thighs it is pretty difficult not to get stuck... Just as well Sparky at least is as strong as an ox.

So many things have changed since I have been away. My duckery has now been bequeathed with a brand new layer of topsoil and turf, and our woodsman has been very busy designing and preparing new rearing coops.

The duckling season is shaping up to be a good one, with over 80 nene eggs being laid throughout the first two weeks of March. My incubators are full of African yellowbill, South African black duck, tuna teal, nene and Patagonian eggs, with nests from some very exciting species such as hooded merganser and ashy-headed goose.

My gorgeous nene were looked after in my absence by Morwenna and Laura, so thanks very much guys! All your hard work has resulted in the biggest nene hatching boom that I can remember in a long while.

No fewer than 10 nests hatched within a 10 day period, with great fertility and with great life-expectancy. All 10 families are currently safely residing in our off-site area, building up their strength in order to tackle the threats of the grounds in around a fortnight's time.

It was great to see AVS and BAF (parents of Frankie LCU) have a wonderful hatch-off of 4 babes in the South American. Having lost an eye over the winter I had worried for AVS, but he has proven to be a very good dad indeed.

This year saw some juvenile nene make their frst ever attempts at egg-laying, and as usual several proved themselves slightly inadequate for the job... 2 year olds BFB and MCA laid this pick 'n' mix clutch of eggs beneath the tree in the Zeriss Hide where BFB was born! Guess which one of the four was fertile??

Once again thanks for reading and stay tuned for further duckery and duckling info over the spring/summer months!

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