
The ducks have been pulling feathers from each other's breasts and the drakes have been fighting by pulling neck feathers. One of the geese grabbed a drake and caught him by his wing, keeping it in his beak for about 10 feet. This mating frenzy is earlier than last year. It is time to separate the ducks into breeding pens where they are numbered correctly. A Khaki Campbell drake is rather, um, busy, and likes to have a dozen or so wives. The Saxony drake is happy with his 4 wives and the Rouen drake can manage about 10 or so. There are quite a few Khaki Cambells so they need to be split up into 5 breeding groups of hens and drakes to keep themselves happy. The problem is that the hoop shelters are still snowbound. When the new skid steer arrives, I will be able to lift them out of the snow and then the waterfowl can be mating to their heart's content. If I am fortunate, a few of the females will nest and hatch a clutch of up to a dozen or more ducklings. The Khaki Campbell sat on 18 last year, but they are small ducks and she could only keep 8 warm. Until they can be separated, the best thing to do is to give them lots of room, so they are let out daily. Now, if I can only keep that huge gander from trying to mate the little Cambell ducks.