I thought ducks had to waddle straight into water. But they can clamber several inches straight up, into a trough: Here they are, going to the trough earlier, showing off their new feathers: They’ll be staying in their pen now. I had been taking them back into the house overnight. But the nights will be… Continue reading Swimming

I keep trying to take a charming picture of the ducklings, but I’m a big bad monster coming to eat them, so they always crowd into a corner. So, I give up: here’s a pic of them crowded into a corner -> They’re getting a lot of feathers! I got Storey’s Guide to Raising Ducks,… Continue reading Ducks almost 5 weeks

The ducklings are amazed: One of them is, anyway. They have a square teepee! My bright idea of a solid tarp to cover the pen didn’t work. Even with pvc pipe and conduit pipes under it, it still sags terribly when it rains. So we put a lodgepole post under it sunk into the ground… Continue reading Lodgepole ducks

See the feathers starting to come out on the ducklings’ tails? They look like pins: I had read that female ducklings start getting real feathers before male ducklings. So I thought that might be a way to discover how many future egg layers I will have. But, alas, they all have little pin feathers coming… Continue reading Tailfeathers

Another daily duck pic. We got a chain link pen for the ducklings and put them in this afternoon. But when I decided they needed back into the warmth of the house, they ran from me and right through the mesh! I grabbed four, but two got all the way through and then they ran… Continue reading Duck pen

The ducklings were getting into the gallon milk jug I used to water them, so here’s another with three holes cut into it. Now they can’t get in.

Here are the Khaki Campbell ducklings we bought at 3 weeks of age. Thank you, Deer Recovery of Caney!

Sketching takes a long time with cp. Especially using a pencil with less pigment. This tree sketch took too long! But I should have known. About a month ago, I did a sketch of my son’s dog: It took forever! I’ve got to think of everything as a full drawing or just sketch suggestions of… Continue reading Sketches

I’m going to show 2 lightfastness tests, after one month in partial sun. I’m showing Arteza pencils against an incredibly cheap kid’s pencil, Academix. Note also the yellowing of the paper. That’s ‘acid’-free Bienfang paper. Well, I’m not spending even a small amount of money on Arteza again. Oh, and is it just me, or… Continue reading Lightfast test, arteza