Relaxed Farming - our farm in your classroom

The first photo of Grape and his 'three' girls (Banana, Orange and Pear) is just crying out for a caption!! 'Hold on ladies, stop there, not sure what this is, looks suspicious, stay there while I check it out!' (We are sure you can do better...) The funny thing was that the three females really were following Grape around the paddock and we don't really know why but it was delightful to watch - and then suddenly they all stopped and Grape stretched out his neck to look at... we are not sure what!!
What we are sure about though is that they are a very close group and they do spend a lot of time together. The odd one out is still Apple, in the photo on the right. You may remember she only started living here this spring, whilst the rest have been here since last autumn. By the time she arrived it was egg-laying season and then all the females (including her) went broody and raised lots of ducklings, so in fact Apple has not had much time to become a part of the group and maybe now she never will!! We do see her with the others sometimes but generally she is very independent and does her own thing. She started coming into the barn to lay her eggs a few days ago but is now back laying in the main poultry house.
Ducks do not mate for life, unlike geese and swans but it is recommended that you don't have more than one male with a group of females as during the breeding season the drakes can fight. Grape is a fair size now, a good one and a half times bigger than the females - males can weigh up to six and a half kilos so if two did fight, that is a lot of weight to be flying around.
All the ducks have moulted and although they don't drop as many feathers as the chickens or go bald, for a while they looked very out of condition as their feathers had no shine to them and seemed to have lost their waterproofing. Grape is looking great again now and the girls are beginning to.
They are a fabulous group and we love having them all here on the smallholding as they really are the perfect free range animal: they go where they want, when they want but they keep safe; they eat loads of natural food; and they always put themselves to bed at the right time. Brilliant!!