Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Dr Drake Ramoray and Charlize Theron

...are our two ducks. Both were adopted out of a high school experiment involving bonding and imprinting (?) I am unsure as to the details of the project, just that these two were adopted from the program.


Dr Drake Ramoray is a very funny duck. Despite living on a property with a dam, he rarely wades in it. However, God forbid, should ANY other living creature utilise it. He has been seen storming down to the dam to chase off other water fowl, only to storm straight back up to his garden area after duly dispatching of the offending creatures.


Christmas day, he was a torn duck. Every man, child and dog hit the dam for a swim. Poor Drake waddled half way down to the dam, stopped and surveyed the intruders, weighed up his options, retreated a quarter of the way back. He then found his gumption, sallied forth some more, reassessed the situation and finally just beat a hasty retreat back to his waiting lady friend with his duckly dignity mostly intact. Crazy duck.

He teases our youngest Boxer dog mercilessly. We mistakenly incarcerated the young boxer for fear of her harming our duck, but the little ducky devil would attack her through the fence! He had the whole property, yet sought her out to play with. Suffice to say, we love the Drakester.

Charlize Theron, is entering damehood. She is not a duck to be found mixing it with the other rabble. She does not indulge in interspecies frippery. She keeps her own counsel in a very dignified manner.

We love our ducks. They are next to useless, but provide much laughter around our little farm.

9 comments:

  1. Dr Drake and Charlize sound like such a great pair! I always wondered about having a pet duck. Do you get any eggs from Charlize? I like duck eggs... I also had one for a year 12 high school biology assignment but I cant remember why. I just loved being its mummy!

    I love the veggie garden! So lush!

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  2. Charlize is a non-egg layer, unfortunately. She became egg bound about 6 years ago when she lived with her former owner (high school student) and has not laid an egg since.

    The two ducks live in with he vegie gardens and as such with all of that duck manure, the grasses go crazy.

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  3. Ha! They sound like characters. They are good for supplying manure though I bet.

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  4. Oh I'd really love a duck. How much room do you need to have for them? I've not really ever seen anyone keep them in the suburbs.

    And I still haven't tasted a duck egg... I'm not living fully!

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  5. People keep telling me to get ducks and that the eggs are great for cooking. But they do big sloppy poo...don't they? I have enough coping with chook and goat manure...but I am tempted.

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  6. I like to admire ducks from afar. Yours look lovely. We however haven't had much luck with them. Most gorgeous when they are little, tiny and yellow.

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  7. Oh I love ducks and yours have great names :)
    I'm forbidden due to their poo habits lol but I can admire yours :)

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  8. Ali - Charlize lived in the suburbs with her initial rescuer for almost 3 years. Her backyard was about 300sqm and she was more than happy with that. As for the manure....copious! and even in drought the back lawn grew like weeds! Also, they do not scratch the garden to pieces...they do however, snack on the greenery. Our raised garden beds are like a salad smorgasboard for the ducks. If leaves dare to venture over the sides of the bed, they get nibbled on!

    Apparently Pekin Ducks bond well with their human owners, at least these two little troublemakers have!

    Hazel - ducks eggs are perfect for baking with! We originally had 5 ducks but there was an incident with a mid afternoon foxing that saw us lose our 2 egg layers and another drake. My mom kept ducks when I was a girl and I remember projectile poo....these ducks are quite neat and controlled, by comparison. It is more of a blobby evacutation.

    Charlize is the duck with nine lives. She has survived 3 separate foxings and 2 dog attacks...(the neighbours, not ours) and is coming up for her 9th birthday,

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  9. Your ducks are so gorgeous. I'd love a pair but Mr Bok says 'too much mess!' boooooo...

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