The ducks have migrated to a new home.

The ducks have had me really stressed out this past week.  They got loud!!!  We got Khaki Campbells for two reasons.  They are great egg layers, and they are supposed to be one of the quieter ducks.

Well, if these things are quiet I'd hate to hear the loud ones.  It turns out that the females make a loud honking sound any time they get startled.  And they get startled a lot!  I couldn't even go out into my back yard without them freaking out.  It was annoying.  If it was annoying to me, I can only imagine what my neighbors must have thought.

None of my neighbors said anything to me, so I spent a lot of time debating what to do.  Should I just keep them until someone complains?  Should I get rid of them, and if so, where?  I didn't want to just release them into some random pond.  They might wander off into a road and get hit by a car.  They are fairly tame and are used to my dog so they might get eaten by predators.

I didn't want to get rid of them.  They're so entertaining to watch.  They have very unique personalities. We got them as a project for my son.  He did a good job taking care of them.  Their constant little quacking was pleasant to listen to while we were in the yard.  But... the honking was just too much.

Lucky for me, I knew of a great place where they could go, Cul de Sac Critters.  It's run by a family not too far from where I live.  They keep rabbits, chickens, and have ducks on a pond.  I visited them with my daughter to learn about rabbits before we got ours.  I contacted them and they were happy to take more ducks.  And wouldn't you know it, one of my neighbors was looking to get rid of 3 drakes.  So I took them too. 

I got home from work tonight and rounded up the ducks with my son's help.  They weren't happy to be put into boxes.  Then we went to our neighbors and picked up a box of drakes (male ducks).  And off to Cul de Sac Critters we went.

We went down to their pond and the 4 ducks they had swam away.  My son opened the boxes and released the birds one by one.

After the 6 birds were released the first 4 came back from the middle of the pond to greet them.

It was like a duck party after that.  The whole group of them were quacking and flapping and diving under the water.  They were doing what ducks do.  Seeing their reaction turned my stress and sadness into pure delight.  It was a really great sight. 

My son handled it really well.  He said that he was glad to see how happy the ducks were.  I think he understands the situation pretty well.  We tried something, and it didn't work out.  That's the way it is sometimes.  He's already talking about his next project.  He thinks he might want to get some chickens of his own.  He's talked about Muscovy ducks too.  (They're known as the quack-less duck.)  He has some time to decide.

I think watching from the dock was his way of saying good-bye.