Five or six years ago, Dave spent an awful lot of time digging out The Puddle.
We don’t have any natural water sources on our land, but the water table is relatively high. Every time we got any measurable amount of rain, Dave noticed that one spot in particular would continuously flood. So, that’s where he started digging.
And digging. And digging. And moving hunks of sod to build up one side. And having that sod wall collapse. And doing it again. And digging. And…
Eventually, he succeeded in establishing a respectable hole in the ground that would occasionally fill with water temporarily.
Now, as horrendous planning would have it, our ducks and chickens reside in an enclosure that is approximately 100 yards away from the Puddle Pond. So, even though we had the snowiest winter in the history of the world, resulting in a profoundly watery “spring,” the ducks had heretofore been unable to enjoy any of it.
We fixed that yesterday.
It took some doing, but we dug out our old portable fence and ran it from one side of the enclosure door, through the woods, around the puddle, back up along the old pig shed, and back to the other side of the enclosure door. Then, all we had to do was open the door, and the ducks would make a beeline for the water.
Or not.
What the ducks actually did was EVENTUALLY make their way to the door of the enclosure, get nervous, and go back in.
Finally, Dave got a bucket of chicken feed and shook out a trail of pellets from the door, into the new “run,” and almost all the way to the puddle. At this point, we closed the door to prevent any further wimp-outing and left them to their own devices.
It took about 30 minutes, but they did get around to checking out the new digs.
When we got home later that night, we could hear quacking and splashing in the dark and when we woke up this morning, they were in full-on swim/bathe mode. We’re pretty sure they spent the entire night out there.
These guys are currently just about as happy as we’ve ever seen them, so the fact that the puddle is actively draining out and will likely be empty within a week is currently beside the point.
And I certainly don’t have the heart to tell them.
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