Guess What???

Alternative Title: What Did I Get Myself Into?

So, long story, but if you remember last year, we had fun duck-sitting for a friend. I have long aspired to having a duck. I always thought it would be fun to have two, actually, and name them Webster and Bill. Then, in the last few years, I have really been thinking about having chickens. If you have never had a fresh farm egg, well, you should try one. And I don't mean fresh from the store. I mean fresh, like they still have a piece of straw stuck to them. We used to pick up this wonderful lady, Mildred Hubbard, on our way to church. She was about 80 years old and had lived quite a life. She was married at 16, moved out to a remote cattle ranch in the Gateway Canyon area, and had to learn fast how to cook for a bunch of cowhands and the five children she soon had. At 80 years old, she still kept chickens. At one point, she was getting pretty irritated that the magpies were stealing her eggs. Magpies are pretty annoying birds, being scavengers, but are illegal to shoot. But Mildred had had enough. She told us one day that if they kept it up she was going to put a silencer on her gun and shoot 'em dead. :) Anyway, she would give us as many eggs as we wanted. These eggs tasted way better then store eggs. The yolks were so dark they were more orange than yellow. They are really a lot different then store eggs. Because I have inherited some sort of recessive, wannabe farmer gene, I have been wanting to get my own chickens. I have been looking into suburban chicken-keeping for a while, but still feel unprepared for full-fledged chicken wrangling. So when, you wonder, am I ever going to get to the point? And why do I feel that I am any more qualified to raise ducks? The point is, I got two ducks because a) I have always wanted a pet duck and b) Peking ducks lay eggs (news flash!) and it will be a good trial run for me. There is a lady at church who buys ducks every year and releases them at a local park to get eaten by predators because they have no street smarts. Really, she wants to populate the white duck community at the park, though I am skeptical of the effectiveness of it all. Anyway, if nothing else, you can walk away today knowing that I am really good at rabbit trails. And before I run off on anther one, here's the deal:

• I have two ducks in my backyard, which I have done a fair amount of research about but still feel a little skeptical (any pointers would be very appreciated!!!)
• I do not know the gender of said ducks
• I worked out a deal with the duck lady so that if mine turn out to be of the male persuasion I can trade them in for some females (as we will hopefully be able to tell by the tail feather)
• I hope Katie doesn't love one of them to death

PS. James named the ducks Webby and Fence Parker, Parker for short