The ducks seem to be changing as they sexually mature, and it’s been interesting watching some new behaviors. It all started las week when Mr. Keating, one of our Khaki Campbells, came out of the duckhouse one morning and promptly lay flat on her stomach. I panicked, probably because I’m still scarred from the death of Megatooth. I yelled very loudly for Arp to come quick. He came running outside to see the still-on-the-ground Mr. Keating. But then Mulva starting doing some interesting things, including pecking and preening Mr. Keating in a somewhat aggressive manner. That’s when Arp and I looked at each other quizzically. When we looked back, Mr. Keating was up and about, perfectly fine.

Arp says, “Looks like Mr. Keating is Mulva’s bitch.” We both laughed.

Let me just note that I’m still under the impression that all my ducks are female.

So I suppose the options are:

• They are just working on a pecking order.
• They are discovering their true sexual selves, which are perhaps lesbian.
• Or…maybe I have a male duck.

Today I even witnessed Mulva mount Mr. Keating, which was quite fun to watch. Mr. Keating seems to enjoy it. But still, I think they are all girls.  No curly tail feathers have been sighted (a sure sign of maleness).  And they all seem to quack like true females (a real loud true “quack!”, not the darker sound that males supposedly make).  But still, I’m an amateur.  I won’t be sure that they are all truly female until I see 4 eggs some morning .

Speaking of quacking, we really no longer call Macaroni by her name.  Instead, we tend to call her, “that Macaroni” with a shake of our heads.  Naughty, naughty duck!  She quacks in a very obnoxious and loud way.  In fact, you can hear it from several streets away. Usually it’s because she sees someone walk by on the street and wants to be let out.  Or sometimes she sees a cat outside the pen and wants to scare it off.  Other times she quacks when she is annoyed with us for one reason or other.  Like when we herd her away from the poison ivy.  I think I can almost translate: “Why don’t you just leave me alone to do what I want, Mom?!”  Teenagers.