Peking duck - Take 2

As I have mentioned, rounding up our ducks is a real hassle. We believe in letting the chickens and ducks free-range during the day and then lock them into the safety of our chicken coop at night. The chickens are never a problem; they go right in to roost at dusk. The ducks are never that cooperative.

And now with the warm weather the ducks (we had four of them) have not found the coop a desirable place, even at night.

Ducks are not very smart.

As a result, we have been out in our large backyard herding them into the coop almost nightly. And it's not an easy, nor fast process for this city-born couple.

Fino reached the final straw last week. He closed the coop around 11 p.m. and went to bed, unable to get the ducks inside.

But that strategy didn't work out so well for us. All night long the ducks quacked and quacked, obviously trying to scare away the predators that we know lurk in the woods in our backyard. It was tough sleeping through all the noise, especially knowing that one of them might get eaten.

But it worked out for our feathered friends. All four ducks survived the night. And the next night they were all too willing to go into the coop.

Then it happened again, Thursday night the ducks went AWOL. Fino, after a few expletives, decided they could spend another night outside since they fared well previously.

We went to bed, with the window open because it was a warm night, and heard the ducks incessantly quacking. Ducks are REALLY loud, especially when they decide to put up their defenses outside your bedroom window, which unfortunately is not all that far from the coop - a design flaw I know.

Around 1 a.m. Fino went out there to coax them into the coop since it was obvious there were predators around.

Nope. They wouldn't go in.

More expletives shot from Fino's mouth before he came back in the house.

The ducks went on all night long so we maybe got an hour of sleep, even after shutting the window.

Yesterday afternoon we did a duck head count. One was missing. The kids were sad but Fino and I were less broken-up about it.

Last night the kids and Fino tried to round up the three remaining ducks into the coop. I was told in no uncertain terms that I was NOT allowed to photograph the proceedings. It was a crying shame.

Each of the kids were given a couple of branches and an area to cover to guide the ducks into Fino's 'trap.' Fino had rigged chicken wire around some trees and had some guiding branches to help as well. And STILL, those ducks managed to elude them by squeezing under the wire.

More wire was unwound and then staked with a new strategy in place. After about 10 more minutes, the ducks were inside.

The ducks were then bullied by Fino into a portion of the coop that can be closed-off from the rest of the structure.

"Those suckers aren't getting out for a long time!" Fino said along with some other colorful language.

The fate of the ducks remains undecided but I doubt, if Fino has his way, we'll ever be chasing them again.