General News

2011 is officially our 22nd year of providing hatching kits to schools. We got our first birds in 1988, and we provided our first hatching 'kit' to a teacher friend of a friend in 1989. Although we have tried to keep the number of local kits at a fairly constant level, our connections on the web have been growing steadily since we went online in 2001.

For Local Schools ONLY

Orders can be submitted online - we are doing fewer hatches this year. Check the Ordering Information and Hatch Dates pages for more into.

You'll need to register on the website. There's a little login link in the dark red line just under the main header. There's also one in the bottom left corner of the page. This link should take you to the registration page directly.

Once you are registered, I can put you in the local teacher's group, and you can go to this page to submit your order: Online Order Page (You will only be able to get to the page if you log in). Please be patient. I have to do this part by hand because I have to verify that you are in fact from a local school. I don't always have the time to do this immediately. I will arrange that an email is sent once you are in the right group.

More General News

As usual - please let me know of any broken links, mistakes, or any other problems. Also, if there is something you especially want to see us provide, please let us know!

Once again my time is very limited so we won't be able to add much in the way of new content. This year it is because I am writing a book. No, this one isn't about ducks, it's a book about the technical aspects of simulations and games, written for non-technical people. There is a link to the table of contents here.

	Meet Seya-Rubic. She is a Sarplaninac. She is a rare breed that originates from the areas now known as Serbia and Macedonia. She is fully grown now and able to take her place by Arrow's side. Well, mostly.
	Digit, our Rottie is almost grown - he turned 3 in August (2010). We thank everyone for being so patient with his exuberance. Over the summer and fall we will continue to work on his manners.

New Additions

We have also added two new herd sires to our rabbitry. They were imported from New York. Meet Wonka and Rolo. Rolo is especially friendly.

Losses

	Over this past year we sold our horse, Q. He went back to the lady who owned him before us and seems very happy. We now have two new horses: Tanker, an 11 year old chestnut (red) gelding and Rooster, a 16 year old dark bay mare.
	We also lost our most senior goose this year, Nemisis. He was hatched in 1994, which made him 17. He had become unable to walk, and we were keeping him in the house and putting him outside by the front step during the day. Sadly, we weren't watching closely enough and a coyote took him.

Places Our Ducks Have Been

Other places we've been can be found here

Candling Tutorial

We continue to make progress on the candling tutorial this year. All of the pages have now been converted to the new design. This means that the old website will no longer be available. This section has now been expanded to include more than just how to candle fresh eggs. This section now also follows the development of the duckling from fertilization to hatching. We're still not finished, but there is lots more than before.

Reference

Reference pages usually have links to specific pages in this website as well as links to other resources on the web. They are organized by category: The Hatching Program, For Teachers, All About Ducks, Incubation, and Eggs. There may some resources listed on multiple pages because they deal with more than one thing. If you come across any resources you find particularly useful, feel free to let us know.

The University of Nebraska 4H Extension is at it again…. they are now on YouTube where they have placed some of their famous Egg-Cam videos. We have linked to some of them on our ducks page.

Ever wondered if free-range eggs are any different than commercial (store-bought) ones? Meet Real Free-Range Eggs From Mother Earth News On our All About Eggs page.

Waterfowl Vocalizations: About the calls that ducks and geese make (from Ducks Unlimited). On the About Ducks page.

Other Resources

in 2009: Building a Candler using an Overhead Projector

Activities

The Activities page has been made accessible from the main navigation bar (at left). New activities will be added as time allows.

Photos / For Fun / Extras

I have moved my entire photo album to a separate part of the website. The pictures are all up, with many new ones, but the captions will take a little while to include, so please be patient.

There are a number of new sections this year:

• Animal Visitors Photos of some of the wildlife that lives around the farm.
• Pikachu's Big Litter One of our bunny moms had a litter of 11 babies - ALL of which survived. She's a GOOD mom.
• Play Time Our Dogs at Play
• Working Our Dogs at Work
• Seya-Rubic The Rookie Guardian Dog

All of the clipart, borders and backgrounds can now be found as part of the photo album; check under Resources.

We have over 500 new photos for 2009. This year we will have over 2,000 photos in the gallery.

Rabbit Stuff

The University of Nebraska 4H Extension is at it again…. they are now on YouTube with informative short videos about rabbit showmanship and care. We have linked to some of them on our rabbit page.

We have added new pictures to the Rabbit (Rex) Coat Colour (genetics) Primer page. If you've ever wondered how rabbits can come in so many different colours, this page will show you how it works. Even though the details differ, the principles are the same for all animals so you can also use as a primer for animal coat colour genetics in general.

Vocabulary / Language Arts

In the Works.......

Places That Usually Get Some Updating Every Year