G Freden

Thanks Jay;  the flock is mostly integrated now, after a rocky start.  I wanted the newbies to be familiar with the whole garden and their new life, so initially I was keeping the mated pair locked up in their yard while they free ranged all day;  then everyone locked up in two separate yards overnight.  After about a week of this, the drake began breaking out of his yard in the middle of the night and into the newbies' (my small daughter was convinced he flew in and out).  After several nights of this, we just began locking them all up together, in the newbies' yard.  The original duck was very confused about being herded into this new yard, but the drake knew exactly where to go!

Now a month on, they all free range together and sleep in the same yard overnight.  I've seen them all peacefully wandering about, and have even collected the first two eggs.  I still hear the occasional quack during the day, but much less often, and for much shorter duration.  And the drake sometimes still chases them, but they seem to be less bothered about it.

I didn't get any complaint from the other neighbour--we are pretty sure his bedroom is at the front of the house, like mine (I can't hear them at all).  And nothing from the first neighbour either, so hopefully everyone is sleeping fine.

One more Ikea duvet cover!  I love finding these in charity shops as they are usually 100% cotton.  Here are our matching dresses (and Barbie got one too, not pictured)!

Looks good.  Will you be able to add the pockets, maybe at the side seams?  

I made myself some jammies out of an old Ikea duvet cover I bought at a charity shop last summer:  100% cotton seersucker.  I made my small daughter a matching pair, and then her Barbie a pair too (photos not included).  I copied the top from a pair I already own and the bottoms from a trousers pattern, shortened (also bought at a charity shop).  My daughter's and Barbie's pairs I drafted from scratch, after watching multiple youtube videos.  

I enjoyed making and wearing them so much, I've made two more pairs of longie jammies in the same style;  from a flower print Ikea flannel sheet, and from a plain lavender flannel sheet, again both charity shop finds.

Nice view!

It would be fairly easy to cut off the sleeves at the top the of the lacing and hem them to be short sleeves--either turn under and hem (will be a bit sloppy) or use bias tape to hem.  Then if the neckline is too big, use a large piece of the cut off sleeve to make an inset at the neckline.  I did a very quick photoshop :)  

Or just make a skirt of it?  If it doesn't have pockets yet, add some too!  

We've been eating our broccoli plants, little by little.  First the broccoli.  Then the leaves, mainly cooked as namul, but also cooked like plain cabbage--good with our Sunday roast dinner today.  I know broccoli stems/stalks are good to eat too (after peeling) though I've never tried my own, only the supermarket ones.  Maybe I'll give them a shot once I've picked all the leaves.  

I had a hard time keeping mine watered enough when in a container;  my potatoes came out pretty small.  If I had to grow them in containers, I'd make sure my potting soil was really rich and moisture retentive.  

Thank you Jay, I would never have considered just crating that jerk drake overnight, but maybe that would be the best option.  Today I've let the new ducks out to free range while the two oldies are still locked up in their yard.  Newbies have been hanging out next to the oldies' yard most of the day but I'll try to get them herded back into their own temporary yard overnight, to make sure any panic attacks don't happen next to the neighbour who complained.

We recently adopted three young Cherry Valley ducks from a rescue charity;  apparently they are just a couple months old, though full sized, and have been raised in a barn with very limited human contact.  We got them about a month ago and boy are they nervous!  Everything (still) scares them, and they quack LOUDLY.  Including in the middle of the night and early morning, and I've had a complaint from a neighbour.  She was polite about it, but obviously this needs to be sorted out.

Probable reason for all-hours quacking:  we have two more ducks, a mated pair, and the drake has been very aggressive towards them.  Drakes are jerks in my opinion, but we've had this guy and his lovely mate for eight years now.  He lives here, it's not really an option to get rid of him;  his mate would be heartbroken I'm sure.  He's been chasing them around in daylight hours, so probably doing it all night too.  But these three ducks quack a lot, not just when being chased.

My quick fix after talking to the neighbour the other day:  we locked up the mated pair in their own small yard and made another temporary small yard for the new ducks on the other side of the garden.  Now the newbies are next to the neighbour on the other side and it may be he will want to have a word with me in the coming days too!  So this is not a long term solution.

Long term options?  Thinking out loud here:

I have a chicken coop and yard, with eleven chickens.  Is it feasible to keep the new ducks locked up with the chickens and put them away at night in the coop?  The coop is on that neighbour's side of the garden, but perhaps being inside would muffle any unsociable quacking?

I also have a small detached garage which we use as a large shed;  new ducks could be locked up at night in there too (but I dread to think of the mess).  

And one more place to separate them:  we have a small coop and yard (currently empty) at my allotment, a few blocks away.  We are not allowed cockerels on the allotments as we are a bit close to some houses (not as close as my neighbours though);  while I'm willing to risk bringing them there, I may also get another noise complaint.

However, ideally I want to integrate all the ducks;  they had all been free ranging over the whole garden together until the complaint.  This is not the first time we've adopted new ducks, but none of the others were this nervous and loud.  The last time we adopted new ducks it took a couple of months for that jerk drake to accept them.  I can't let them wake the neighbours up for that long.  Any suggestions please?