More ducklings

With the Lao New Year behind us we were given more ducklings. And more are expected to arrive - soon.
Other then that we've had a potential thief trying to get inside the fenced area.

Bee's brother-in-law chased the man away. It was dark so he wasn't able to see the man. But action on the farm is always interesting. So there are "elements" who want to steal this precious product risking to be caught, sliced and diced...

Now we're just looking forward to some cooler weather, which is very far away at the moment.

Nevertheless, we're building more fencing and creating more shade and shelter for the ducks.
The pictures to this post are from the latest hatching. Note the duckling sitting on top of the duck.

/Mikael and Bee

A good sign - at last!

Now, finally - bad luck has turned.
Five days ago a duck produced 12 new ducklings! It's a breakthrough really.
We know that our ducks are mature to produce ducklings, but dry season and the cold nights have thrown their reproductional behavior down the Mekong - not literally meant.
Enjoy the photos and please leave a comment!


Best, 
Mikael

In between vaccinations

New update;

The typhoon Ketsana came over Savannakhet and for three days the temperature went down by at least 10 degrees Celsius. So of course my ducks got a cold. From 80 ducks to devastating 35 ducks are left of the flock. It all happened between the first vaccination and second. Then there will be a third vaccination. The vaccinations should keep the ducks from developing colds. This is Laos, expect the unexpected.

So I'm pretty much back at stage zero. Breeding new ducklings that are going to be breeders, it's going to take another 8 months before I can go into production. Horrible, but this is reality.

I've still got 35 ducks who could produce at least 200 new duckling a month in about two months from now, hopefully this will be fruitful. Again, expect the unexpected.

Prehistoric Ducks

Hi! Bee (my fiancée) and I visited the Dinosaur museum in Savannakhét today. No ducks there, we weren't surprised. Ducks are prehistoric indeed, look at the picture! Fantastic fowl named "Vegavis" found by an Argentinian expedition to Antarctica.

The museum had donated air-conditioning units by the Thai consulate here in Savannakhét. Next door to the prehistoric museum the main gateway for fiber optic cable from the capital; Vientiane, is being built. That building looks prehistoric already and was supposed to have been finalized in 2006. It's going to be finalized in 2010.
For the prehistoric museum(s) I really hope that they will become enlightened by the benefits of having their next door neighbor as the Internet gateway with fiber optic cable.
I this case I will offer my services to build a sitting room for children to view and learn about the history of Laos and Indochina, put it into a regional context and into a world perspective. This might be successful as the gateway will serve as a transfer point to retrieve loads of information fast. Most information retrievable over the Internet is in English (sorry for omissions), less is to be found in Lao, but Laotians are fast learners and interested as well, so I don't see any holdbacks in the population as far as I can see.

So why do we need Internet again? Our minister (Swedish) for communication once said that the Internet was just a temporary project, like a new pop artist, comes and goes. Internet is not pop. It's not religion, it's not what it is, it is what one choose to make out of it.

I think Laotians are highly capable of making use of the Internet and its well of incredible resources and the incredible networks that may be woven.

I once got a question from a 21 year old young Laotian man; "- What is Internet?".
I asked him, do you have an e-mail address, I can send you a link. It was at the end of the day, very late, after a few beers and I didn't quite understand what I've said in reply when I realized what I've just said.
I took up my laptop, connected to the Internet with my cell phone and I showed him a text (in Lao) explaining the Internet. And he asked me, "- Is that text in there?
I answered; it's presented on the screen, but where this information is from, perhaps on another big big computer and I get it by using the Internet. It's as if I call a number with my telephone and it's the same number to access information to read and understand through my own computer. http://lo.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%BA%AD%E0%BA%B4%E0%BA%99%E0%BB%80%E0%BA%95%E0%BA%B5%E0%BB%80%E0%BA%99%E0%BA%B1%E0%BA%94

Not sure this link works for you, but I installed Lao charset on my MacBook. If you've ever seen the letters/signs of the Lao written language, it's close to Thai.
We spent many hours looking for information available in Lao, we found some, it's like walking into the local book store here in Savannakhét, not much really, more the feeling; "is this a liquidation sale?"

With access to the Internet I really wish that Laotians will be able to communicate in English to be able to preserve the minorities and local ethnicities, it's through the availability of communication that minorities are being kept, partial truth, I'm aware of that fact.

Back to the Dinosaur museum. The manager spoke a little bit of English, very polite gentleman. He told me during tourist season, prior 2008, there would be hundreds of visitors every day! Now it's only 5-10. He blamed it on the events in Bangkok and the closing of the International airport in 2008 as well as the swineflu H1N1. Global recession sure strikes educational and conservational institutions hard these times.
Here's a good excuse for traveling to Laos and in particular to Savannakhét. If you have a limited traveling budget and you want to make sure you can come back with money in your pocket this is the place to travel to. It's inexpensive, well worth time and money to visit Laos. Sadly the clientele is not mixed. The social classes don't mix much in public. Marriage between the social classes are not so appreciated as of its "class-culture". I'm a poor man, so I'm accepted by most, in addition, I'm from the "Western hemisphere", so there again I "pass". Social classes - breaking traditions - modernity versus tradition. Super topics that I reflect upon daily, sometimes for hours. I have a glass of water, stare into the bamboo forest at my home, trying to figure out how come this goverment allow people to play cards, drink beer and being without a paid job (with survivable pay), being confined in illiteracy, many can read alright, but what is there to be read. I found a book yesterday; approx. 20 pages, compiling world tyrants inter-mingeled; Adolf Hitler, Mao, Lenin, Stalin, Reagan, Castro, Che, Gorbachev and many more. Wow. I want to buy it, I'll get it and post it here, and have sections translated. It would be highly interested how those world impacting political figures are depicted/described in Lao!


Now m going to have a cigarette and a drink, calm down and reflect over our visit to the Dinosaur museum, perhaps I'll take a walk along the Mekong and watch the chocolate colors of the river.

'Til then, stay sharp!

Duck farming - not a straightforward business

I've not been posting for a loooong while. Partly because I know that there are a limited amount of persons reading my postings. And I e-mail with these persons about the duck farm and the daily life here in Laos. Unless, I'm mistaken... I'm not getting any comments so I figured that this is the case, right?
Or is it all so bloody uninteresting that it surpasses all those 500 visits of my blog? - I sure hope not.

Here's something to chew on;
Daniel Hirschler; your ducks are coming out nicely, food is short but there is just plenty on the rice fields right now so I'm relocating 10 of your ducks. Their names are; (1) Rubber Duckie, (2) Lucky Duck, (3) Simply Duck, (4) Rogue Duck, (5) Simply Duck, (6) Little Duckie, (7) Lao-cky Duck, (8) Sticky Duck, (9) Rice field Ducky and (10) Boune's Penguin Duck.
They will be ready as per your arrival, Sir. As for the mission you requested with plenty ducks, let me know so I can begin those preparations.
And yes, your 10 ducks are going to be vaccinated this week, I'll take pictures and send you.

Yesterday, We (my fiancée and I) went for a nice touring on the countryside on our motorbike. I took some great shots, we saw That Phonh Stupa, Wat Sisaket and the Palm Garden, the stone house in Huean Hin and the stones of Kong Phanang. Fantastic! We drove some 200 km and it was all wild and crazy, the roads were very bumpy because of the rainy season. Mud all over!
We drove at night from Kong Phanang all the way back to Savannakhét, it was not too fun I'd say. People in huge Toyota Vigo's drive as if they own the road. We were, for sure, close to be ran over by at least 5-6 Vigo's last night - if it weren't for my highly skillful driving - damn you Vigobusers!

Enjoy the photage!

EUR 300 investment by Mr. J. Thurdin

We have now received the second investor into the ecologic duck farm. We are most grateful to the transfer of EUR 300 to our duck farming account and we have now accumulated vaccine and plastic fencing for the enlargement of the grazing area. We thank you Mr. J. Thurdin for your trust and confidence in our duck farm, once again, thank you!

EUR 50 investment by Mr. D. Hirschler

I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the investment of EUR 50 made by Mr. Daniel Hirschler from Cologne in Germany. His private incentive to invest in the duck farm has led to the purchase of 20 ducklings and food ration for 2 weeks. Splendid! Thank you very much!

sudden death

Last week I wrote that there was progress. Well, this week has been awful. The ducks caught a cold, I lost 40% of my livestock. What is there to write. I've been having the fire going night and day now for a week, it has been awful, simply awful. No pictures of this.
Finally, the antidote; garlic. I fed them garlic and the rampant behavior of the illness stopped. Now I've stabilized the situation and no more deaths. They are fighting the illness and some are really getting back to the alert and curious behavior of the Muscovy duck.
The forest farm has really developed and the ducks now have access to naturally flowing water. The pictures I've put on this post are on the transfer of the ducks from the duckling farm to the forest farm.

Cash is running low, since I have to re-invest the ducks I lost. It's tough and I'm really in need of an investor. I got one of my friends as a partner to invest, which is going to make this month turn around. For next month, that's written in the stars.

the forest farm

Wow, lately there has been a lot of progress. Yes, the ducks in the breeding farm is growing very well. We put three flocks together and they are now integrated, not fully, but nearly so.
The forest farm, well, we're clearing a forest from the dense vegetation so we may be able to keep a close eye on the ducks. It's going really well although we began the clearing two weeks delayed from schedule. But two weeks is not a problem really. Our flock is very large for the area we keep them at the moment, the move will really be something different for them and I wish with positive effects.
We've had some strange incidents with three ducks that have picked feathers and they have been cut slightly, very strange. I saw coagulated blood in these cuts and I separated these duck into 'sick bay'. They are eating and drinking as normal. They are recovering. I'm not sure if there is some kind of cannibalism going on or what. It'll show sooner or later. I need to spot the ducks that are hostile and cull them, that's all.
There are no traces of other animals that may have entered the duckling farm so I'm pretty sure that there is severe picking/cannibalism going on.

p h o t o s (IV)

Hi! I took these shots today and now we've transferred about 50 ducks from the first duckling farm, where we grow them in the very beginning of the broiling process. They're between 1-1,5 months on these pictures.
Weight is between 500 gr. to 1500 gr.
Enjoy the photos, and if you have questions please leave them directly under the comment section! :-)

p h o t o s (III)

My desk at the duckling farm.

p h o t o s (II)

The duckling farm. This is where I raise the ducklings until they're about 1,5 to 2 months old. Then they're transferred to the forest farm. Why the transfer? Well, food and drinks are free in the forest! And it provides the duckling farm with space for new arriving ducklings, so it's a rotation system. All-in all-out, we sanitize the duckling farm and it really makes the managing of the two farms far easier. Another feature is that the ducks in the forest can breed. I select the ones who are going to be sold and the ones who are being kept for breeding.

The forest is a natural habitat and it is possible to keep a close eye on the ducks. The newly hatched ducklings are transferred to the duckling farm to increase growth rate and keep mortality rate down.

p h o t o s

Here are some photos from the test farm I built on the rice field. It worked really great. The ducks were happy and healthy, grew quickly and developed flight feathers well.

i n c e n t i v e s (III)

OK, I'm typing away again. I want to write about the very first steps I took before buying the first ducks at the farm.
Initially I wanted to integrate the duck farm on the rice fields. The ducks eat insects without munching into the rice plants and they fertilize. When rainy season approached I prepared the rice fields to hold the ducks, fencing, fresh water and shelter. Turned out that our rice farmer neighbor, who never used pesticides, was now going to use them. This is not good for the ducks, they die, so I had to rethink. At this time I had 34 ducks ready to walk on the rice fields, and about 200 on the preparation farm. I'll return to explain about the preparation farm later.

I found a different property, thankfully this belongs to my fiancée. There is now a forest to my disposal, 2 Hectares (nearly 5 Acres) of forest, natural shade, access to clean water, open grass areas and insects. This area can be used for at least 1000 ducks, perhaps more. And there is more land that we can rent, with a low price tag, in the neighboring area. Another feature is that it's all isolated from people and traffic. Couldn't be better.
The only negative thing is that there is no electricity. I'm looking into getting a windmill that will generate electricity. With the windmill I will have to be able to store the charge with batteries. This can turn out quite expensive but it's better than a gasoline or diesel driven generator for electricity. Perhaps I can get more effect out of the gasoline engine, but the noise and the cost for gasoline and the maintenenace of it is way way too steep.
To make sense of the word and its definition; ecologic, I'd better stick to wind or solar power. Both solutions come out expensive, that's not too good.
Right now I'm sketching on the idea of building my own windmill, not buying one off the shelf, I think it will work out real good!

i n c e n t i v e s (II)

Picking up the keyboard where I left it last...
So, after careful evaluation I decided to move to Laos. I've been living here for the last four months. I love it.
It's very dynamic to say the least. Incredible poverty and the social classes, yes; there are Soviet flags hanging everywhere, so I may stick to the word of 'classes', are getting more and more apart. Super class vs. Extremely poor class. Day by day more and more beggars are showing up on the streets. Children, women with children, old women. These are people from the country side, East of the Mekong river living in the forests who sought a better future in the larger city of Savannakhet. Hmmm... it's going to get worse. Social welfare in the footprints of communism and workers' movements; never. Sink or swim.

After about a month of planning I decided to start investing. At first I wanted to start a chicken farm. Which later turned out, of various reasons which I will return to explain later on, to be a ecologic duck farm.
I don't regret it. Ducks are lovely animals and I had no prior knowledge in how to even start a duck farm, and less about how to run it. I read and studied as much material I could overcome in short time. And as of now I have over 300 ducks.
They are growing well, with various results of course, but I had several great components that made my incentive to be a future business that may change things within a short period of time. An overall objective I have is to be able to run a business so that I can survive here. The other objective is to find a sustainable solution to 'clean up' the ducks sold at local markets here in Savannakhet. Cleaner and healthier ducks will lead to a safer environment for the people who live here. So my work may have great impact in the future; in the very nearby future, I hope!

i n c e n t i v e s

Prior to my final decision to move to Laos I lived in Los Angeles. I worked as a IT-consultant. Business went down, crisis. So I made a drastic change and moved, not only from Los Angeles, but also away from my Scandinavian heritage, Swedish citizen as I am.
I've been studying music for a long time, since I was six. Kept going, scholarship to Berklee College of Music in Boston USA. My studies ended shortly after the WTC-attacks in 2001. Economy went down, I ran out of options and I went back home, home to safety and the 'totalities of social welfare'. Well, guess what, 'last communist outpost'; Sweden, I didn't exactly 'fall in love' with my new life. I went into depression. I kept on going for about a year sorting out a new life-direction. Which certainly didn't result the way I planned!

I landed, by coincidence at Malmö University; International Migration and Ethnic Relations. I studied, studied and studied. Theory, books and sterile lecturing finally made me give up. I made a last attempt to find my way through my studies by engaging in writing my combined bachelor's and master's thesis by doing a field study in Tajikistan - twice.
Well, field study turned out to be my thing really, writing and compiling it into an academically acceptable publication turned out to total failure. Which made me awfully sad.

Well, as my professor once said; "-Don't try to achieve what you can't achieve". Nice words, thoughtful of him. I'll keep that in mind and I will try not to achieve anything, since that is the motivation that most people in this world is continuously trying to combat day after day. Another human obsession, to be very provocative to say the least; is the human obsessive behavior in stepping on other people, abuse humanity to his/her personal lusts. I don't need to ask you as a reader to suck on those words too long, you probably think that I'm a pessimist and bitter over my past experiences and that all my i n c e n t i v e s are due to fail. Which is partly true. Any incentive fails. If it's the initial faith you had in creating a new business or any engagement where your focus was on contributing to a better world, you manage to fail those initial incentives due to your limitations and 'utopist' ideals where you could not withstand for more than 'a moment'. I believe this is a global problem.

Cutting to the chase. As a provocateur, which has lately become a developing obsession of mine, to stir and shake things up, makes readers and listeners rise eyebrows, perhaps rethink their past and do things slightly differently from how things 'always has been working'. My simplified analysis about rethinking how we live now and destruct the world for future generations must come closer to an end and a new self-conscious and reflexive behavior is to be promoted. The grand question, which we will eternally fail to answer; how do we change the destructive behavior of mankind. Which leads me back to my very clever professors' statement; "-Don't try to achieve what you can't achieve".