The Quack Shack

[Muscovy Wunda]

We do, like I wrote, we just don't have raccoons... Or I thought that we didn't, @WannaBeHillBilly is suggesting otherwise and he may be right. Which is troublesome. Because in my view a raccoon is more stealthy and more dexterous than a drunk village boy causing trouble on a dare, and probably also more than a sober one.

Arr sorry brain read it wrong. Foxes here will snatch and run if they know they may get caught staying too long. They are scarely smart. Only takes a week for them to work out a dog on a chain can't stop them.

 

[Miss Lydia]

A picture of the teenage runners - this is the best I could get of the four of them, lol. They are very fast little things. Please excuse the muddy bucket.

They are fast, I love them so pretty

 

[Miss Lydia]

We use to be covered up with Raccoons even in the daytime they would come around then about 10 yrs ago we had a rabies epidemic and wiped out a big majority and so far they haven't made a big comeback. It was so bad that the gov dropped bait with the rabies vac in it. Did it again last year too.

Good Sunday Morning and Evening to each and every one of you.
Pouring rain here.

 

[Canadian Wind]

Greetings everyone. Dragonflies are starting to come out, finally! I hope they do something about all the skeeters!

 

[rjohns39]

Good morning / evening folks

Spend a few days in the hospital and come back and be 20+ pages behind.

Happy Birthday @Canadian Wind have a wonderful day!

 

[Summer_]

Hello

 

[Supercow]

Soo...

** A story about xenophobic ducks **

Since one of our ducks was taken by a mysterious stranger in the night we went out to get another one.

Had 6, then down to 5, we now have 8. This must be the duck math I hear so much about.

The breeder that we got the new 3 from is not such a boutique operation as our original source... He keeps about 200 ducks of 5 breeds. We did not get a bunch of sisters like originally. Instead the 3 ducks seem to be of different ages with the older two being likely 3 to 3 and a half months old vs. our main flock of 4 and a half. The smallest youngest new duck is maybe 2 months old... Confirmed later on.

We asked specifically whether any trouble was to be expected when joining up the ducks. Naaaah no problem said the guy. Okay.

We originally wanted the new and the old group to spend half a day next to each other but separate. But both groups upon hearing and seeing each other immediately wanted to come together.

However, when we opened the gate between paddocks, there was immediately a problem with all our older ducks ganging up on the poor junior - jumping over her, pecking at her, even sitting on her... We packed her back into the transport cage (very roomy, intended for large dogs).

She was very stressed, spent an hour or two just lying down not doing anything. Eventually she recovered, drank some, washed her head, ate some soaked grain and lettuce, checked and rearranged her feathers... We then let the other ducks approach the cage while keeping watch.

This seems to work - while they occassionally peck at her through the bars, she does not seem to be bothered; continues to stand up, drink, eat, fluff her feathers... Event wants to squeeze through the bars to join the flock and peeps at them to call them close.

We don't think this is a good idea today since the first contact went so badly - we'll keep her in the cage inside the house tonight. Tomorrow we plan to make a small wire enclosure and keep her in there over the day, then maybe over the day retry the contact. In the evening we take the measure of the situation and decide whether another day like that is warranted or do we risk putting everybody in the duck house overnight.

The other two new ducks were bullied to some extent (pecked at, hopped over, pushed away from water / grain) but nothing to that degree. The older one even started pecking back. I rearranged water and grain containers in such a way that there were 2 of each at every "feeding station" throughout the orchard - so that if the old guard crowded out the newcomers, they would still have an option while staying with the flock. This worked fine.

Since the junior seems so young and we are not sure what to believe about the level of care she received so far we will be adding peas and brewer's yeast to her meals and see how far we can come on that.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Happy Sunday to Everybody!

@Miss Lydia - Yes, rain was pouring here too, like a shower, the rain-water was warm.
Electricity and Internet was gone all morning, but now eveything's back to normal and it has stopped raining.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

I notice you have a lot of plantain (Platango sp.) growing around your place. Did you know that not only is it edible, it is one of the most medicinally beneficial plants out there? I'm about to make some plantain salve to help with the itch of insect bites. But it doesn't have to be in that form for it, you can just apply some chewed up leaves to the bite for relief.

We - the ducks and i - know about the Plantago! - Three types are growing here, the one with the small, long leafs, the mid-size leafed and the one with the large leafs. The ducks love them, they eat the seeds and the young leafs and in return fertilize them. And root out the grass in the duck-yard, so that there's no competition.
I tried to eat the leafs myself, they are not to my taste. The roots make a good replacement for potatoes in soups, if you can harvest enough of them and manage to find large ones. The large leafed plants have bulbs in their root system - sometimes.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

A picture of the teenage runners - this is the best I could get of the four of them, lol. They are very fast little things. Please excuse the muddy bucket.

What kind of breed are they? - They almost look like Runner Mallards to me.