Recent content by 3bird

Here's one of the last pictures we took of Rosie and Ella Pickle together. :love

Thank you. Yes, Ella was in the same room (but separate brooder) when Rosie died, and we spent some time letting Ella see her the next morning. She was very quiet and looked at Rosie very intently. We think she knows.

Thank you so much! We so appreciate all your help and advice. We're working to get the big ducks to accept Ella Pickle. They are terrified of her right now, but we need to get her living outside with them. Little steps each day....

Ella is doing okay. The big ducks are still terrified of her. Yesterday she stayed out in the field with Stella, Goose and Martha, but they stayed pretty far apart most of the day (except when an osprey flew over). She follows them (and us) around during supervised free range. She seems like she...

Thank you so very much! It means a lot.

Rosie died last night. We're not sure what actually happened. The first vet we saw (when our vet was on vacation) said that she suspected something more serious (genetic abnormality) could be going on that would manifest itself later. We are not going to do a necropsy. We feel very lucky to...

It's VERY tight....but we're working on it.

Thanks! She is not terribly interested in the treats. She gets most excited for greens. It's hard to measure how much grain she is actually eating, but it's not enough. She does seem to like snails, and those seem to be good calories, so we may try more foraging type food today.

It's been a while since we've posted a Rosie update. We got the Walkin' Pets Feathered Friends wheelchair, and after having it around her for a few days, we popped her in it for the first time time today. Rosie is progressing with daily PT and swimming, and she is surprisingly (to us) pretty...

Honestly, had it been an eagle or a large owl, I don't think it would not have made a difference if we were there or not. I'm not sure if this guy was a juvenile who simply misjudged his or her prey, but thankfully everyone was okay.

People often ask how best to keep their ducks "safe." The hard truth is that you can't. All you can do is manage the risk. We manage the risk with a predator proof run at night and when we are away. Our next level of risk tolerance is the fenced pastures around the duckrun with plenty of...

We feed outside and then offer a mealworm treat in the house. They always come running!

We are looking into wheelchairs right now, and we've gotten a quote on the Walkin' Pets Feathered Friends Wheechair. It's not inexpensive, but the aluminum frame is so much lighter than the DIY one we made. Here is the link. We have two concerns: 1) Will she outgrow it? and 2) the wheels look...

I'm so sorry. Rosie is doing okay. The bandage came off and she had her first post surgery swim yesterday.

Rosie went back to the vet yesterday and had her bandage and splint removed. The tendon is in place, which is good. There was some irritation around some of the suture sites, so she got antibiotic ointment, gauze and vet wrap, so probably three more days of no swimming. We have a lot of PT ahead...