➡I accidentally bought Balut eggs: 2 live ducks! Now a Chat Thread!

[ShrekDawg]

Not psychic, but I've been accused of witchcraft a time or two.

Well you had to have read my mind somehow

 

[ShrekDawg]

Btw I started both Broadchurch and Sherlock

 

[ShrekDawg]

I can’t decide which one I like better lol

 

[ShrekDawg]

So where have you been!? Haha

 

[ShrekDawg]

He lived to be 29 and has been gone for many years. I still miss him. He was a very special horse.

Awww I’m sorry

 

[CrazyCrttr75]

Annabelle sat all day long yesterday. Just got up to take a swim a couple of times and munch on grasses and/or bugs around the yard briefly in the afternoon and evening. One time she was up off of the nest, we went in there to add shavings and fluff up their coop and stuff. After we were done with the porch area and went around to the back, she immediately went on the porch to make sure her nest was ok. Then DH went close to her and told her she was being a good momma and she hissed at him lol. I also noticed that she had some feathers in the nest area. She's trying to make it all nice and cozy. She's sitting again today and not moving. So, since she was off and on the first few days and not consistently sitting until now, do I start counting now? Or do I just ballpark it? Keep an eye out for babies anywhere from 24-27 days (since she's been semi-sitting for a few days now) or so from now? Just to keep watch. I guess I should have my incubator at the ready just in case as well huh? This is exciting.

 

[R2elk]

Annabelle sat all day long yesterday. Just got up to take a swim a couple of times and munch on grasses and/or bugs around the yard briefly in the afternoon and evening. One time she was up off of the nest, we went in there to add shavings and fluff up their coop and stuff. After we were done with the porch area and went around to the back, she immediately went on the porch to make sure her nest was ok. Then DH went close to her and told her she was being a good momma and she hissed at him lol. I also noticed that she had some feathers in the nest area. She's trying to make it all nice and cozy. She's sitting again today and not moving. So, since she was off and on the first few days and not consistently sitting until now, do I start counting now? Or do I just ballpark it? Keep an eye out for babies anywhere from 24-27 days (since she's been semi-sitting for a few days now) or so from now? Just to keep watch. I guess I should have my incubator at the ready just in case as well huh? This is exciting.

If she is like a turkey, when the ducklings hatch she will start talking to them when you come near her nest.

 

[CrazyCrttr75]

I need some advice y'all. I'm trying to plan ahead. This is my duck area. It's around 48'x40'.

A closer look at the coop.
Front

Originally it was just an open porch and we put sides and a door on to lock them up. Then I came up with a better fold up ramp idea. At night, we pull the ramp up and it has a latch on each side to lock it in place. Then when we let them out in the morning, we just unlatch it and lower it down. Kind of like a drawbridge I guess. So that inner door is just decorative at this point. It stays open at all times. You can see a rectangular area cut out above the inner door. It's covered in HC. The upper portion of the porch is covered in HC on each side. Just helps with ventilation. The sides have those 2 vents. We're going to put 2 more on the other side, just haven't yet. And we want to put on a metal roof. We still need to do that. The black thing on the back is a solar fan that helps circulating the air etc. Then the drop down drawer where I can scoop out the poop, which they love to do right at that back door, clean and/or refresh shavings. It's rough and definitely could use some touch-ups but we make it work.
Side Back


My concern is this. Annabelle likes behind the door area. We normally keep their food and one of their waterers on the porch. It helps keep their food from getting a soggy mess if it rains. I also like that Annabelle has close access to food and water. Not sure that matters, but I like it. I need help coming up with where to move momma and babies. The coop isn't exactly huge, where I can partition them off. Should I build? Would it be easier to buy something? What do I really need or should look in to buying? So basically I am just trying to plan ahead. Am I even making sense lol?

 

[littleprairieheartsfarm]

I need some advice y'all. I'm trying to plan ahead. This is my duck area. It's around 48'x40'.
View attachment 1796561
A closer look at the coop.
Front
View attachment 1796567 View attachment 1796570
Originally it was just an open porch and we put sides and a door on to lock them up. Then I came up with a better fold up ramp idea. At night, we pull the ramp up and it has a latch on each side to lock it in place. Then when we let them out in the morning, we just unlatch it and lower it down. Kind of like a drawbridge I guess. So that inner door is just decorative at this point. It stays open at all times. You can see a rectangular area cut out above the inner door. It's covered in HC. The upper portion of the porch is covered in HC on each side. Just helps with ventilation. The sides have those 2 vents. We're going to put 2 more on the other side, just haven't yet. And we want to put on a metal roof. We still need to do that. The black thing on the back is a solar fan that helps circulating the air etc. Then the drop down drawer where I can scoop out the poop, which they love to do right at that back door, clean and/or refresh shavings. It's rough and definitely could use some touch-ups but we make it work.
Side Back
View attachment 1796574 View attachment 1796568

My concern is this. Annabelle likes behind the door area. We normally keep their food and one of their waterers on the porch. It helps keep their food from getting a soggy mess if it rains. I also like that Annabelle has close access to food and water. Not sure that matters, but I like it. I need help coming up with where to move momma and babies. The coop isn't exactly huge, where I can partition them off. Should I build? Would it be easier to buy something? What do I really need or should look in to buying? So basically I am just trying to plan ahead. Am I even making sense lol?

I’ll be honest, I have no idea.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Sorry not to bring this up again but I’m actually happy about it/proud soooo....

I think today is the first day in a while that I actually feel good and like actually had a truly good day and not one of those half good ones. None of that half good half bad or starting good but then I start thinking negative stuff. That hasn’t happened yet today! And it’s great.

It’s especially good cause I think I’m finally rounding a corner on wanting to break and this little depression spell. Last night I thought I didn’t care anymore. I thought I didn’t care about getting to 5 years clean or even staying clean at all. Today I do. Big difference.

Coincidentally I also started praying again last night and have been listening to a bunch of Christian music today. Specifically like two artists who seem to always speak directly to me lol so I think that has something to do with it. I know not all of you will but I do.

The main reason being that yesterday I literally went and bought some stuff, course I was also at the store for other reasons but still, purposely bought stuff with the sole purpose of breaking, and I almost did, but then I prayed and literally like 10 minutes later when I’m on Spotify for something else and right after I finish listening to a friend’s new song on there, I get a notification/pop up thingy for a new album/new music. Normally I don’t click on those and just listen to the album later but for some reason this time I did and I listened to it right then and honestly, I realize this sounds crazy, but I feel like some of the songs were literally speaking directly to me and about the same issues I asked about. And funny thing, I like this band and even follow them on Twitter and Spotify, yet somehow had no idea they had a new album coming out, yet it just happened to pop up at the exact moment I needed it, have the exact lyrics to help, and happened to be a Christian band.... yeah... idk. I realize I sound insane but it just seems a little too coincidental to me. Like that it can’t be.

Either way, whether it was just a coincidence, or on purpose, it helped. A lot. And I’ve had that album and specifically the 3 songs that helped me on repeat today along with some other songs that also really help/speak to me aha so I’ve been trying to just blast those songs thinking maybe if I do that then I won’t have room in my brain to think about anything else. Seems to be working so far haha

But yeah.

Idk.

I think I might be turning a corner and I think I might make it after all.

Which is good cause last night I was a little scared at how I thought I was starting to just not care and thought I was going to just do it anyway but apparently I do still care and just had to be reminded of that.

Oh and I also threw everything away. I literally bought one of those cheap pack things with a bunch of them in it yesterday But today I threw the entire pack away. Waste of $2 but I think staying clean is far more important than $2 ha

I didn’t post here cause I didn’t want to be annoying or weird or be one of those people that’s always negative plus I told myself I know deep down that I’m not going to do it anyway so no point posting about it. I didn’t believe myself last night. I thought for sure last night might be the night that I actually DO break for once. Since I didn’t think I cared anymore. But I was wrong. I didn’t do it. And I do care. And turns out I was right about that part, about how I wasn’t going to do it anyway.

But anyway, idk. The past like week and a half, two weeks, have been really challenging, some of the most challenging for years in terms of staying clean, just because I keep thinking about it quite a lot and, more than that, worse than that, keep finding things to do it with and coming closer than ever. But I now believe that I am finally rounding a corner. I truly don’t want to break anymore and I feel a lot better now. So now I think I can make it till August. It doesn’t seem quite as far away now.

And also another thing I keep telling myself is I have a lot of concerts in June and July and some of them are my friends, so I keep saying I want to be able to say I’m 5 years clean. Now, obviously, I won’t tell most of them that, but there is one in particular that knows some stuff and knows I was trying to get clean a while ago and at the time I told him I was 9 months clean but he doesn’t know anything else (like that that particular time I relapsed at 14 months, might leave this part out ha) but I’ve been wanting to say that I did finally get clean for a while and the 5 year mark I think is the perfect time to do it. Might leave some stuff out ha but we’ve known each other since like 2011 so I really want to update him. I think he’ll be thrilled haha my primary reason for not having yet is because I’m usually just too shy and get nervous in person and it’s never the right time ha but I want to be able to say I’m still clean and not say well I ALMOST got to 5 years but then I effed it up aha that’s true even if I never tell anyone. I just mostly want to be able to say it for myself. I don’t want to be so close and then mess it up. I think I will be very mad at myself and very upset about that for a while.

ANYWAY.

Probably about time to end this dissertation.