Do they have access to a pond that is fished? Reminds me of the squeeze style sinkers
Any experience with lead poisoning please?
- Thread starter Kimmyh51
- Start date
I thought that too! We don't have a pond, just two "big" (300+ gallon) pools. I wondered if I had used sinkers for some odd project, lost it and forgot about it. That seems like a stretch even for me though. I hate blaming the soil or mulch we've had delivered, but we have found a lot of weird stuff in both the soil and mulch. I never really thought about where they get the soil or stuff that they compost for their compost blends until we started finding things like bottle caps and a Lego person hat in the soil. Forest/hunting land and farms are getting bulldozed and turned into housing developments all the time. Seems like there's a chance that stray bits of lead could make it through their screens if bottle caps and Lego hats can make it through.
First, I hope you're feeling better!
Second, I probably should have said that I try not to let Phoebe "crawl". She can definitely move quickly when she does crawl, but it looks like it would be painful and I've been concerned that she might rub her skin off so I try to grab her as soon as I can if I see her walking and notice she's not actually on her feet. I try to stay with her when she's in the kitchen or livingroom where she's walking on vinyl or hardwood to make sure she doesn't crawl on hard floors. The area rug in the livingroom and the bedroom floor both have a few layers of blankets so I haven't been as worried about her crawling a short distance in those areas since it's very soft. But I'll definitely try to limit it more now that you've reminded me about their tendons. I've thought that I might be a little too careful when I'm carrying her, but I don't want to do anything that might hurt the poor girl and cause more problems for her!
We don't let our fowls free range anymore. We used to let them out of their yard to wander our yard when we were home but decided it was too risky when they started going into the neighbors yard. The neighbors use fertilizers, herbicides and insecticides in their lawn area and I didn't want my birds eating that stuff. We just have a patchy lawn that's full of weeds and mole tunnels. More mole tunnels since we stopped letting the birds out to eat the grubs and bugs. Oh well. Our property is a smidge over 6 acres and the darn birds had to go pester the neighbors. - Side story, we got a call once asking us to come get our chickens because one of them had "trapped" the neighbor on his porch. He said it was a really mean rooster and he couldn't get it to leave. I told him I'd come get them as soon as I got home from work but I still had about an hour left at work and an hour drive home. Then added that we didn't have a rooster that looked like the chicken he was describing so it was either a hen or someone else's chicken. Either way, it's usually really easy to scare them away by "shooing" them with a broom...and this was a grown man complaining about not being able to leave his house because there was a chicken outside.
But I agree, predators strike fast. Sorry to hear about your losses this year! We've had a lot of those years unfortunately. And our fowl yard is relatively close to our house. We can see it from almost every window along the back and side of our house. Still, there were times when we were outside doing whatever, walked inside to get a glass of water, came back out and a bird was gone. I don't think we ever had more than 6 or 8 ducks at once before and we've always lost at least 5 or 6 ducks/chickens to predators every year. Of course, we were also surrounded by a couple hundred acres of forest and all sorts of critters that live in undisturbed forest. The last predator attack we had was by two dogs back in 2018. We're always on the lookout for predators though. Figure they'll get used to the tacky new development eventually and will come back.
I also tend to agree about whether or not one can have too many ducks. If I was willing to cut down enough trees to open up space for a pond...and could figure out how to drill into one of our natural springs without it costing a ridiculous amount of money, I'd probably have even more ducks. Sure they're loud sometimes and can be a little stinky sometimes...but they're so much fun. Our "neighborhood" doesn't have any restrictions about pets or fowls and the county doesn't have any restrictions on animals. The people buying the new houses might not care for the ducks and chickens, especially the roosters, but that's what they get for moving out to the country! Should have stayed in the suburbs if they didn't want to live around critters. But back to the "too many" ducks issue, I agree. It's usually a matter of too many drakes or not enough house/swim space. We built two new duck houses last year and made the second bigger than we needed because if you can build a bigger house you might as well go for it. Build for fowls you don't have yet if you can. Because, be honest, you know you'll get the fowls eventually.
I am somewhat better today, because i cancelled that new medication. Imho it's better to live with high sugar values, than passing out due to hypoglycemia! My old medication was recalled due to contamination because of the sloppiness of the manufacturer. (I wonder if that stuff is produced in China…)
You are definitely not too careful when you pick Phoebe up and bring her to the location she wants to be instead of letting her heel-walk. I made that mistake with my drake Limpy and he got a bad infection on his left leg. Thanks to a bucket full of antibiotic ointment (Dollar Store), lots of vitamin-pills and other supplements he is still with us. Limping but proud!
On soft surfaces it isn't a problem.
Soft blankets-pile, stuffed-animals-pile - It sounds like your ducks have half of the house dedicated to them!
Why do you have in-door ducks? Isn't that a lot of work?
I had my duckies entirely free-ranging this spring, they plundered the frog and toad breeding grounds, their eggs were the size of coconuts (i exaggerate, of course!) and then suddenly the two Maggies were missing! Without a trace...
So they were confined to around the house for a while, until i couldn't resist the languid looks and tormented squeaks and let them free again. Big mistake! First Alba Duck went missing. A couple of days later Bazilla disappeared. Back to be confined around the house, with all undesirable consequences, like the mud flats between our house and their house:
The duck left of the AC is Limpy. He was sleeping most of the afternoon in this spot while the rest of the flocks turned the whole lot into a pile of mud - TS Zeta came through today with lots and lots of rain. - When i looked out of the window, he woke up, turned around and looked appalled of what he saw. He started rasping loudly as if he wanted to say »You're crazy? How am i supposed to limp through this mess?« He was really upset and limped all around the mud to the patio-stairs.
You are definitely not too careful when you pick Phoebe up and bring her to the location she wants to be instead of letting her heel-walk. I made that mistake with my drake Limpy and he got a bad infection on his left leg. Thanks to a bucket full of antibiotic ointment (Dollar Store), lots of vitamin-pills and other supplements he is still with us. Limping but proud!
On soft surfaces it isn't a problem.
Soft blankets-pile, stuffed-animals-pile - It sounds like your ducks have half of the house dedicated to them!
Why do you have in-door ducks? Isn't that a lot of work?I had my duckies entirely free-ranging this spring, they plundered the frog and toad breeding grounds, their eggs were the size of coconuts (i exaggerate, of course!) and then suddenly the two Maggies were missing! Without a trace...
So they were confined to around the house for a while, until i couldn't resist the languid looks and tormented squeaks and let them free again. Big mistake! First Alba Duck went missing. A couple of days later Bazilla disappeared. Back to be confined around the house, with all undesirable consequences, like the mud flats between our house and their house:
The duck left of the AC is Limpy. He was sleeping most of the afternoon in this spot while the rest of the flocks turned the whole lot into a pile of mud - TS Zeta came through today with lots and lots of rain. - When i looked out of the window, he woke up, turned around and looked appalled of what he saw. He started rasping loudly as if he wanted to say »You're crazy? How am i supposed to limp through this mess?« He was really upset and limped all around the mud to the patio-stairs.
Dang! Sorry to hear about your medication and sugar! That has to be tough to deal with. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense that medication that should be helping with your blood sugar should be making it go in the wrong direction. I'm a firm believer that generics aren't all the same. My pharmacy has been getting a different generic of one of my medications the past few months and I've had a migraine pretty much since I started taking the different "brand". Having a migraine for pretty much two months straight is fun!
Poor Limpy! Somehow I guessed which one he was before you pointed him out. I figured he must be the one looking at the camera giving you the stink eye! Our fowl yard tends to temporarily flood whenever we get heavy rain the past couple years since the forest next door is gone. Our ducks really seem to love when their yard floods. When it's raining really hard and I start thinking "Oh, poor fowls! I don't think a duck would even like this amount of rain!" and then I look out and see them "swimming" around in the huge puddles. They'll be out there doing the crazy sideways flappies all around their yard because it's like one giant puddle.
I didn't see Phoebe try to "crawl" a single time yesterday. She walks low sometimes and has to use her wings to balance herself sometimes. Like she'll start to tip a little and throws her wing out to catch herself. But she was doing walkies all over and stayed on her feet 100% of the time. She only walks relatively short distances, no more than 10-15 feet, but still. She's doing even better today. Granted, she's walking on nice soft surfaces so her feet aren't slipping on the hardwoods or vinyl floor. And she's still not walking super far, but a couple times she was so steady and moving so quickly that I had to look twice to be sure who she was! I'm constantly shocked and amazed by her improvement. She still absolutely loves snuggling on the couch though. When my husband finishes up work for the evening and she sees him walk into the living room she stands up and starts quacking at him. She wants me to spread her blanket on the couch next to him so she can get up to snuggle and watch tv.
As for the why of indoor ducks...it wasn't intentional at first. We found one dead duckling and one dying duckling outside of a nest last summer and decided it was time to take the rest of the eggs. There were 5 eggs and only 2 were alive at that point. When I candled one of the eggs the duckling inside immediately started biting towards the light. It was the cutest stinking thing I ever saw. I named the duckling "Bill Bill" and talked to it every day while it finished "cooking" in the incubator. I talked to the other baby in the other egg too but it died before it hatched. Looking back I think she might have started imprinting on me before she hatched since I talked to her so much. I'm also surprised she hatched because I candled her egg every day. But every time I put that flashlight up to her egg she would bite towards it. When she hatched and her clutchmate didn't, she ended up imprinting on us. I tried to get her interested in our other older ducklings but she wasn't having it. She would look at them, listen to them, even swim in the pool while they were swimming but wouldn't swim with them. Later she helped me raise a bunch of other ducklings. Well, she would lead them out to the pool at least. But she didn't care anything about being around them and never talked to them. Then our second indoor baby came along when we were getting ready to clean out one of the duck houses and heard "Peep! Peep! Peep!!" Looked around and found an egg with a tiny pip hole. That was our Pipsqueak. She was the only egg in her clutch and our other ducklings were about a month and a half old at that point so she stayed with me and Bill Bill. She has always loved her big sister but absolutely 100% HATES ducks. I wish I could see what she sees when she looks at Bill Bill because it doesn't seem like she sees a duck when she looks at Bill. She freaks out when she sees her own reflection and when she sees the outside ducks. Well, she doesn't seem to care about them when they're all in their yard but when we have to bring one up onto the deck, or into the dog yard which is attached to the house, if Pipsqueak sees or hears that duck she freaks out. She stands super tall and screams her alarm quack forever.
Anyway. I know a lot of people don't approve and think it's mean to have indoor ducks and I understand why they think all that. I mean, it is weird, I get that. But I don't believe for a minute that my girls are unhappy or missing out on anything. They have almost full run of the house, get to do swims in the bathtub or their pool on the deck every day, they have foraging mats that I put snacks in so they can dig around and find snackies and come outside to play in the yard with me when I'm working in the garden or whatever. We also put a minnow trap down in our creek every so often and give them minnow in the bathtub which they enjoy. I've also bought them a few bulk orders of crickets and they love playing hunt crickets around the living room. They don't even attempt to hunt when we bring them outside though and only like to dig their beaks around in my potted plants.
As for the amount of work it takes - yeah, it's probably more than a "normal" person would want to deal with. I think it's probably like having a couple toddlers...except I love being with them all the time. There's no way I could stand having human toddlers around me all the time. Or even for a few hours. I prefer ducks more than humans, with the exception of my husband. Well...I think he would say I love my girls a little more than I love him. I do really love them. They make me smile. I clean up after them pretty much all day and don't think I've had a solid night's sleep since Bill hatched because they like to sleep right under me under the bed and tend to wake me up when they go to the bathroom to get water or food during the night, but I'm much happier now than I was before them. If I didn't think they were happy, I'd probably suck it up and let them join the outdoor flock but they really do seem very happy. They have yummy food, healthy snacks, always have perfectly clean water for swimming (if their pool water is even slightly dirty they might be willing to swim in it but when they're done, they immediately march through the house and go straight to the master bathroom, get in the shower and quack loudly until I turn the water on for them), and don't worry about anything hurting them. We have two dogs and three dogs but the cats and dogs are all scared of the ducks. If we have to go out the girls are never left alone with the cats or dogs just in case. Anyway. I wouldn't necessarily recommend indoor ducks to everyone. I also wouldn't recommend dogs or cats to everyone. But I've been a housewife for a few years and don't like going out so we're home all the time anyway so now I'm a stay at home duck mom. I doubt we would have indoor ducks if I still worked. They would be bored and lonesome if they had to be alone all the time, and I think that's when having them indoors gets mean. I'm sure some people would still disagree with my decision to have these girls inside, but hopefully not enough to be mean about it. I don't usually admit to having an indoor flock because I know it's one of those things people get worked up about. But, I will say I think Phoebe lucked out that we have inside ducks. I'm not sure she would have survived outside but being separated from other ducks this long probably would have killed her too.
Poor Limpy! Somehow I guessed which one he was before you pointed him out. I figured he must be the one looking at the camera giving you the stink eye! Our fowl yard tends to temporarily flood whenever we get heavy rain the past couple years since the forest next door is gone. Our ducks really seem to love when their yard floods. When it's raining really hard and I start thinking "Oh, poor fowls! I don't think a duck would even like this amount of rain!" and then I look out and see them "swimming" around in the huge puddles. They'll be out there doing the crazy sideways flappies all around their yard because it's like one giant puddle.
I didn't see Phoebe try to "crawl" a single time yesterday. She walks low sometimes and has to use her wings to balance herself sometimes. Like she'll start to tip a little and throws her wing out to catch herself. But she was doing walkies all over and stayed on her feet 100% of the time. She only walks relatively short distances, no more than 10-15 feet, but still. She's doing even better today. Granted, she's walking on nice soft surfaces so her feet aren't slipping on the hardwoods or vinyl floor. And she's still not walking super far, but a couple times she was so steady and moving so quickly that I had to look twice to be sure who she was! I'm constantly shocked and amazed by her improvement. She still absolutely loves snuggling on the couch though. When my husband finishes up work for the evening and she sees him walk into the living room she stands up and starts quacking at him. She wants me to spread her blanket on the couch next to him so she can get up to snuggle and watch tv.
As for the why of indoor ducks...it wasn't intentional at first. We found one dead duckling and one dying duckling outside of a nest last summer and decided it was time to take the rest of the eggs. There were 5 eggs and only 2 were alive at that point. When I candled one of the eggs the duckling inside immediately started biting towards the light. It was the cutest stinking thing I ever saw. I named the duckling "Bill Bill" and talked to it every day while it finished "cooking" in the incubator. I talked to the other baby in the other egg too but it died before it hatched. Looking back I think she might have started imprinting on me before she hatched since I talked to her so much. I'm also surprised she hatched because I candled her egg every day. But every time I put that flashlight up to her egg she would bite towards it. When she hatched and her clutchmate didn't, she ended up imprinting on us. I tried to get her interested in our other older ducklings but she wasn't having it. She would look at them, listen to them, even swim in the pool while they were swimming but wouldn't swim with them. Later she helped me raise a bunch of other ducklings. Well, she would lead them out to the pool at least. But she didn't care anything about being around them and never talked to them. Then our second indoor baby came along when we were getting ready to clean out one of the duck houses and heard "Peep! Peep! Peep!!" Looked around and found an egg with a tiny pip hole. That was our Pipsqueak. She was the only egg in her clutch and our other ducklings were about a month and a half old at that point so she stayed with me and Bill Bill. She has always loved her big sister but absolutely 100% HATES ducks. I wish I could see what she sees when she looks at Bill Bill because it doesn't seem like she sees a duck when she looks at Bill. She freaks out when she sees her own reflection and when she sees the outside ducks. Well, she doesn't seem to care about them when they're all in their yard but when we have to bring one up onto the deck, or into the dog yard which is attached to the house, if Pipsqueak sees or hears that duck she freaks out. She stands super tall and screams her alarm quack forever.
Anyway. I know a lot of people don't approve and think it's mean to have indoor ducks and I understand why they think all that. I mean, it is weird, I get that. But I don't believe for a minute that my girls are unhappy or missing out on anything. They have almost full run of the house, get to do swims in the bathtub or their pool on the deck every day, they have foraging mats that I put snacks in so they can dig around and find snackies and come outside to play in the yard with me when I'm working in the garden or whatever. We also put a minnow trap down in our creek every so often and give them minnow in the bathtub which they enjoy. I've also bought them a few bulk orders of crickets and they love playing hunt crickets around the living room. They don't even attempt to hunt when we bring them outside though and only like to dig their beaks around in my potted plants.
As for the amount of work it takes - yeah, it's probably more than a "normal" person would want to deal with. I think it's probably like having a couple toddlers...except I love being with them all the time. There's no way I could stand having human toddlers around me all the time. Or even for a few hours. I prefer ducks more than humans, with the exception of my husband. Well...I think he would say I love my girls a little more than I love him. I do really love them. They make me smile. I clean up after them pretty much all day and don't think I've had a solid night's sleep since Bill hatched because they like to sleep right under me under the bed and tend to wake me up when they go to the bathroom to get water or food during the night, but I'm much happier now than I was before them. If I didn't think they were happy, I'd probably suck it up and let them join the outdoor flock but they really do seem very happy. They have yummy food, healthy snacks, always have perfectly clean water for swimming (if their pool water is even slightly dirty they might be willing to swim in it but when they're done, they immediately march through the house and go straight to the master bathroom, get in the shower and quack loudly until I turn the water on for them), and don't worry about anything hurting them. We have two dogs and three dogs but the cats and dogs are all scared of the ducks. If we have to go out the girls are never left alone with the cats or dogs just in case. Anyway. I wouldn't necessarily recommend indoor ducks to everyone. I also wouldn't recommend dogs or cats to everyone. But I've been a housewife for a few years and don't like going out so we're home all the time anyway so now I'm a stay at home duck mom. I doubt we would have indoor ducks if I still worked. They would be bored and lonesome if they had to be alone all the time, and I think that's when having them indoors gets mean. I'm sure some people would still disagree with my decision to have these girls inside, but hopefully not enough to be mean about it. I don't usually admit to having an indoor flock because I know it's one of those things people get worked up about. But, I will say I think Phoebe lucked out that we have inside ducks. I'm not sure she would have survived outside but being separated from other ducks this long probably would have killed her too.
I'm not criticising anybody! Neither for whom they have/will elect nor for having indoor ducks. It is a free country, even for ducks! 
And as long as it is not too much of a burden to remove poop from all over the house… That would be too much for me! I would love to sit down with Fluffy and Flauschi and watch Sponge Bob with them, but duck poop... 
I remember when Limpy was so sick - he had avian botulism - he was sitting in a Rubbermaid tub with hay, going in and out of consciousness and i was so afraid he would die if i leave him alone, so i took him with me into my home-office and sat the box down under the desk, calm dark place so he wouldn't be stressed, talked to him, gave him mealworms and water and then
.
.
.
he pooped! A big greenish/yellowish watery mess! It wasn't so much the gross sight or the enormous stink, the stink stopped within a few seconds after the nerves in the nose had died, but my eyes were tearing up, the paint on the wall started to peel off and the windows became milky!
Your ducks walk into the shower and ask you to turn the water on?! Spoiled brats!
What brand of shampoo do they prefer?
Phoebe is really a lucky duck to have Bill Bill and Pipsqueak around! I guess she will never wants to go outside again, indoor life is just way too comfy! - Watching TV on a warm blanket with a humon heat-mat close by.
Still, indoor-ducks are too much work for me!
I assume Phebe is doing better and better every day? And if you want to convince her to go back outside, show her the video below of her two distant relatives Fluffy and Flauschi Duck who enjoyed the rains from T.S. Zeta, using the grown-up's supper-bowl as their new bathtub:
Ducks just love water!
And as long as it is not too much of a burden to remove poop from all over the house… That would be too much for me! I would love to sit down with Fluffy and Flauschi and watch Sponge Bob with them, but duck poop... I remember when Limpy was so sick - he had avian botulism - he was sitting in a Rubbermaid tub with hay, going in and out of consciousness and i was so afraid he would die if i leave him alone, so i took him with me into my home-office and sat the box down under the desk, calm dark place so he wouldn't be stressed, talked to him, gave him mealworms and water and then
.
.
.
he pooped! A big greenish/yellowish watery mess! It wasn't so much the gross sight or the enormous stink, the stink stopped within a few seconds after the nerves in the nose had died, but my eyes were tearing up, the paint on the wall started to peel off and the windows became milky!
Your ducks walk into the shower and ask you to turn the water on?! Spoiled brats!
What brand of shampoo do they prefer?
Phoebe is really a lucky duck to have Bill Bill and Pipsqueak around! I guess she will never wants to go outside again, indoor life is just way too comfy! - Watching TV on a warm blanket with a humon heat-mat close by.
Still, indoor-ducks are too much work for me!
I assume Phebe is doing better and better every day? And if you want to convince her to go back outside, show her the video below of her two distant relatives Fluffy and Flauschi Duck who enjoyed the rains from T.S. Zeta, using the grown-up's supper-bowl as their new bathtub:
Those are some super cute ducks! Bill and Pipsqueak love doing those crazy splash baths in the water dish in the kitchen. They flatten out and then start sprinting around the kitchen with their wings out like absolute freaks and then jump into the water dish. Sometimes we try to move them into the bathtub or shower so they don't splash all over the floor but as soon as they're out it's straight to the water dish for splashies again. We've mostly given up trying to relocate these "happenings" since it's pointless. Easier to just mop the floor after! 
Yeah, the inside ducks are absolutely spoiled brats. Pipsqueak will bite my foot or leg so hard that she leaves marks if I'm not moving fast enough cutting up her veggies. And yes, they do actually march into the bathroom and demand that I turn the shower on for them. The march to the bathroom is very funny. They get a super serious expression on their face and their shoulders actually sway like they're swinging their "arms". They also find really weird things to pretend they're scared of. Like lately they freak out if I wear socks, probably because I haven't worn socks since spring. They also decided they're terrified of cardboard tubes.
I really did expect that Phoebe would somehow show us that she wanted to go back outside once she started feeling better but she seems to be turning into a spoiled brat like the other two. She's getting so strong! She can scratch her chin when she's preening now, couldn't do that a few days ago. I would scratch her chin for her and she'd practically melt. She'd kick her leg up and kick like she was itching even though she couldn't quite get her foot to her chin. It was like a dog when you get their tickle spot only much, much cuter. A few days ago she was able to spread her wings all the way out again and yesterday she did her first big flappies. The biggest problem she has now is that she doesn't want to rest when she's worn out. Every time Pipsqueak gets up, Phoebe wants to follow her. She'll keep walking around with Pipsqueak until she starts tripping herself and doesn't have energy to hold her wings up anymore. I had her sleeping in an extra large laundry basket lined with a thick blanket at night so she wouldn't try wandering around all night. But two nights ago she refused to stay in the basket. If I put her in the basket she does a super clumsy jump and falls out so I decided the basket wasn't safe anymore. She wants to sleep next to Pipsqueak or Bill but those girls like their space when they're sleeping so they get up and move away from her, and Phoebe follows them. I end up moving her to a blanket in bed with me and then I don't sleep...because you can't exactly sleep when you're worried about getting pooped on! But at least she sleeps once she's on the bed. I keep trying to get a video of her walking around or doing her wing flappies but she stops as soon as she sees my phone. Another trick she's learned from the bratty ones.
Speaking of poop, maybe it's all the dirt bugs and stuff that the outside ducks eat that makes their poo extra gross and stinky. I've noticed that my outdoor ducks poops are always more disgusting and stinky than the indoor girls. The indoor girls drop a few of those super nasty dark poops every day, the ones that look like tar and smell like...well, nothing smells that bad. But their normal poops aren't usually too stinky. It's very weird. Phoebe's poops were terribly stinky the first couple weeks she was inside but they don't smell as bad as they used to.
How long ago did Limpy have botulism poisoning? That's what I thought was going on with Phoebe at first since her symptoms were all neurological. I was bummed she pooped the lead pellets out though because I thought she had a better chance of recovering from botulism. I'm glad I was wrong about her! But really, I doubt many people would have thought she could recover if they saw her when she was at her worst. She was completely limp, other than the fact that I could see that she was breathing I would have thought she was dead. I'd pick her up and any part that wasn't fully supported would just flop down like she was dead.
Also, I keep forgetting to ask you about grasshopper poisoning. What the heck is that? Were the grasshoppers toxic or is it from eating too many? Bill Bill and Pipsqueak love when I order bulk crickets for them. I never considered that it might not be good for them. It definitely wasn't one of my best ideas because they really like playing crickets and get VERY demanding. They'll stand in front of the cricket tank quacking all dang day asking for crickets. And then they're lazy brats about hunting them. They'll only eat crickets that are easy to spot, they don't want to run after the ones that get away and hide around the house.
Yeah, the inside ducks are absolutely spoiled brats. Pipsqueak will bite my foot or leg so hard that she leaves marks if I'm not moving fast enough cutting up her veggies. And yes, they do actually march into the bathroom and demand that I turn the shower on for them. The march to the bathroom is very funny. They get a super serious expression on their face and their shoulders actually sway like they're swinging their "arms". They also find really weird things to pretend they're scared of. Like lately they freak out if I wear socks, probably because I haven't worn socks since spring. They also decided they're terrified of cardboard tubes.
I really did expect that Phoebe would somehow show us that she wanted to go back outside once she started feeling better but she seems to be turning into a spoiled brat like the other two. She's getting so strong! She can scratch her chin when she's preening now, couldn't do that a few days ago. I would scratch her chin for her and she'd practically melt. She'd kick her leg up and kick like she was itching even though she couldn't quite get her foot to her chin. It was like a dog when you get their tickle spot only much, much cuter. A few days ago she was able to spread her wings all the way out again and yesterday she did her first big flappies. The biggest problem she has now is that she doesn't want to rest when she's worn out. Every time Pipsqueak gets up, Phoebe wants to follow her. She'll keep walking around with Pipsqueak until she starts tripping herself and doesn't have energy to hold her wings up anymore. I had her sleeping in an extra large laundry basket lined with a thick blanket at night so she wouldn't try wandering around all night. But two nights ago she refused to stay in the basket. If I put her in the basket she does a super clumsy jump and falls out so I decided the basket wasn't safe anymore. She wants to sleep next to Pipsqueak or Bill but those girls like their space when they're sleeping so they get up and move away from her, and Phoebe follows them. I end up moving her to a blanket in bed with me and then I don't sleep...because you can't exactly sleep when you're worried about getting pooped on! But at least she sleeps once she's on the bed. I keep trying to get a video of her walking around or doing her wing flappies but she stops as soon as she sees my phone. Another trick she's learned from the bratty ones.
Speaking of poop, maybe it's all the dirt bugs and stuff that the outside ducks eat that makes their poo extra gross and stinky. I've noticed that my outdoor ducks poops are always more disgusting and stinky than the indoor girls. The indoor girls drop a few of those super nasty dark poops every day, the ones that look like tar and smell like...well, nothing smells that bad. But their normal poops aren't usually too stinky. It's very weird. Phoebe's poops were terribly stinky the first couple weeks she was inside but they don't smell as bad as they used to.
How long ago did Limpy have botulism poisoning? That's what I thought was going on with Phoebe at first since her symptoms were all neurological. I was bummed she pooped the lead pellets out though because I thought she had a better chance of recovering from botulism. I'm glad I was wrong about her! But really, I doubt many people would have thought she could recover if they saw her when she was at her worst. She was completely limp, other than the fact that I could see that she was breathing I would have thought she was dead. I'd pick her up and any part that wasn't fully supported would just flop down like she was dead.
Also, I keep forgetting to ask you about grasshopper poisoning. What the heck is that? Were the grasshoppers toxic or is it from eating too many? Bill Bill and Pipsqueak love when I order bulk crickets for them. I never considered that it might not be good for them. It definitely wasn't one of my best ideas because they really like playing crickets and get VERY demanding. They'll stand in front of the cricket tank quacking all dang day asking for crickets. And then they're lazy brats about hunting them. They'll only eat crickets that are easy to spot, they don't want to run after the ones that get away and hide around the house.
Sorry for my late answer, i had a house duck over the weekend too, you can read that story here in the Quack-Shack, it is a bit lengthy and sad, but has a good end.
Yes those white ducks are somewhat cuuuute!
From the fall ducklings these are the only ducks that still eat the cat-food from my hands, the Indian Runners have heart rumours that i will grab a duck from time to time and eat it alive. I swear that's fake-news! But those duck teenagers believe everything any stranger will tell them.
Anyways, after the last weekend i do not want to have another duck in my house, ever! We have hardwood floors and if you're not wiping behind the duck immediately, the smell will stick.
But you need to make a video of your ducks demanding to turn the shower on! That is so hilarious! That could become a viral video.
And yes, ducks do have a mind of their own and they can be more stubborn as a donkey. Most of my ducks suddenly become kind of transparent/invisible if they realize that i am focusing the camera at them, they just don't like to be exposed on social media!
Good to hear that Phoebe is getting better and better, as said you might see some of the symptoms prevail, Limpy got so much better, but his limp stayed and from time to time he stumbles and falls on his belly. When he had his botulism infection (or whatever it was, but the symptoms matched botulism best) the crisis came on the third day, when he was just lying limp in his box full of hay, just breathing, neither eating nor drinking, just being a limp duck. That was in Summer 2018, when he was just ~2 months old. On that Sunday he looked the very same as you described Phoebe, every part of his body that was not supported just flopped down which was very scary to me at that time. Only his eyes were clear and seem to say "Please don't give up on me!". Since then he is doing better and better, with the occasional relapse when his legs are just weak. This happens usually on cold and rainy days and he is just sleeping through this in his favorite spot under the overhang of our house.
Oh yes, the grasshopper poisoning, one of my »great ideas« - back in Germany i was often nick-named FBI, short for »Frank's Bullsh!t Ideas« - I assume it was just too much protein that they have eaten, like with my wife, when she eats a whole grilled tilapia she too feels really bad for a couple of hours. Grasshoppers are usually not poisonous, except when they are being solely fed on some poisonous plants. Thoise crickets you order are definitely not a danger at all, usually those insect farms are located near large vegetable farms and receive all the cut-off leaves and undesirables to feed the insects.
Your bratty ducks! Too lazy to play Cricket-Velociraptor? They need a lesson taught from Blanca Duck who catches jumping grasshoppers in mid air and jumps a foot high to catch butterflies and moths. Please make a video of your ducks, sitting in front of the cricket tank, that sounds as hilarious as the demanding a shower situation!
Ducks!
I want to start my own meal-worm farm since last year, but have not had the time to do so - life crickets sounds like an awesome Christmas present for the ducks…
I have started to grow fodder two weeks ago and fed the first batches to the ducks as supper and they just loooove it! Blanca Duck usually jumps into the planter and wants to be carried into the house while she is filling up, but is feeling the serious competition from Fluffy and Flauschi who also love that stuff. I need to build a stand for the planter in the run, so that it won't be toppled over when 40 ducks try to get their share all at once…
I have too many projects and too little time!
Yes those white ducks are somewhat cuuuute!
From the fall ducklings these are the only ducks that still eat the cat-food from my hands, the Indian Runners have heart rumours that i will grab a duck from time to time and eat it alive. I swear that's fake-news! But those duck teenagers believe everything any stranger will tell them.Anyways, after the last weekend i do not want to have another duck in my house, ever! We have hardwood floors and if you're not wiping behind the duck immediately, the smell will stick.
But you need to make a video of your ducks demanding to turn the shower on! That is so hilarious! That could become a viral video.
And yes, ducks do have a mind of their own and they can be more stubborn as a donkey. Most of my ducks suddenly become kind of transparent/invisible if they realize that i am focusing the camera at them, they just don't like to be exposed on social media!
Good to hear that Phoebe is getting better and better, as said you might see some of the symptoms prevail, Limpy got so much better, but his limp stayed and from time to time he stumbles and falls on his belly. When he had his botulism infection (or whatever it was, but the symptoms matched botulism best) the crisis came on the third day, when he was just lying limp in his box full of hay, just breathing, neither eating nor drinking, just being a limp duck. That was in Summer 2018, when he was just ~2 months old. On that Sunday he looked the very same as you described Phoebe, every part of his body that was not supported just flopped down which was very scary to me at that time. Only his eyes were clear and seem to say "Please don't give up on me!". Since then he is doing better and better, with the occasional relapse when his legs are just weak. This happens usually on cold and rainy days and he is just sleeping through this in his favorite spot under the overhang of our house.
Oh yes, the grasshopper poisoning, one of my »great ideas« - back in Germany i was often nick-named FBI, short for »Frank's Bullsh!t Ideas« - I assume it was just too much protein that they have eaten, like with my wife, when she eats a whole grilled tilapia she too feels really bad for a couple of hours. Grasshoppers are usually not poisonous, except when they are being solely fed on some poisonous plants. Thoise crickets you order are definitely not a danger at all, usually those insect farms are located near large vegetable farms and receive all the cut-off leaves and undesirables to feed the insects.
Your bratty ducks! Too lazy to play Cricket-Velociraptor? They need a lesson taught from Blanca Duck who catches jumping grasshoppers in mid air and jumps a foot high to catch butterflies and moths. Please make a video of your ducks, sitting in front of the cricket tank, that sounds as hilarious as the demanding a shower situation!
Ducks!
I want to start my own meal-worm farm since last year, but have not had the time to do so - life crickets sounds like an awesome Christmas present for the ducks…
I have started to grow fodder two weeks ago and fed the first batches to the ducks as supper and they just loooove it! Blanca Duck usually jumps into the planter and wants to be carried into the house while she is filling up, but is feeling the serious competition from Fluffy and Flauschi who also love that stuff. I need to build a stand for the planter in the run, so that it won't be toppled over when 40 ducks try to get their share all at once…
I have too many projects and too little time!
I read the story about "Ducky". Poor girl! I'm glad you got to her in time! We had similar experiences a couple times this summer, poor girls getting attacked in the pool and looking almost drowned. Luckily they were willing to go back into their yard within a couple hours. I definitely understand the lack of sleep that comes from sharing your sleep space with a duck. I haven't slept more than 2-3 hrs at a time since June last year. It was really bad when Pipsqueak first started laying eggs and only wanted to use Bill Bill's nest but Bill didn't want to share her nest because that's where she was laying her egg. So Pipsqueak would walk around the bedroom doing this absolutely pathetic crying quack about wanting Bill's nest. She would start around 2 or 3 every morning and would continue until about 6:30. That went on for about two or three months. Thankfully I haven't noticed the poo smell lingering on the hardwood floor. But it definitely leaves stains if we don't clean it up right away. Like water stains. Probably because it's the clear "pee" poops that we're more likely to not see right away. Ha! Which reminds me. Wanna know what really ticks someone off? Slipping on a puddle of clear duck poop and falling on their butt! It happened to my brother. Do you know how hard it is not to laugh when someone slips on poo and falls? It's pretty hard.
Limpy's experience really sounds a lot like what Phoebe went through! It was pretty traumatizing but has turned out surprisingly well. The way she runs around the kitchen like an absolute weirdo, you'd never know she looked practically dead just a few weeks ago. I haven't seen her stumble or trip in a few days. Her wings still hang a little low sometimes when she's tired but that doesn't slow her down. The only weird symptom I've noticed only happens after she goes a little too wild and crazy with her flappy bath in the kitchen water bowl. She seems to flap herself dizzy or something because she'll walk sideways for a while afterwards. The impressive thing is it's perfect side stepping sideways walking.
I have a couple friends who keep asking me to put cameras up around my house to capture the antics of these weirdos. They really are entertaining. Mostly because they're so weird! The marching to the bathroom to demand a shower after swimming thing cracks me up because it reminds me of people at a public pool. You've just been swimming, had a good time, but now you need to go wash that dirty pool water off ASAP! Pipsqueak is awesome at hunting in the house. Outside she wants someone else to catch the bugs and handfeed them to her. But inside...wow! She'll be on her blanket pile bed, looks like she's sleeping, and all of a sudden she sprints across the room and gobbles up a bug. We had a stinkbug situation in the house for a couple years. Drove me nuts because stinkbugs are nasty. Haven't seen a stinkbug in a year now thanks to Pipsqueak! Bill Bill likes playing hunt crickets when she sees me drop them out of the cricket tank but she doesn't seem interested in hunting. She'll sprint across the room for sushi though! That girl loves her some salmon!
I wanted to try to get the crickets to breed but the smell of the cricket poo and dead cricket corpses is too much for me. And Pipsqueak yells "Want Cricket!" constantly if she sees the tank. I'm pretty sure Bill and Pipsqueak would love it if we would farm them some mealworms. I'd probably die though. I buy dried mealworms for them, those don't gross me out too much. There's something about the wiggling of the live ones that is just too much for me though. I've bought live super worms for them a couple times and I scream every single time I pick a worm out for them. I scream like a little girl and fling the nasty worm across the room. Can't help it. So nasty.
I tried making planter boxes for my fowls this spring. I'm not sure what happened to that project. Probably wandered off like usual. We fenced off part of their yard so we could plant stuff for them to eat. I know once we take the fence down they'll eat everything in a day. Monsters. They eat everything. They ate all my bearded irises a couple years ago. Thankfully the irises must have liked it because they grew back and flowered great that spring. I rationalized planting a bunch of bamboo this summer by telling myself the fowls will eat it once it fills in and I think there's too much of it. I mean, they ate leaves off my camellia and gardenia and nothing eats those plants.
It was really bad when Pipsqueak first started laying eggs and only wanted to use Bill Bill's nest but Bill didn't want to share her nest because that's where she was laying her egg. So Pipsqueak would walk around the bedroom doing this absolutely pathetic crying quack about wanting Bill's nest. She would start around 2 or 3 every morning and would continue until about 6:30. That went on for about two or three months. Thankfully I haven't noticed the poo smell lingering on the hardwood floor. But it definitely leaves stains if we don't clean it up right away. Like water stains. Probably because it's the clear "pee" poops that we're more likely to not see right away. Ha! Which reminds me. Wanna know what really ticks someone off? Slipping on a puddle of clear duck poop and falling on their butt! It happened to my brother. Do you know how hard it is not to laugh when someone slips on poo and falls? It's pretty hard.Limpy's experience really sounds a lot like what Phoebe went through! It was pretty traumatizing but has turned out surprisingly well. The way she runs around the kitchen like an absolute weirdo, you'd never know she looked practically dead just a few weeks ago. I haven't seen her stumble or trip in a few days. Her wings still hang a little low sometimes when she's tired but that doesn't slow her down. The only weird symptom I've noticed only happens after she goes a little too wild and crazy with her flappy bath in the kitchen water bowl. She seems to flap herself dizzy or something because she'll walk sideways for a while afterwards. The impressive thing is it's perfect side stepping sideways walking.
I have a couple friends who keep asking me to put cameras up around my house to capture the antics of these weirdos. They really are entertaining. Mostly because they're so weird! The marching to the bathroom to demand a shower after swimming thing cracks me up because it reminds me of people at a public pool. You've just been swimming, had a good time, but now you need to go wash that dirty pool water off ASAP! Pipsqueak is awesome at hunting in the house. Outside she wants someone else to catch the bugs and handfeed them to her. But inside...wow! She'll be on her blanket pile bed, looks like she's sleeping, and all of a sudden she sprints across the room and gobbles up a bug. We had a stinkbug situation in the house for a couple years. Drove me nuts because stinkbugs are nasty. Haven't seen a stinkbug in a year now thanks to Pipsqueak! Bill Bill likes playing hunt crickets when she sees me drop them out of the cricket tank but she doesn't seem interested in hunting. She'll sprint across the room for sushi though! That girl loves her some salmon!
I wanted to try to get the crickets to breed but the smell of the cricket poo and dead cricket corpses is too much for me. And Pipsqueak yells "Want Cricket!" constantly if she sees the tank. I'm pretty sure Bill and Pipsqueak would love it if we would farm them some mealworms. I'd probably die though. I buy dried mealworms for them, those don't gross me out too much. There's something about the wiggling of the live ones that is just too much for me though. I've bought live super worms for them a couple times and I scream every single time I pick a worm out for them. I scream like a little girl and fling the nasty worm across the room. Can't help it. So nasty.
I tried making planter boxes for my fowls this spring. I'm not sure what happened to that project. Probably wandered off like usual. We fenced off part of their yard so we could plant stuff for them to eat. I know once we take the fence down they'll eat everything in a day. Monsters. They eat everything. They ate all my bearded irises a couple years ago. Thankfully the irises must have liked it because they grew back and flowered great that spring. I rationalized planting a bunch of bamboo this summer by telling myself the fowls will eat it once it fills in and I think there's too much of it. I mean, they ate leaves off my camellia and gardenia and nothing eats those plants.
ROTFL! - I must tag @SuperDuck - she needs to read these stories too! She is the proud servant of Chuck and Buck, two rotten spoiled Pekin Drakes who go on camping trips and are huge SpongeBob fans.
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