AppleNouns and the First Duckventure

[AppleNouns]

I'll edit this later to have the information and story.

Basic Short Version:
- 2 khaki Campbell ducks, Marius and Cosette

- We've had them since Easter weekend, but don't know how old they were when we got them from TS

- I was way against getting them at first because none of us knew anything about ducks and had like nothing ready for them

- Wanted nothing to do with them, but I have the most time available because I'm a community college student at home and it's summer (and I still haven't found a job :T )

- That changed really quickly and they're now like my precious little babies and I love them as much as the cat

 

[AppleNouns]

Marius and Cosette are spending their first night outside tonight and I'm very worried!

Their pen doesn't have a top to it and is pretty basic... Sort of sturdy, but not as much as I'd like. The pen might be about 4 1/2 feet to 5 feet, didn't measure and it's on a slope. It's those metal posts for wire with the first layer being that fencing that's like rectangle sections an 1" wide and 2" tall. It's zip tied really well to the posts, plus the bottom is bent out and staked into the ground. Then, chicken wire on the side facing the woods. Mom got it for the top, but there wasn't much support and it sagged too much.


They have a pretty large dog igloo in it that they sleep in, so I'm hoping that will keep them pretty safe for short term.

I also left our cat out because I know he can't get in the fence and might keep away some other animals. (Long shot, but who knows?

They've also got an okay flood light pointed at their pen. We didn't have any more of the big lights, so I just put normal ones in for now.

 

[Amiga]

Are there any openings larger than half an inch on the dogloo? Predators will reach in. You might want to bring them in tonight if you don't have openings covered with half inch metal hardware cloth. Really.

 

[AppleNouns]

Despite being wide and tall, the igloo door is kind of small, maybe 2' by 2'?

I've also got it facing away from the woods, towards the light. I don't know if that matters but I do know the possum we have around hates big lights so who knows.

Like, it's hard to explain, but the door of the igloo is the only opening in it, and the ducks sit in the very back. The very back is right up against a corner of the fence, so the door is maybe 3' or more away from the double layer fence and 5' or more from the other, single layer fence side. Unless something has arms like a giraffes neck, I'm not sure it could reach in, and under is unlikely since it's pegged down? I guess something could dig, but it would have to go through lots of really huge tree roots and hard red clay so I'm not sure.

 

[AppleNouns]

Best I can do on my phone, but it's like this. The more I think about it, the more I think I should move the water away from the fence more.

 

[AppleNouns]

Everything went well! They're safe and sound, pen looks great and just like I left it at 1am.

I'm super relieved, if anything happens to these dorks I'll be so upset.

 

[AppleNouns]

I was doing some VERY last minute garden stuff tonight with a headlight on the green light setting. The ducks started fussing and came out of the dog igloo, cat also started checking out the woodline.

Saw a big pair of bright green circles, up about waist high right at the very edge where our lawn starts. Super still, just staring. I was startled a bit because it looked too big for a raccoon or possum. Switched to the normal white light, saw light colored fur, maybe orange or tan. Looked like a solid color. It ran off when I got closer, then sat deeper in the woods at continued the super creepy staring in direction of the duck pen.

Needless to say, we brought the ducks in for tonight. Maybe it was a coyote, maybe it was the neighbors dog. I heard someone calling "Sammy" so it might have just been their dog.

Either way, I'm beefing up their fence tomorrow.

 

[AppleNouns]

Everything is still going well!

I know for a fact we have a raccoon around, but he seems to wait for our big cat to come outside and they hang out? I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure they aren't fighting and the ducks are fine so..?

 

[AppleNouns]

Baby pictures of my dorks

Marius on the left, Cosette on the right. He looks like he's wearing a cravat, so cute.

 

[AppleNouns]

More recent pictures!