Da' Cute and Cuddly Call Duck thread!

[Doc McCluckins]

@casportpony here's Button, 6 month old Snowy Call and she tops out at a whopping 445 grams!

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OMG she is precious! So tiny!

I feel like I worry you to death with questions. But do you keep pools available to your calls in the cold months? The weather is going to be pretty crappy for us this weekend and I worry with their small size they will get too cold. I've researched and I am getting mixed opinions. What do you do?

 

[Ravynscroft]

Kathy was worried cuz her drake weighs 575 grams... sounds like a perfect match!

 

[Ravynscroft]

OMG she is precious! So tiny!

I feel like I worry you to death with questions. But do you keep pools available to your calls in the cold months? The weather is going to be pretty crappy for us this weekend and I worry with their small size they will get too cold. I've researched and I am getting mixed opinions. What do you do?

Thanks! She's my smallest one so far...

No worries! Better to ask too many questions than not enough! And there's never a reason to be sorry for asking any kind of question when it comes to health and safety!

I let mine have free access until the kiddie pools freeze over... and even then they still have the small oil pans year round... as long as they have draft free, dry, secure shelter with plenty of bedding, they do just fine... even had some dangling a few icicles, lol... as long as they don't get covered in ice and have snow/ice free area to stand, they do just fine...

I have never lost a single one to cold, and I don't insulate anything... just wind block...

 

[Doc McCluckins]

Thanks! She's my smallest one so far...

No worries! Better to ask too many questions than not enough! And there's never a reason to be sorry for asking any kind of question when it comes to health and safety!

I let mine have free access until the kiddie pools freeze over... and even then they still have the small oil pans year round... as long as they have draft free, dry, secure shelter with plenty of bedding, they do just fine... even had some dangling a few icicles, lol... as long as they don't get covered in ice and have snow/ice free area to stand, they do just fine...

I have never lost a single one to cold, and I don't insulate anything... just wind block...

Thanks! I am so cold natured. I can't help but cringe when I think of being wet in the weather we are having but they don't seem to mind. I bought a new mixing tub for a pool last night but did not put it in bc it was so chilly. I don't leave the one that was pictured earlier in without supervision bc the sides are a little high and I am probably over protective. I feel much better about my new tub. I'll fix it up for them tonight! They'll be thrilled.

 

[Ravynscroft]

Thanks! I am so cold natured. I can't help but cringe when I think of being wet in the weather we are having but they don't seem to mind. I bought a new mixing tub for a pool last night but did not put it in bc it was so chilly. I don't leave the one that was pictured earlier in without supervision bc the sides are a little high and I am probably over protective. I feel much better about my new tub. I'll fix it up for them tonight! They'll be thrilled.

As long as they are preening properly, using their oil gland, and their feathers stay in good condition, they are much better off than any of us outside, lol... they have a full down parka under those feathers and the outer feathers keep the warmth in and wind and weather out...

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Yup, they do fine in the cold! Mine have seen days of temps never rising above 0 degrees Fahrenheit, no heat provided, and still complained to me when I didn't have their pool out for them. I stop providing them swimming water only once it becomes inconvenient for me to do so due to freezing temps, not because they can't handle it. The first winter I had them outside, I had set up a black rubber pan for them to drink from only, but Trudi didn't listen to my rules and later I went out to find her swimming in it anyway, surrounded by snow. I stopped worrying about them being too cold after that.

 

[Ravynscroft]

Yup, they do fine in the cold! Mine have seen days of temps never rising above 0 degrees Fahrenheit, no heat provided, and still complained to me when I didn't have their pool out for them. I stop providing them swimming water only once it becomes inconvenient for me to do so due to freezing temps, not because they can't handle it. The first winter I had them outside, I had set up a black rubber pan for them to drink from only, but Trudi didn't listen to my rules and later I went out to find her swimming in it anyway, surrounded by snow. I stopped worrying about them being too cold after that.

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Always adore seeing Trudi and Malcolm!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Haha, well, I wish you could see more of them! Every time I try to take pictures of them, they turn their backs on me and mutter to each other like cliquey schoolgirls. This is my most recent picture of them from last week:

(Sorry I disappeared. That was a "study break" in which I just typed up a post real quick and then went back to this one last piece of homework for the semester. All done now, yay!)

 

[Ravynscroft]

Haha, well, I wish you could see more of them! Every time I try to take pictures of them, they turn their backs on me and mutter to each other like cliquey schoolgirls. This is my most recent picture of them from last week:

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(Sorry I disappeared. That was a "study break" in which I just typed up a post real quick and then went back to this one last piece of homework for the semester. All done now, yay!)

Well, they gotta be the other extreme, dontcha know? Since Crash is a camera hog, they gotta avoid it at all costs!

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Yeah, that's for sure! I'm not sure if Crash just loves the attention or if she's sure that that camera is edible somehow--I have almost as many pictures of her launching at the camera as I have of her being cute!

Now you see her...

Now you see her CLOSER.