From tragedy comes growth

[fifenashia]

My wonderful original brood! I found this picture and thought it would be nice to post it in memory of my girls. Duck, Tully, Sunny and Red. (Red is missing from this picture and Duck is forefront, Sunny is hunkered over and that's my Tully standing tall).

 

[java girl 2]

your ducky is BIG

I love your pics of your girls!!! what kind of duck is ducky??

 

[fifenashia]

Ducky is a female Mallard, we got her as a duckling last spring from Southern States. This isn't the best picture of her, she has these beautiful blue streaks on the ends of her wings that I adore!

When hubs took her to the vet after the dog attack she weighed in at a whopping 2.9pounds!!

She is my favorite of the girls, but still experiencing a lot of emotional trauma. She refuses to leaves Red's side... EVER. and if they get separated, she goes into panic mode. It's kind of sad to see. I'm hoping that when the little bitty's get big enough to go out, she will feel more secure.

 

[fifenashia]

Oh my goodness is it H-O-T out there!!! And with the humidity... oh Lord it's uncomfortable!

I wanted to post some pictures of the girls as they have grown like weeds lately!

We took the bitty's outside yesterday and let the big girls play in the big yard while the babies were in the smaller fenced part of the yard.

Duckling loved swimming in the pool, she needed it! They all started laying on their sides and spreading wings (what little wings they have at this point) due to the high temps.

Even the big girls enjoyed getting out and spreading their wings so to speak.

We have actually taken a small fan down and attached it to the run, using a LONG outdoor extension cord. That seemed to help yesterday. I also took out some of the hay as it seemed to be difficult for them to dig in the cool dirt with as much as I had down. Then we took a HUGE plastic container, drilled 2 holes in the bottom and filled it with ice cubes and then set it into the waterer so that it was kept cold longer. Finally, I have some jugs filled with water and in the freezer now so that this afternoon when the temps soar I can place frozen water jugs along the edges and hopefully give them something cold to lean against as well as having the fan blow over them creating cool air.

I am dreading next weekend when we go away for 2 days and my sitter will only be out here one time a day. How will we keep them cool?!?!?! I am planning on having a ton of water jugs frozen so he can put ice and frozen jugs out, hopefully that will be enough (I cant leave the fan running all weekend)

The babies are going into the next largest dog crate I have (one for a Boxer!) today and a neighbor who also has chickens will be taking them for me for the weekend.

Raising chickens is rewarding but oh so stressful!!!

 

[java girl 2]

the little duck is bigger then the chicks!!!

look out!!

 

[fifenashia]

She is ORNERY too!

She has taken to nipping hard! Fingers, chickens, noses, arm fat and dog snouts that get too close to her crate. I'm trying to get her to stop, but it's not so successful yet

 

[java girl 2]

maybe she is mad!!

you know how that go's

what have you tryed so far??

 

[fifenashia]

I have been grabbing her bill and giving her a gentle shake with a firm NO lol, it seems to be working, albeit SLOWLY! She just has a flat learning curve

 

[fifenashia]

Moved the little bits into the BIG dog crate tonight (the one my BOXER uses)! Pics to follow in the next day or so hopefully. They are growing so much! I'm amazed what 4 weeks will do!

 

[fifenashia]

Been a few weeks I think since my last update... Thought I should do one.

The babies have continued to grow like weeds (must be the food or something

) and we moved them into the master bathroom and just threw them in my garden tub with some bedding on the bottom. I have officially lost my fool mind!

It is SOOOOO unnerving to go in to pee and have the duckling pop her head up to catch the show.

We started putting them in the run during the evenings in the dog crate so they were safe... Then I went ahead and left the crate open so they could return to it if needed but they were allowed to roam with the big girls. THEN I pulled the crate out and just tossed them all together and stood guard. Red gave them a few good pecks to assert her dominance, there was some "punking" type moves and the duck snipped if anyone got too close, but the babies are smart and they picked up quickly to avoid getting too close. Then one day.... one got a bit brazen and Red decided to take her down a peg or two by monkey-stomping her!!! I intervened and shooed Red away and scooped the baby up checked her over and then let Red free-range in the yard. Since then I have brought the babies out at night and put them in the run while Red and Duckie free-range.

Tonight though.... I put them in the coop. They explored.. cheeped loudly... and begged to be let out and go home to their warm bathtub that does not smell of other birds. Red started making her angry noise and slipped past the babies and scurried into the coop. I picked up the babies and placed them on the roost on the other side of the coop away from Red. Some more angry noises, some ruffling of big girl feathers and then I closed the door and waited...holding my breath.... Nothing but the sound of quiet peeps as the babies "talk" to each other. I went ahead and put the duckling up there too so she could be comforted by the sound of her sister's.

Now I sit in the house and question my decision. I feel this urge to run down and "rescue" them before Red kills them all and leaves me a horrid mess to clean in the morning....

Did I do the right thing? Will they be safe? They are only 6 weeks old, I'm not ready!!! WAAAAAA

I have posted a thread and am waiting for reassurance OR for someone to tell me "For goodness sakes GO RESCUE those babies!!!"

It's going to be a long night... Did I mention that Red had gone broody? She has been a crazy *@! for weeks now, I think we may be about over it now, but shew it was rough. Even Duckie got pecked!