25 years ago in North Carolina we had a pre-civil war home on 48 Acres with 9 out buildings , including a chicken coop. Ameraucanas were on my radar but they didn't happen.
I found this site while looking for information on my Son in Laws' Pekin ducks (they live with me). We have 2 and they're doing fine, but I'm learning a lot about them from this site.
I had an unused 6x10 outdoor dog kennel that I put chicken wire on top of to keep the Ospreys out and sunk a plastic concrete trough in the ground for a little pond, knocked down some tall grass for hay to line the ground with and scatter food for them to forage. Used a spare piece of corrugated plastic seawall pipe for a duck house and planted them a small schefflera inside the kennel.
About 35 years ago I did some extensive work with a state licensed animal rehabber working with wild animals. We had dozens. Three dozen raccoons, three dozen possums, three kestrels, three screech owls, a great horned fledgling, a baby squirrel, a fawn, grackles,.....
Anyway, my son-in-law is a plumber and he came home with a day old baby duck that walked up to him on the job. It couldn't have been more than a day old, about the size of it's egg. He went back to work and the mother and siblings showed up, so the next day he took it back but the squirrels were chasing the babies.
So, he bought the 5 babies home... so now we have five wild Black-Bellied Whistling Ducks. They are independent from day one or two so we'll care for them until the 'wild" sets in and let them go free when they're ready. Realistcally one out of four survival rate in the wild is good, so I'm optimistic. They'll stand a better chance with us than the squirrels.
I found this site while looking for information on my Son in Laws' Pekin ducks (they live with me). We have 2 and they're doing fine, but I'm learning a lot about them from this site.
I had an unused 6x10 outdoor dog kennel that I put chicken wire on top of to keep the Ospreys out and sunk a plastic concrete trough in the ground for a little pond, knocked down some tall grass for hay to line the ground with and scatter food for them to forage. Used a spare piece of corrugated plastic seawall pipe for a duck house and planted them a small schefflera inside the kennel.
About 35 years ago I did some extensive work with a state licensed animal rehabber working with wild animals. We had dozens. Three dozen raccoons, three dozen possums, three kestrels, three screech owls, a great horned fledgling, a baby squirrel, a fawn, grackles,.....
Anyway, my son-in-law is a plumber and he came home with a day old baby duck that walked up to him on the job. It couldn't have been more than a day old, about the size of it's egg. He went back to work and the mother and siblings showed up, so the next day he took it back but the squirrels were chasing the babies.
So, he bought the 5 babies home... so now we have five wild Black-Bellied Whistling Ducks. They are independent from day one or two so we'll care for them until the 'wild" sets in and let them go free when they're ready. Realistcally one out of four survival rate in the wild is good, so I'm optimistic. They'll stand a better chance with us than the squirrels.
and Welcome to Backyard Chickens.
to have you here with us. Enjoy your time here at BYC!
