Hello from the UK!

Hi! I'm Sam :) (Or Kaiju if you rather)

I am fairly new to poultry. I started with quails, and have recently moved to keeping my absolute favourite animal - ducks! I do not have chickens (yet... lol!).

I currently have a fair few ducklings/young ducks. I have 5 runner ducks, 4 cayuga-mixes, and one pure cayuga. They are all fairly late season ducklings so are still young ish, though I'm not sure at what age they stop being called "ducklings" to be honest. I think they might always be baby ducks to me ;)

Almost all of them all live together... but my one cayuga duck is a bit of a special case. They were the only egg that hatched, and they imprinted on me. Despite my best attempts they are scared of the other ducks, so introductions are going slowly. "Ducky" (very original name, I know) has wound up living in the house with me, sleeps next to my bed (though half the time winds up IN my bed when I'm asleep) and is potentially the most spoiled duck who ever lived.

I currently have 6 Coturnix quails as well! I hope in Spring to hatch some more quail and potentially some bantam chickens. My christmas gift is a Brinsea incubator! :D

Other hobbies I have, I do art (animals/furries), I also breed mice and rats! I enjoy playing video games, playing the ukulele, cooking, and taking far too many naps.

I have a fair few other animals as well. I have a German Shepherd, a Shiba Inu, 6 ferrets, 2 rabbits (one Belgian Hare, one Continental Giant), a fair few fancy mice, rats, Spiny mice, a "blue eyed lucy" royal python, an anerythristic corn snake, a mack snow leopard gecko, and tropical fish. I love animals and looking after them and raising them gives me a sense of purpose, and something to do. I'm disabled and have severe anxiety, and struggle to leave the house, so my animals are a gigantic help in just letting me live my life and feel like I'm doing something.

I found BYC some time ago when researching ducks, quails etc and have found it a good resource of information. I decided to join because I've been reading threads here long enough - why not join up!

I think I've rambled enough, but yeah. Hello!
Hajimemashite fellow weeb trash. I also have a ukulele, ferrets (suspect one is 1/2 polecat), a royal python, a corn snake, am disabled and quite literally have not gone outside in years unless my carer is taking me to a hospital appointment. I wanted call ducks initially but was told ‘no livestock’. They tried to revoke permission for pets altogether after the letting agent said pets were certainly allowed before I signed the paperwork! It’s a shame emotional support animals are not recognised in this country and renters have practically no rights when it comes to pet policies. I 100% sympathise with looking after them everyday making you feel purposeful and like you’re accomplishing things every day!

I’ll bet your snakes and cat snakes have a constant supply of treats 🥚🥚🥚
 
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Thanks again everyone!! :D

Hajimemashite fellow weeb trash. I also have a ukulele, ferrets (suspect one is 1/2 polecat), a royal python, a corn snake, am disabled and quite literally have not gone outside in years unless my carer is taking me to a hospital appointment. I wanted call ducks initially but was told ‘no livestock’. They tried to revoke permission for pets altogether after the letting agent said pets were certainly allowed before I signed the paperwork! It’s a shame emotional support animals are not recognised in this country and renters have practically no rights when it comes to pet policies. I 100% sympathise with looking after them everyday making you feel purposeful and like you’re accomplishing things every day!

I’ll bet your snakes and cat snakes have a constant supply of treats 🥚🥚🥚
It's nice to meet someone with so much in common!! Two of my ferrets are part polecat too!

What morphs are your snakey friends? :D

That's so cheeky that they tried to revoke it!! I also really wish ESAs were a thing here too. It's definitely unfortunate landlords can just blanket ban all pets with no room for reasoning. I think that for lots of people, animals can be so important for mental health. It's a little depressing that so many people are prevented from being able to have animals in their lives. :(

It's a shame you couldn't get to have call ducks! I hope that one day you'll maybe be able to. I considered call ducks for some time too, but worried a bit about the noise - not that any duck is particularly "quiet".

And yeah, honestly most of the animals get spoiled with eggs lol! Ferrets, dogs, the rats and spiny mice even love them too. I feel like they all get more of the eggs than I wind up getting to eat. My Shepherd always follows me around when I collect eggs, hoping I might let him "steal" one lol.
 
Thanks again everyone!! :D


It's nice to meet someone with so much in common!! Two of my ferrets are part polecat too!

What morphs are your snakey friends? :D

That's so cheeky that they tried to revoke it!! I also really wish ESAs were a thing here too. It's definitely unfortunate landlords can just blanket ban all pets with no room for reasoning. I think that for lots of people, animals can be so important for mental health. It's a little depressing that so many people are prevented from being able to have animals in their lives. :(

It's a shame you couldn't get to have call ducks! I hope that one day you'll maybe be able to. I considered call ducks for some time too, but worried a bit about the noise - not that any duck is particularly "quiet".

And yeah, honestly most of the animals get spoiled with eggs lol! Ferrets, dogs, the rats and spiny mice even love them too. I feel like they all get more of the eggs than I wind up getting to eat. My Shepherd always follows me around when I collect eggs, hoping I might let him "steal" one lol.
Yay nice to meet you, too. My little poley is adorable but my god are they clever, fast and can they chomp! She’s still very skittish, likes to stash and eat in private and is super persistent. The royal is a rescued butter (I admit I have very strong feelings about people being preoccupied with pretty colours in the hobby prioritising them over anything else, same with most pedigree dogs :() and the corn is a rescued wild type/normal. I also have an African egg eating snake. Glad everyone loves the eggs- my bf is now too weirded out to eat them having seen our eggs hatch out. I guess it feels like eating babies to him now!

Yeah I am extremely angry with the HA. My yard was full of old washing machines and motorcycles, a burn pile, broken glass and graffitied with a broken down fence when I moved in. The property also has bad damp affecting my asthma and allergies and now they are trying to erect a chainlink fence down half the garden and give it to my antisocial neighbour after I spent over a grand cleaning and fixing it up! This is to accommodate his dog after revoking my (written) permission for pets! Crazy. I’d spoken extensively to the letting agent about wanting to get a service dog from Dogs4Autism during sign up, so when they turned around and did that it was shock.

Can I see your fluffnoodles? I’ve only got the two in our little flat.

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Yay nice to meet you, too. My little poley is adorable but my god are they clever, fast and can they chomp! She’s still very skittish, likes to stash and eat in private and is super persistent. The royal is a rescued butter (I admit I have very strong feelings about people being preoccupied with pretty colours in the hobby prioritising them over anything else, same with most pedigree dogs :() and the corn is a rescued wild type/normal. I also have an African egg eating snake. Glad everyone loves the eggs- my bf is now too weirded out to eat them having seen our eggs hatch out. I guess it feels like eating babies to him now!

Yeah I am extremely angry with the HA. My yard was full of old washing machines and motorcycles, a burn pile, broken glass and graffitied with a broken down fence when I moved in. The property also has bad damp affecting my asthma and allergies and now they are trying to erect a chainlink fence down half the garden and give it to my antisocial neighbour after I spent over a grand cleaning and fixing it up! This is to accommodate his dog after revoking my (written) permission for pets! Crazy. I’d spoken extensively to the letting agent about wanting to get a service dog from Dogs4Autism during sign up, so when they turned around and did that it was shock.

Can I see your fluffnoodles? I’ve only got the two in our little flat.

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Replying VERY late here, oops.

Haha yeah my polecat hybrids are definitely extra smart. Mine aren't too skittish, but they do like hiding food more than the other ferrets do and are more active. And when they do nip, it really is hard! I'll try to attach some pics!

Ah that's awesome! My royal python is also a rehome that the original owner gave up, admittedly I was very happy to get a blue eyed lucy as they're really pretty and are my dream snake, but I'm not really as focused on colour or anything as I am on getting a healthy animal. I just got lucky. I don't totally get seeking out a specific colour. I can get it being a consideration, but it shouldn't really be the priority when getting a pet.

As a breeder (albeit of rodents), I totally agree - health and temperament always come first in my animals. Though all else being equal, I will consider colour and such too, but it isn't the priority. As long as breeders are ethical and reputable I think they're great, but definitely there's a lot of unethical breeders out there sadly. Rescuing is always great when possible! Though honestly, I wish we lived in a world where rescuing wasn't even necessary and all breeders were ethical... Sadly we don't.

Haha that's funny! Our Shepherd watched the quails hatch out, but still loves eggs, so maybe he didn't make the connection. :D He got quite protective of the chicks, which was sweet. He insisted on checking on the brooder multiple times a day and I swear he was counting them to make sure they were all there.

That's awful! It makes me really annoyed hearing stories like this. You shouldn't have had to clean all that up yourself in the first place, ugh. I wish people would take better care of the properties they rent out, but since they aren't living in it they don't care. Also very annoying that they gave you all that grief, and now want to take away half the space you paid to clean up?? Ugh! It being for a dog is just insult to injury.

Your noodles are so very cute! As I said I'll try to attach some pics of my lil monsters. Your dark one definitely looks just like my polecat hybrids! This isn't all my ferrets, but I don't have any non-blurry photos of the other 2 on my phone lol.
 

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Thank's for sharing the picture's. Your Ferrets are Beautiful ! Do you use yours for Hunting ? I know throughout Europe Ferrets are used for Hunting Rabbit's. Down the Rabbit Hole and the Rabbits are chased Into Purse Nets. And there also used with Lurcher Hunting Dog's.
Thank you! I may be biased but they are totally the prettiest ferrets on earth :D

I don't myself, but it's definitely a thing in the UK. Mine are just spoiled pets. Though if we ever get (wild) mice invading the shed again, maybe the ferrets will have to earn their keep ;)
 

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