Help! Duck is driving me nuts! **EDITED= PIC ADDED**

[RavenStorm]

Hey peoples, as some of you have seen I got a surprise duckling from my DBF's trip to the feed store 5 weeks ago. It imprinted on me, and fought with the chicks so I couldn't put them together. I have been trying to ween it from being so attached to me, but even now she has good days and bad days. On the bad days she quacks loudly for big chunks of time, and now my neighbor (who is a little off her rocker and screams all day herself) has started to throw tantrums when the duckie starts acting up. I don't want her complaining to the homeowner's ass. or the cops because I'm already one chicken over the legal limit and I don't think she would be legal either. I REALLY don't want to get rid of the duck. I accepted it mostly because I wanted duck eggs or a duck for the holidays, but since it thinks I am momma I have come to love it as a pet.

-I have a large mirror not in use, can I put it in it's pen to trick it into thinking it has company?
-Stuffed animals scare it more than calm it.
-I have started college again this week so I can't be with it all the time to keep it quite.
-My step-grandmother has fallen in love with it, and she has raised poultry before. She asked me not to eat it and to give it to her if we didn't want it anymore. Yet she is ditzy and forgetful, she has cats that love to hunt, and the area is rife with raccoons and opossums.
-Is it too late to get a companion duck close to the same age? Will they make more noise together than the one does now? If this is a better idea, does anyone have any Khaki Campbell's around 5-6 weeks old who lives in the SoCal/LA area that I can buy off of you?

 

[RavenStorm]

I thought I would throw in a pic to show you all why I can't get rid of this guy ... just too cute! This is from 3 weeks ago, playing in it's pool, she now has pretty much all of her feathers and only a little fuzz on the back of her neck.

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[ozark hen]

what a cutie. You poor thing, here I have been wishing one of my ducks would imprint on me...now you make me see it in a different light. ha ha I am sorry, I don't have an answer for you but wanted to say I feel for you and hope Grandma's house works out for you? does she live close to you? Maybe she could have it and you could visit it to be sure it is ok? Hope someone else jumps on here and has some good advice for you.

 

[RavenStorm]

Quote:
Yeah, at first I thought it was cute and fun, and everyone else who sees it following after me thinks that too. But this thing has basically dictated my life since I got it; it is like a toddler with separation anxiety. Right now we are calling it "Stalker" because she likes to jump up on the cardboard nest box that is right under the window and crane her neck to stare at me while I'm inside. It's a little creepy/funny (see pic below for an idea, this is the most recent pic I have of her from when she first freaked me out when she started doing this a few days ago)

My grandma's house isn't close, it's two hours north from here, so I wouldn't be able to check up on it frequently. There are also no feed stores that carry poultry/water fowl feed (horses are big though in that area) withing 40 miles of her house so she would have to special order it from the tack shops and I know for a fact that they will charge her extra.

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[ChanceRider]

Awww, she's such a cutie! Too bad I live in Northern CA, I'd duck-sit for you! My two look to be about the same size as she is. They're so much fun... I took them for a swim a little while ago. Not sure who had more fun.... them or me

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[punky45]

i have two ducks and they almost never make noise! they are two different breeds and the get along fine. how old is your duck?

 

[WriterofWords]

Get a little friend that looks like her and quacks. Or maybe one a little older than her.

 

[wendy]

we have 8 ducks, i could not imagine having a duck by itself. mine do quack when i come outside or when someone is driving up. but i also live way off the road on 13 acres so no one would say a thing that lives near me. i hear horses on the land next to ours but cant see them for the woods. i think she/he needs a friend. good luck.


wendy

 

[birdlover]

I can sympathize with you! Once, years ago, I incubated duck eggs and only one hatched. I had no idea what I was in for! After about 2 months I got a local "farm" (not really a farm but a county park that represents a farm for kids to learn) agreed to take her. She wasn't even there a week before a predator got her at night when they had her in a pen (not predator proof obviously). I still feel nagging guilt about that and vowed NEVER ever again to take on a lone duck, especially a baby! Good GOOD luck!!!!

 

[birdnutz]

If it quacks loud its a female. Maybe Terrylacey can help,shes part of a duck rescue. I have a drake that imprinted on me and a baby goose. But he has since learned to get along with the other ducks (the black hord). Maybe if you get another duck it would help.