Help me and my problem?

[xIndigoSkyx]

Well let's just start. I feel like crying. I have 25 duckies my parents are insisting that I slaughter 6 of them and sell the rest! They say I should get more next year.... BUT WHY!? if your just gonna kill them... Why? I wanted to keep my eight babies that I put hard work into, they say no. To much money, we have no where to keep them in winter and what do we get out of it? Well I get happiness outta it ok!? I love my ducky babies <3 SO HERE'S MY REAL QUESTION! what should I make as a ducky overwintering house? I thought sod house or like last year a tarP shed (the last one might not work so well, it collapsed in a big wind storm and failed >.>) so is there any help? I need a solution so all my ducky babies won't leave me. It has to be warm, big enough to house 8 fatties, has to be able to stand over my automatic waterer (that thing is a god sent!), not very expensive and able to stand COLD canadian temperatures. I'll do anything! I just need it done!

 

[animalsRawesome]

I'm so sorry that you might have to give them up

There are alot of different options for housing, maybe you can build it out of materials that you already have, that way it cuts down on the cost. Good luck, and i hope your parents let you keep your ducks!

 

[aoxa]

Can't you pay for the food/housing yourself? Maybe get a job and take care of them without your parents help.. That's what I had to do to keep my pets as a teenager.

I hope it works out.. It would be so hard to be left with 0!

 

[Miss Lydia]

I don't know if you have online sites in Canada where you can find free stuff? might be able to find someone tearing down an old deck and want to get rid of the wood. I have built small projects and could probably build something for my ducks if I had too, might even be able to find someone to help if you ask. Is there a Canada Thread on Where am I where are you on BYC? might be able to find some BYCers willing to help. All the best and I hope you can work something out with your parents.

 

[Oregon Blues]

Do you live in an area where straw is cheap? If so, you can stack straw bales to make walls and top with a piece of plywood.

The plywood needs to be painted with exterior paint to protect it from the weather. Don't go very high with the walls. 2 bales, or three at the most. That will give enough room for the ducks to get underneath out of the weather. You can't go very high or you risk having it tip over. Then the plywood must be weighted down with something really heavy so it doesn't blow off.

Or, sometimes you can get free pallets. They would have to be taken apart and incorporated together to make a solid wall.

If you want to keep pets, you might have to figure out a job for the income to feed them and care from them: mowing lawns, babysitting, or an on-line store of some kind.

Were the ducks purchased to be food in the first place?

 

[Oregon Blues]

I would like to add that 25 ducks are too many to be pets. That's a serious feed bill for that many, and if you aren't supporting them by yourself, it is a bit too much to expect someone else to pay for it.

 

[xIndigoSkyx]

I wanted to keep only 8

 

[zzGypsy]

the hay bale / straw bale house is a good plan, not very expensive.

a LARGE doghouse would work as long as the ducks get along. if they aren't all cozy together, you might need two.

if you're going to use a tarp, it needs some sort of structure under it so it doesn't break down, or collect snow and rain and sag. might think about something like a teepee type structure - poles bound together at the top and wrapped with the tarp so snow can't build up. doesn't need to be perfectly watertight, ducks are waterproof, and pretty cold resistant too.

is your water source heated? if it is, I would consider keeping it outside the house so they aren't making a continuous mudpie out of their shelter.

ditto on what others have said about getting a job to pay for their feed and care, I did that for any animals I wanted (my parents didn't pay for any of it).

maybe if you come up with a house plan, and can scrounge materials, one of your parents will help you build it? building things is a really useful skill.

there's free stuff on CraigsList here all the time, and FreeCycle is all about giving away free stuff... do you have a local version of those?

work out a plan and present it to your folks... here's the cost, and here's the extra jobs I'm proposing to do around the house to earn enough to pay for it... maybe raking leaves, cutting and stacking wood, other tasks around the house that noone wants to do or just never seem to get done.

parents are often impressed with their kids taking initiative and planning, being willing to work for what they want. if you put together a real plan and are willing to work for it, they may be more supportive of your keeping the ducks...

 

[Miss Lydia]

Quote:

 

[xIndigoSkyx]

I have been thinking of getting a job for a while....