House drama

[Goosebaby]

A fisher cat was allegedly spotted in the area which gave me the incentive to finally get all my ducks in one secure cage, previously I’ve had them split between three cages which was meant to be temporary until everyone got along, the older ducks with this years babies. Everyone’s been getting along fine for a few months now but I procrastinated, not wanting to ruin the friendly dynamic by putting them all together, but the fisher necessitated change.

The cast of shenanigan aficionados:

The older ducks

Bee: Welsh Harlequin hen, boy mom, matriarch, mom of Bramble, still looking for some missing brain cells.

Sunbeam: Buff drake, dad of Truffle and Bramble, dinglebrain, shy and spicy at the same time.

Truffle: Cayuga x Buff drake cross, Mr. Bombastic, the brains of the operation, has a crush on Estella.

The little girls

Estella: Rouen hen, Miss Busybody, dramatic, needs constant attention.
Avis: Black Swedish hen, just wants to love everyone, a bit shy, doing her best.
Rosebud: Rouen hen, tiny but does her own thing, independent, sweet little jellybean.

The baby

Bramble: Buff x Welsh harlequin cross drake, bashful and shy, relies on his mom for everything despite being a grown man duck, can’t eat without his mom telling him to, absolute sweetie. Has started spending a little less time being his mom’s shadow and spending more time stalking his dad and older brother trying to learn how to be a drake.


WHAT WENT DOWN

Night 1:

I rounded everyone up and put them into the big secure duck cage, the palace the little girls previously had all to themselves.
Sunbeam immediately started bullying the little girls.
I was prepared for this possibility so I set up a partition, a little gate to separate the little girls from the rest.
Sunbeam started bullying Bramble.
I put Bramble in with the little girls.
The little girls are screaming because there are men in their house.
Bee is indignant that I separated her from her baby boy and screeching about her and her impressionable young child being forced to live in a shack with hussies.
Bramble is crying for his Mama. “They can literally see each other through the gate….”
Truffle is mad because Bramble is next to his girlfriend Estella.
Sunbeam doesn’t seem to care about the drama he created.

Morning:

It looks like a tornado went through the cage. Somehow at some point they managed to get the partition gate partially down, duck is dripping from the ceiling.

Night 2:

Sunbeam is better behaved so I leave the partition out.
The little girls are complaining to management about men being in their house.
Bee has taken over the girl’s nest box.
Bramble is terrified and glued to his Mama’s side.
Truffle is happy to be in with Estella.
Avis’s flabbers are gasted.
Estella is demanding to know why I would do this to them.
Rosebud found a corner for herself and won’t let anyone in it.

Morning 2:

The cage looks like some hippos threw a soiree but it’s not as bad as the previous night. The ducks are happy to be let out and be out of each others hair or feathers but I see signs that they’re starting to like each others company even if they’re loathe to admit it.



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Post edited by BYC staff, hence the missing words and nonsensical nature.
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[BoundlessLove]

I chuckled at this. Only b/c I’ve been there.
You are probably too young to know this quote, but sometimes it’s a coop opera for sure.
“Like sand through the hourglass, so are the ducks of our lives.”

 

[Goosebaby]

I chuckled at this. Only b/c I’ve been there.
You are probably too young to know this quote, but sometimes it’s a coop opera for sure.
“Like sand through the hourglass, so are the ducks of our lives.”

Omg that quote is perfect!!

I need to name a duck Stefano now!

 

[BoundlessLove]

Have you seen this contest? Your duck story would be Perfect!
Just copy and paste this here:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...official-2025-byc-mini-contest.1679460/unread

 

[Goosebaby]

Have you seen this contest? Your duck story would be Perfect!
Just copy and paste this here:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/poultry-shaming-contest—official-2025-byc-mini-contest.1679460/unread

Wonderful! Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[BoundlessLove]

I’m sorry your entry was deleted.
You definitely had a winner story here, imo.

This has happened to me once, as well.
I was pretty sure I was replying to a bot at the time, so wasn’t too careful what I had posted.

 

[Goosebaby]

I’m sorry your entry was deleted.
You definitely had a winner story here, imo.

This has happened to me once, as well.
I was pretty sure I was replying to a bot at the time, so wasn’t too careful what I had posted.

It’s alright, I botched the delivery on the contest, I needed to pay better attention.

It’s the editing of this post that irritates me. I can own that my post calling my duck by a name that starts with K and using scrambled symbols sort of violates rule 1 “No inappropriate or adult content, including innuendo,” even if I think it’s a bit ridiculous as it isn’t directed at anyone, but rules are rules.

Normally I don’t really care about this sort of thing and will forget about it almost immediately but it jogged my memory of an incident I reported back in August where I was trying to give another person advise about using garlic and honey “as that’s all they had available to them” and had another person ranting at me that people that perpetuate such knowledge are “drunks” and “stooges.”

Rule 2 “No flaming (attacking individuals, professions, or groups.”
Rule 4 “No teasing, mocking, or ridiculing other members.”
Rule 5” No personal conflicts or excessive arguing.”

Yet despite that I was laughed at by a staff member for bothering to report it.

At the time I thought more about it and decided I was being overly sensitive, that the rules were interpreted loosely and rightfully so, so I moved on……but I know now that I’m not allowed to call my duck a bit of a “insert name here,” or scramble some symbols because it might cause severe emotional distress, but it’s perfectly alright for others here to personally insult me.

Oh look, I just violated rule 1 again by writing “a bit of a “insert name here.” I wonder if my post will be visited by a staff member again.

I joined this site with my eyes open knowing it was a clown house already when I first saw individual users with “staff” labeled on their profile.
I only joined and choose to stay to help my birds and also to help other people’s birds.
Websites that label their mods, in this case their “staff” are unprofessional. It’s a nice idea in theory, make the staff more approachable and appear as equals among the community, but in practicality it leads to the opposite. The point of not allowing mods to attach their personal identities and profiles to their role as mod is to protect the mods, to protect users, and to protect the community from violations of the rules but also abuse of the rules.