Lost Flipper to Unknown Predator

[Miss Lydia]

Poor baby and probably very tender still. At least she took some food.

 

[MissChick@dee]

I’m so sorry for your loss. What a horrible experience.

 

[Duckworth]

I’m so sorry for your loss. What a horrible experience.

Thank you.

It’s been a tough week. Our neighbor came to our door last night and said she saw the huge raccoon on the sidewalk in front of our house. While she was waiting at our door, it climbed the tree ten feet away. We couldn’t see it with a flashlight and one of the neighbor’s trees is close enough to ours that the raccoon could have transferred to it. There are still a few inches of snow and everything that melted yesterday refrozen hard last night. The weather is supposed to warm to above freezing over night in the next couple of days and we are expecting inches of rain, so that will give us full access to the pen for adding fortifications.

I plan to do a complete cleanout of the pen and house and wrap the whole thing in welded wire over the existing 1/4” to 1/2” hardware cloth. I already have trim boards that overlap all of the door openings to cover the gaps when closed and HWC rolled around the edges of the doors so there’s a bulge that fills the door gaps. I’ll be adding more.

The ducks are all doing better in the bathtub. I turned the heater down a little so that it’s still warm, but closer to the house temperature of 68F. I will continue to lower it as they recover so that the move outside will be less of a shock to them when it comes.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Sounds like a great plan. I know your happy for better temps.

 

[Duckworth]

A lot of snow has melted, but not enough to get the tarps off of the pen. We are expecting copious rain today, so I'm hopeful that the rest of the snow and ice will soon be gone so I can work on the pen. This is the time of year when I would clean out all of the winter deep litter and put it on my garden beds in any case, so the timing could be worse. I can't get the gate open to my garden right now because it is icebound, but that should be changing.

I spoke with the vet yesterday and he is pleased with Flipper and Feisty Girl's progress. I am taking Nipper in today to have him check her over to see whether there is anything else we can do to speed her recovery. One of her nostrils is blocked by clotted blood and mucus and her eyes don't look good. There is still so much clotted blood and matted feathers on her face and it doesn't dissolve easily with a warm washcloth, so I've left it alone rather than risk getting her bleeding again. The vet concurred and will see her this afternoon. I don't think she is eating much, though she is up and drinking and still preening.

I'll keep you posted. The support from all of you is very encouraging. There is such a difference between going it alone and having the companionship of others who, even if they don't know how to solve my problem, care enough to do what they can.

 

[WVduckchick]

A lot of snow has melted, but not enough to get the tarps off of the pen. We are expecting copious rain today, so I'm hopeful that the rest of the snow and ice will soon be gone so I can work on the pen. This is the time of year when I would clean out all of the winter deep litter and put it on my garden beds in any case, so the timing could be worse. I can't get the gate open to my garden right now because it is icebound, but that should be changing.

I spoke with the vet yesterday and he is pleased with Flipper and Feisty Girl's progress. I am taking Nipper in today to have him check her over to see whether there is anything else we can do to speed her recovery. One of her nostrils is blocked by clotted blood and mucus and her eyes don't look good. There is still so much clotted blood and matted feathers on her face and it doesn't dissolve easily with a warm washcloth, so I've left it alone rather than risk getting her bleeding again. The vet concurred and will see her this afternoon. I don't think she is eating much, though she is up and drinking and still preening.

I'll keep you posted. The support from all of you is very encouraging. There is such a difference between going it alone and having the companionship of others who, even if they don't know how to solve my problem, care enough to do what they can.

This is definitely a place of support, comfort, and companionship. Even across the miles, we still care for your babies. Many of us don't have local friends who truly understand how we care for them. Thank you for updating us!

I hope Nipper's vet visit goes well.

 

[quackiemama]

This is definitely a place of support, comfort, and companionship. Even across the miles, we still care for your babies. Many of us don't have local friends who truly understand how we care for them. Thank you for updating us!

I hope Nipper's vet visit goes well.

 

[casportpony]

Good luck at the vet today.

While you are there, you might want to talk to the vet about learning to tube feed.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Hoping Nippers visit goes really well. To both of you.

 

[Duckworth]

Good luck at the vet today.

While you are there, you might want to talk to the vet about learning to tube feed.

That's one of the things I want to discuss. Nipper has so much damage to her upper bill that I don't know whether I can safety open her bill to insert a feeding tube. I may ask the vet whether he can give her a tube feeding while we are there, just to get something in her. I'm hoping that he can get her nares open and perhaps give another steroid injection to combat the swelling that is complicating everything without those steroids working against her overall healing process. Having had numerous connective tissue injuries myself, I know that every treatment has its downside risk.

I'm really relieved to have an avian specialist so close by. My regular vet has someone who will see ducks, but I don't think that is their specialty. The new practice has photos of poultry and waterfowl, along with exotic pet birds, up on their patient picture wall at the office.