My Love Affair With Ducks...

[shawluvsbirds]

Do you have a RalphieDux yet?

I think you need one, he might save your life someday. That’s what Ralphies do.

Nooooo... Ralphie dux are nothing but escape artists and tricksters and sneaky corkscrewers.

Look at my little Ralphie waiting to bite my jugular and kill me...

 

[Texag87]

We are crazy busy at work

Working on Sat? Glad your busy.

lost two very good jobs today because we cannot get parts until December.

 

[Mimi13]

It is all your fault @HalfWayUpAMountain and @Mimi13, all YOUR fault! ​

Just look closely at the first picture of the Fall Ducklings in their brooder and count:

There are 13 ducklings! - THIRTEEN, not TWELVE!!!​

They have sent me an extra duckling, which is nice. - Usually! - When you order your first flock. - But i am 100% sure that extra duckling is a freaking DRAKE! And that's only because you two dumped out bucket after bucket of bad Karma over me!

If that's a drake, i need to order another five duck(ling)s! - Wifie will throw me out and i have to hang my hammock in the duck-house and poop into the compost…


Now what's a real concern for me is that the delivery note says: »If any of your birds are sexed, see the back of this sheet for instructions on determining sexes and breeds from their band colors.«
Guess what: None of the ducklings is wearing a leg band. Freaking NONE!
@Mimi13 did any of your ducklings wore a leg-band?
I think i won't be able to sleep tonight, i will call them at 6am tomorrow…

I cannot quit laughing! I cannot catch my breath! This is absolutely hilarious! But, I am sorry..........

.........that you have another drake. And you have to know it. There is no reason they would have needed to add an extra duckling, none! Warmth wasn’t needed and twelve was surely enough to send to one person, so why thirteen (other than it’s my lucky number)? Oh, I know why, they had an extra drake to get rid of!

And to answer your question of whether or not my sweet little Latte had a leg band on. Why no, there was no leg band! They snuck that little corkscrew in on me just like they snuck that one in on you! I’m sorry! I told you I could not stop laughing!

Now @HalfWayUpAMountain and I must put our powers together again to spread the cheer of the unwanted drake!

 

[Mimi13]

Hey we've all been there!
My first summer with the cayuga ducks I was soooooo worried about them choking I used to put water in their houses at night.
WHAT A MESS!

Omg

Yes, I’ve put water in with mine at night too, along with a night light!

 

[Mimi13]

Nooooo... Ralphie dux are nothing but escape artists and tricksters and sneaky corkscrewers.

Look at my little Ralphie waiting to bite my jugular and kill me... View attachment 2329904

Awe, look at that precious baby!

 

[Mimi13]

We are crazy busy at work

lost two very good jobs today because we cannot get parts until December.

That is bad and sad!

 

[shawluvsbirds]

Awe, look at that precious baby!

That precious baby led a group of dux out the door and took me on a round and round we go ordeal in the middle of a thunderstorm last week. I was soaked to the bone and my hurting ankle felt like it was breaking by the time I got them back in. Little bard

 

[Mimi13]

That precious baby led a group of dux out the door and took me on a round and round we go ordeal in the middle of a thunderstorm last week. I was soaked to the bone and my hurting ankle felt like it was breaking by the time I got them back in. Little bard

I started to add to the end of my post that I can call him precious because he’s not terrorizing me!

My ducks have found if they wait underneath the security light in the evening all the good bugs appear. So I’ve been having trouble some nights getting them rounded up. I will go ahead and lock my chickens up, but wait another 30-45 minutes for the ducks to make it to their lot. They’ll either already be in their house or partying in the pool!

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

This is a duck newbie story!

Just so y’all know I am a very literal person. So, when I got ducklings everything I’d read said they had to have water with their feed. And I witnessed the little boogers take a bite of feed and immediately run to get a drink of water (and wash out 50% of the food in their mouths!)

Once I began letting them free range I really was worried about them not having water all over the yard. Of course there were all kinds of water tubs all over the chicken yard and down at the barn and on my deck, but that isn’t the direction the ducks took as they entered the big, green yard. They went the other way. So, I scrounged up two more water tubs and put them out that way. Life was good!

Problem was they started venturing farther and farther away! I honestly didn’t know what I was gonna do. I couldn’t provide water every 20 or so feet, so I didn’t. And I worried.

But what I observed was the ducks could eat and eat and eat without water after every bite. They would eat bugs and grass and more bugs again, and after a bit they would waddle/run to a water tub. It’s amazing that they are aware of the location of every single source of water on the property.

I don’t know the reason I thought I needed to share this, but I guess the moral of this story is 1) you can’t believe everything you read 2) ducks don’t always have to have water with their food and 3) my ducks know the layout of my yard better than my DH does.

True story!!!

Just look at my brooder-setup of this year: Food, Water, blank heat-pad and a freaking egg-carton as the duckling cave! - I can't believe how much time (and duck-tape) i invested into to »Building a Momma Heat Cave for Ducklings« last year. The ducklings are perfectly happy sitting on that heat-pad with a cardboard box over their little heads. If the heat-pad is full of poop, i rinse it down with the garden hose, if the cardboard-box is too poopy, i get another one out of the endless Amazing supply…
Compare that to the elaborate setup of last Spring:

I must have been crazy! - And of course the 'lings trashed their place within days!
It's the same symptom as with fthe first kid and every other kid after that:

As with the water: Ducks can overstuff themselves, remember the episode when my ducks ate too many grasshoppers, but that usually only happens to young and greedy ducks. Every morning Blanca Duck alone gulps down at least two scoops of cat-food without anything to drink. Then she kicks over the water bucket and guzzles it all up from the ground. Seriously: My ducks prefer to drink the dirtiest, ickiest water from wherever they can get it over a bowl with nice clean water. Clean water is only good for »corkscrewing«.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Nooooo... Ralphie dux are nothing but escape artists and tricksters and sneaky corkscrewers.

Look at my little Ralphie waiting to bite my jugular and kill me... View attachment 2329904

What a sweet drake! - I would never dare to try holding one of my grown ups like this: Blanca would immediately start ripping what little hair is left on my skull and eat it. Katharina Duck would just shred my ear and Limpy would likely have an "accident" on the other side…
Maybe i can train some of the new ducklings to be more cuddly