My Love Affair With Ducks...

[HalfWayUpAMountain]

Well, I have missed your advice about these dang ducks. Not only is growing old not for the faint of heart, but I’ve found keeping these ducks aren’t either! They are cute as can be and hilarious, but they don’t want to be loved on AND I don’t know what to do with all their eggs. Petey, my white layer, keeps cranking out these humongous eggs. Good lord, some are as big as my fist. No one around seems to want duck eggs and I’ve realized I’m not too crazy about them either. IMO they smell like a marina. No joke. I checked around and the closest Asian store is an hour from me. So, I boil them and feed them back to the ducks and my dogs.

I’ve thought I probably need to downsize in the chicken department, but I just can’t let go of my old birds. I have no problem selling the young ones that I hatch here because I haven’t bonded with any of those. Broody-raised chicks are a ZERO on the loving scale. Mine anyway. Mother Nature is downsizing my dogs for me and my son needs to get rid of 3 or 4 horses. (That would lighten my load considerably.)

Thank you bunches for your thoughts and prayers. And you’re right, growing old sucks, and I’m not doing it gracefully!

Any chance the Asian market would come and get them ?

Should we ever be overwhelmed by ducks eggs, we feed them to our dogs raw. They go loony for them - our old vet used to say eggs are one of the best foods for dogs, poorly or well ! We found they were particularly positive on dogs with skin issues.

I understand completely about bonding and not bonding - still yet to name this years brooder lot !

If you"d like to retire Petey to Italy, we just need to work out the logistics......

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Welcome back @Mimi13 We are all here to support you!

Prednisone? - My doctors wanted to put me on that and i refused after learning about the severity of its side effects!
I have RA in my knees and my lower back, which sometimes prevents me from getting a good night sleep. My back hurts when i lie down! I can sit and walk around the whole day without pain, which starts right when i want to sleep. Kind of catch 22 situation.
So far i am able to manage the pain with three OTC painkillers: Ibuprofen, Acetaminophen and Naproxen. I take one of them until it wears out after 2-3 weeks and then switch to the next one and so on. I am too stubborn to let that pain take control of my life! And my flock of now 40 ducks support me in that matter.

In regards of the duck-eggs that are piling up, have you tried to advertise them on craigslist? Or just put up a simple sign at the side of the road:

I bet your sidekick would have a lot of fun designing such a sign!
Again, glad to have you back!

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Any chance the Asian market would come and get them ?
[...]
If you"d like to retire Petey to Italy, we just need to work out the logistics......

NO WAY quacked Blanca Duck! - We won't let our sister-duck being deported to a country where she wouldn't understand what people are sayin'!

 

[Mimi13]

Welcome back @Mimi13 We are all here to support you!

Prednisone? - My doctors wanted to put me on that and i refused after learning about the severity of its side effects!
I have RA in my knees and my lower back, which sometimes prevents me from getting a good night sleep. My back hurts when i lie down! I can sit and walk around the whole day without pain, which starts right when i want to sleep. Kind of catch 22 situation.
So far i am able to manage the pain with three OTC painkillers: Ibuprofen, Acetaminophen and Naproxen. I take one of them until it wears out after 2-3 weeks and then switch to the next one and so on. I am too stubborn to let that pain take control of my life! And my flock of now 40 ducks support me in that matter.

In regards of the duck-eggs that are piling up, have you tried to advertise them on craigslist? Or just put up a simple sign at the side of the road:

I bet your sidekick would have a lot of fun designing such a sign!
Again, glad to have you back!

Oh great! I wish I hadn’t read all those side effects. And yes, I have several of those side effects. Weight gain of course and memory impairment. Dear lord, that has become a nightmare for me. I’m just thankful I don’t work anymore. I told my DH just the other day that I definitely would not be able to do my old job. Now I see that’s a for real possibility.

I do want to sell eggs at the road, but I’ve got to make modifications first. We live behind a gate so people can’t just drive up to the house and I’m not sure that I want to “invite” the public into my safe zone. We’ve got and old baggage cart bottom that I want to build a shed on. Then I can hook it up to the truck and pull it down to the corner of our pasture, alongside the fence, and sit in it one or two mornings/afternoons a week and sell all my eggs. That way I’d be safely on the other side of our fence, away from any potential problems, such as people who might have had too much meth and Mt. Dew.

 

[Mimi13]

NO WAY quacked Blanca Duck! - We won't let our sister-duck being deported to a country where she wouldn't understand what people are sayin'!

I think my ducks understand more body language, like carrying a feed container, than they do language.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Oh great! I wish I hadn’t read all those side effects. And yes, I have several of those side effects. Weight gain of course and memory impairment. Dear lord, that has become a nightmare for me. I’m just thankful I don’t work anymore. I told my DH just the other day that I definitely would not be able to do my old job. Now I see that’s a for real possibility.

I do want to sell eggs at the road, but I’ve got to make modifications first. We live behind a gate so people can’t just drive up to the house and I’m not sure that I want to “invite” the public into my safe zone. We’ve got and old baggage cart bottom that I want to build a shed on. Then I can hook it up to the truck and pull it down to the corner of our pasture, alongside the fence, and sit in it one or two mornings/afternoons a week and sell all my eggs. That way I’d be safely on the other side of our fence, away from any potential problems, such as people who might have had too much meth and Mt. Dew.

Recently i was switched to a new drug called Invokana because my old medication, Metformin ER, was recalled. The side effects were horrible, my blood sugar levels dropped so rapidly that i passed out twice, once while i sat down in the duck house after feeling drowsy during the morning egg collection. I decided to no longer take it on Monday and feel great again! Yes, my blood-sugar levels are a little too high, but i don't care anymore! When the treatment is causing more harm than the sickness, just stop it!

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

I think my ducks understand more body language, like carrying a feed container, than they do language.

Nope! My ducks look completely irritated when i talk to them in Spanish or Romanian, like: »What the duck just happened to our humon? What is he sayin'?«
German and English is fine, they have learned that by now.

 

[HalfWayUpAMountain]

NO WAY quacked Blanca Duck! - We

I think my ducks understand more body language, like carrying a feed container, than they do language.

Mine are the same - i've said it before and i'll say it again, if I am not holding the treat bowl, I might as well be holding a flamethrower

 

[Mimi13]

Recently i was switched to a new drug called Invokana because my old medication, Metformin ER, was recalled. The side effects were horrible, my blood sugar levels dropped so rapidly that i passed out twice, once while i sat down in the duck house after feeling drowsy during the morning egg collection. I decided to no longer take it on Monday and feel great again! Yes, my blood-sugar levels are a little too high, but i don't care anymore! When the treatment is causing more harm than the sickness, just stop it!

That is terrible. I’ve always said if I was to pass out in my chicken run, the little buzzards would peck me to death, literally. That is no bueno.

 

[Mimi13]

Nope! My ducks look completely irritated when i talk to them in Spanish or Romanian, like: »What the duck just happened to our humon? What is he sayin'?«
German and English is fine, they have learned that by now.

FOUR languages? Well aren’t I the dumb one? English it is, with a touch of Southern Slang, for me! Sometimes with a few choice words thrown in for good measure.