My Love Affair With Ducks...

[WannaBeHillBilly]

This is my review it won’t show publicly though.


I warn anyone who buys ducklings from Meyer Hatchery in Polk OH. Actually the ducklings don’t come from them. They come from Metzer Farms in Gonzales CA. We bought 5 Welsh Harlequins. It took them 3 days to arrive. One was dead upon arrival. Another one was incredible weak and on the verge of dying. And a different one wasn’t looking too good. We lost both those ducklings within the hour after arriving home. There should have been a heat pack. There was no mention of a heat pack or anything when we were checking out! I give them one star because their customer service is pretty good and they felt bad about the dead ducklings. And we still have 2 alive. I even called Metzer Farms twice in hopes of figuring out why the ducklings died in case it was Duck Virus Hepatitis. I was trying to ask if the ducklings parents had been vaccinated for the virus, because if their parents had been vaccinated then the antibodies would have been passed to the ducklings and I could rule out the virus as cause of death. But the costumer service lady was very short and cut me off and told me to take it up with Meyer Hatchery. And of course you guys wouldn’t know exactly what they were vaccinated for! Then I called again and asked directly if their breeder pairs were vaccinated for Duck Virus Hepatitis instead of trying to explain the situation like last time. She was still unhelpful and told me no she couldn’t find out today and that it was tax day. But Meyer Hatchery you need to state at the top of the duckling page in huge print that these ducklings are coming from Metzer Farms in Gonzales California!!! I will not be doing anymore business with either of these hatcheries ever again. I am very disappointed in the lack of honesty and not putting the ducklings lives before any business matters. It should have been stated clearly that the ducklings were coming from Metzer Farms. Thank you for reading and I seriously hope that you will make changes for future ducklings and customers sakes.

I’m sorry you lost her. I think they had something going around at the time and still may be.

I ordered my Fall Ducklings this year from Meyer Hatchery and found out that they are being »dropshipped« from Metzer Farms in CA. Though all 13 arrived well and have grown into healthy, loud, nosy ducks. No drakes, as ordered.
So far i have ordered ducklings three times, a total of 28 birds and all but one arrived healthy and well. Only one arrived injured.
It all depends on how the postal-workers care for the life-bird packages and that's something the hatchery cannot influence.

 

[duluthralphie]

I ordered my Fall Ducklings this year from Meyer Hatchery and found out that they are being »dropshipped« from Metzer Farms in CA. Though all 13 arrived well and have grown into healthy, loud, nosy ducks. No drakes, as ordered.
So far i have ordered ducklings three times, a total of 28 birds and all but one arrived healthy and well. Only one arrived injured.
It all depends on how the postal-workers care for the life-bird packages and that's something the hatchery cannot influence.

I have applied to be inspector general in charge of dux shipments for the post office. Life should be good again soon.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

You are sick! Who in the world eats those things! Yuk!! Wolf and coyote are dogs.

What kind of food is considered to be »taboo« is a cultural thing!
Eating insects is very common in most parts of South America, people go bananas for one of those huge hairy tarantulas for example.
Horse meat is considered unsafe for human consumption in the US, but a delicacy in some areas of Germany. In Switzerland you can buy dog sausage - no, not that sausage, real sausage made with dog-meat.
Snakes are common food items in Sout-East Asia.
And so on.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

I'm not sure which hatchery. It was from mypetchicken.com and I know they shipped out of northern California.

Metzer Farms most likely.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Haha mostly I hear "giant scary bird in sky!" and "mmm yummy food" or "where are you?" and "let us out!!"

Mine yell: »Cat food, cat food! Give us more cat food!«

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Yep that's defiantly Metzer, ugh it's a monopoly. At least Mypetchicken had the decency to mention they were coming from somewhere else. I was very worried about my babies too.

The hint is right on the water-fowl page in Meyer's web-site:

I assume only ducklings from breeds that are not raised by Metzer Farms are not coming from Gonzales, CA.
And MyPetChicken is a »drop-shipper« only: They don't raise any birds!

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

What is a Ralphiedux.
Lemme tell ya.
A Ralphiedux is your alfa drake.
The boss of the flock.. he gets all the ladies.
A Ralphiedux is not a bad dux, he is just misunderstood.
He knows he is smarter than the other dux and is first in line for treats.
No other dux dares to cross a Ralphiedux where meal worms are involved.
Typically a Ralphiedux hates toenail polish but loves a snuggle when no other dux is watching.
It is unclear if a Ralphiedux knows that he is a dux.
His allegiance is to his human who he knows pays the feed bill.
He will readily throw any other dux under the bus that comes between him and his human.
Because of this behavior you will consider separating his head from his body many times.
but in the end you know the Ralphiedux is just doing what a Ralphiedux does and the flock would not be the same without him.
View attachment 2431196

That description fits to all of my drakes, all eleven!
I call them my sour patch drakes, first they're sour and then they are sweet! (sometimes)

 

[Enten4life]

Ya'll, my wonderful baby Norbie is all of a sudden MAD at us. She flares her feathers (not something she used to do) ducks her head low and does NOT come over to me when we call her. Is this normal behavior if she's molting??? I mean... she's been the most friendly duck for the two years we've had her, but something is UP her cloaca and I want to know if it's it's something we could have done? We have had to force medicine on her lately, so maybe that's it, but she bit the crap out of my wife today. My heart is breaking :-(

 

[FunQuail]

Ya'll, my wonderful baby Norbie is all of a sudden MAD at us. She flares her feathers (not something she used to do) ducks her head low and does NOT come over to me when we call her. Is this normal behavior if she's molting??? I mean... she's been the most friendly duck for the two years we've had her, but something is UP her cloaca and I want to know if it's it's something we could have done? We have had to force medicine on her lately, so maybe that's it, but she bit the crap out of my wife today. My heart is breaking :-(

I don't know but I wish you all luck!

 

[Mimi13]

Ya'll, my wonderful baby Norbie is all of a sudden MAD at us. She flares her feathers (not something she used to do) ducks her head low and does NOT come over to me when we call her. Is this normal behavior if she's molting??? I mean... she's been the most friendly duck for the two years we've had her, but something is UP her cloaca and I want to know if it's it's something we could have done? We have had to force medicine on her lately, so maybe that's it, but she bit the crap out of my wife today. My heart is breaking :-(

Oh dear, let me see if some of the “ducksperts” can help.
@Isaac 0
@Miss Lydia
@WannaBeHillBilly
@shawluvsbirds

ETA: I failed to mention one of the most important ’duck lovers’ of all... @duluthralphie. <slaps forehead!>