My Love Affair With Ducks...

[Mimi13]

RalphieDux is really showing his butt here lately. So much so I have nicknamed him the “Handsome Devil.” He has upped his game of following me, sometimes at a dead run, for him, by climbing up the steps behind me onto the porch of my chicken coop and by also running in front of me or even between my feet. It doesn’t matter what I’m doing OR what I’m carrying.

At sunset, one of my little black Ameraucanas will wait for me, outside the coop, to come get her and walk her into the coop and place her on the roost. I have no idea why, but this has been going on for several weeks now. Now here’s the bad part. I will have her in my arms and Handsome Devil will pick that time to aggravate me. I don’t want to fall or accidentally step on him, but he makes it really difficult for me. He has even waited for me to open the coop door and follow me in.

When my hands are empty, I do one of two things: the first being to scoop him up for either a good talking to or a good loving on. He hates both. The second thing I do is to stop walking and turn to him, bend down and scold him, talking gruffly at him and pointing and shaking my finger at him. (Laughable mental picture there!) I’m ready for the devil to bite my finger next!

So far, I’ve only had jeans and Sloggers on since it hasn’t warmed up enough for flip flops. I’m not certain what he does to my jeans and shoes, but it’s a kind of nibble I guess. I’m certain this is a hormonal/dominance thing, but really now, can this Handsome Devil really hurt me? I do know the front edge of his bill is fairly sharp, so technically I guess he could bring blood somehow.

Do I really need to stop this behavior or continue to use it to occasionally give him affection or a good talking to?

But, yes, he is still a Handsome Devil!
[He looks like just like every other F&W Runner.]

So Ralphie, I’m certain you’ve been called the Handsome Devil too! Am I right?

 

[duluthralphie]

RalphieDux is really showing his butt here lately. So much so I have nicknamed him the “Handsome Devil.” He has upped his game of following me, sometimes at a dead run, for him, by climbing up the steps behind me onto the porch of my chicken coop and by also running in front of me or even between my feet. It doesn’t matter what I’m doing OR what I’m carrying.

At sunset, one of my little black Ameraucanas will wait for me, outside the coop, to come get her and walk her into the coop and place her on the roost. I have no idea why, but this has been going on for several weeks now. Now here’s the bad part. I will have her in my arms and Handsome Devil will pick that time to aggravate me. I don’t want to fall or accidentally step on him, but he makes it really difficult for me. He has even waited for me to open the coop door and follow me in.

When my hands are empty, I do one of two things: the first being to scoop him up for either a good talking to or a good loving on. He hates both. The second thing I do is to stop walking and turn to him, bend down and scold him, talking gruffly at him and pointing and shaking my finger at him. (Laughable mental picture there!) I’m ready for the devil to bite my finger next!

So far, I’ve only had jeans and Sloggers on since it hasn’t warmed up enough for flip flops. I’m not certain what he does to my jeans and shoes, but it’s a kind of nibble I guess. I’m certain this is a hormonal/dominance thing, but really now, can this Handsome Devil really hurt me? I do know the front edge of his bill is fairly sharp, so technically I guess he could bring blood somehow.

Do I really need to stop this behavior or continue to use it to occasionally give him affection or a good talking to?

But, yes, he is still a Handsome Devil!
[He looks like just like every other F&W Runner.] View attachment 2591701View attachment 2591702View attachment 2591703

So Ralphie, I’m certain you’ve been called the Handsome Devil too! Am I right?

I was just thinking how much RalphieDux and I have in common..

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

RalphieDux is really showing his butt here lately. So much so I have nicknamed him the “Handsome Devil.” He has upped his game of following me, sometimes at a dead run, for him, by climbing up the steps behind me onto the porch of my chicken coop and by also running in front of me or even between my feet. It doesn’t matter what I’m doing OR what I’m carrying.

At sunset, one of my little black Ameraucanas will wait for me, outside the coop, to come get her and walk her into the coop and place her on the roost. I have no idea why, but this has been going on for several weeks now. Now here’s the bad part. I will have her in my arms and Handsome Devil will pick that time to aggravate me. I don’t want to fall or accidentally step on him, but he makes it really difficult for me. He has even waited for me to open the coop door and follow me in.

When my hands are empty, I do one of two things: the first being to scoop him up for either a good talking to or a good loving on. He hates both. The second thing I do is to stop walking and turn to him, bend down and scold him, talking gruffly at him and pointing and shaking my finger at him. (Laughable mental picture there!) I’m ready for the devil to bite my finger next!

So far, I’ve only had jeans and Sloggers on since it hasn’t warmed up enough for flip flops. I’m not certain what he does to my jeans and shoes, but it’s a kind of nibble I guess. I’m certain this is a hormonal/dominance thing, but really now, can this Handsome Devil really hurt me? I do know the front edge of his bill is fairly sharp, so technically I guess he could bring blood somehow.

Do I really need to stop this behavior or continue to use it to occasionally give him affection or a good talking to?

But, yes, he is still a Handsome Devil!
[He looks like just like every other F&W Runner.] View attachment 2591701View attachment 2591702View attachment 2591703

So Ralphie, I’m certain you’ve been called the Handsome Devil too! Am I right?

Lovely bird! I wish i could hole one of mine like that, but they all have heart-attacks if i only touch them.
Yes, he can draw blood from you if he tries really really hard. If you want to dampen his mood, you can dominate him by putting your hand really heavy on his back, pushing him to the ground. He will not like that and struggle to get away, just hold him for 30 seconds and already his corkscrew will have shortened significantly.

 

[duluthralphie]

Lovely bird! I wish i could hole one of mine like that, but they all have heart-attacks if i only touch them.
Yes, he can draw blood from you if he tries really really hard. If you want to dampen his mood, you can dominate him by putting your hand really heavy on his back, pushing him to the ground. He will not like that and struggle to get away, just hold him for 30 seconds and already his corkscrew will have shortened significantly.

When I was much much younger I would occasionally meet females that would do all that in less than 10 seconds.

Some drew first blood in 2-3 seconds.

 

[Mimi13]

Lovely bird! I wish i could hole one of mine like that, but they all have heart-attacks if i only touch them.
Yes, he can draw blood from you if he tries really really hard. If you want to dampen his mood, you can dominate him by putting your hand really heavy on his back, pushing him to the ground. He will not like that and struggle to get away, just hold him for 30 seconds and already his corkscrew will have shortened significantly.

You know, come to think of it, RalphieDux has been “duckie loving on” my poor little girl ducks everywhere in the yard for the past several days. And he’s been really getting after my poor little chickens too. I forgot about that.

And you know what I really forgot? Today my ducks are One Year Old!

 

[Mimi13]

Alabama has been having some terrible weather lately, but all that rain has made perfect areas for the ducks to play. I was trying to film this through the rain-splattered glass door so it’s not the best. Also, please disregard the the weather worn chair cushions. They are nearly rotted through and I must get new ones this summer!

 

[duluthralphie]

Alabama has been having some terrible weather lately, but all that rain has made perfect areas for the ducks to play. I was trying to film this through the rain-splattered glass door so it’s not the best. Also, please disregard the the weather worn chair cushions. They are nearly rotted through and I must get new ones this summer!

Kind of wet down there, and despite the wetness, I could not help but notice what a perfect gentleman RalphieDux was.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Wow! You have your own private waterfall in front of your house!
You could use some drainage ditches to lead the water away from your house.

 

[Mimi13]

I finally took down the old temporary fence around the ‘duck run.’ I also moved their pool at that time. Good heavens, RalphieDux wasted no time in breaking in the pool at its new location.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Still that pink color hurts my eyes!