My Love Affair With Ducks...

[Hartsharvestfarms]

...and Their Love Affair With Water!

This is my second day owning ducks and I have fallen head over heels in love with them!

Those precious little peeps, the interesting looking bills, the ever so delicate looking webbed feet, and those expressive eyes with their heads cocked sideways peering up at me. Oh, and did I mention their little love ‘bites’ on my neck and lips (OUCH!) That I must not let continue so I suppose I have to stop kissing them. I know, I know, I’m not supposed to kiss them, but the way I look at it my chances are better catching Covid 19 from a stranger than catching salmonella from my baby ducklings.

My little Saxony duckling, Twinkle, is seeing the world straight today for the very first time. Since arriving home a little over 24 hours ago, she has been in a sort of vertigo state, staggering, stumbling, turning in circles, and not being able to hold her head straight.

With the help of several BYC members giving me suggestions and instructions to help her mend, she appears to be on the road to recovery...the road to being a normal, healthy, funny little duck.

I will continue my journey of being a First Time Duck Owner/Spring 2020 duck thread here. My initial thread can be found here for all the background story of My Love Affair With Ducks!

Love at first sight! View attachment 2072190

We are on day 4 with our first ducks ever and I have to say, I completely agree with EVERYTHING you just said. I mean, I knew ducks would be the cutest thing ever, but I did not know how much I would love every little stinky, funny thing about them! If I didn’t have dogs or cats in the house I may even try to stick them in my bed with me and snuggle over them like a mama duck. Probably good for everyone that I have dogs and cats in the house and a tiny bit of sanity.

 

[Mimi13]

We are on day 4 with our first ducks ever and I have to say, I completely agree with EVERYTHING you just said. I mean, I knew ducks would be the cutest thing ever, but I did not know how much I would love every little stinky, funny thing about them! If I didn’t have dogs or cats in the house I may even try to stick them in my bed with me and snuggle over them like a mama duck. Probably good for everyone that I have dogs and cats in the house and a tiny bit of sanity.

Oh, you are so right. The cats and dogs saved the day for every one. They are precious when they’re little and they’re as funny as heck when they get a little older. Oh, and they get louder too! Hopefully you won’t have an ‘oops’ duckling like I did. My little, sweet, pretty Latte turned into a Ralphie Dux, sure as the world.

 

[duluthralphie]

I think this is a mating call of sorts and a way for a Ralphie dux to show off what a stud muffin he is. It must be how you know you have a true alpha Ralphie.
My Ralphie dux also does this and I rarely have ever seen any of the other Drakes do it. I was just as confused as you when he's very first started doing that I kept thinking I had a frog in or near the duck pond somewhere.
Then I finally realized it was Ralphie doing it.

all Ralphies are special!

 

[Magnolia Ducks]

a snake killed my little Rouen drakeling I had to get new genes into my hens. Why do they try to eat things that are clearly too big to swallow. Now I need to find a new drakeling.

 

[Texag87]

Sorry you last another one. Snakes are bad this year.

 

[Mimi13]

a snake killed my little Rouen drakeling I had to get new genes into my hens. Why do they try to eat things that are clearly too big to swallow. Now I need to find a new drakeling.

Oh dear, I’m so sorry. I know some snakes are good for the environment, but I still don’t like them.

 

[Magnolia Ducks]

It was a kick in the butt. I had purposely not killed a day snake because they eat had snakes and rodents, and this is how he repays me. I put out the ceramic eggs.

 

[Mimi13]

It was a kick in the butt. I had purposely not killed a day snake because they eat had snakes and rodents, and this is how he repays me. I put out the ceramic eggs.

I have seen/found a total of three snakes around/in my coops.

The first one scared the bejeesus out of me. It was inside my big coop and small enough to weave in and out of the hardware cloth. It made its way into a box of screws and I guess I was in enough shock of seeing a snake in my coop that I killed it.

The second one was a dang rattlesnake. The only poisonous snake I’ve seen on the property. Obviously they are here though. It was in my little ‘open air’ coop/run that the ducks are now housed in. There was a big, old dilapidated dog house fairly close to the coop (originally a 10x30 dog kennel) that obviously housed rodents. I guess that is what it was after. Obviously I shot that sucker, skinned it and fed it to my chickens. They loved it!!!!! That is one snake I do not want around. I really thought with all the animals (dogs, cats, horses) I have around that snakes would stay away, but there was one other animal I had, the rodents, that it was after, I guess. I found the rodents, and a ton of other creepy crawlers, had been living in the dog house when I tore it down.

The last snake I found was just a month or so ago. It was a black snake that was outside the big coop and run. The chickens alerted me to it. They were standing there staring at it like a calf stares at a new gate. It was just a black snake. Just, hahaha! Anyway, I just ran it off!

It was after that that I remembered a product I purchased a couple of years ago that claimed it repelled poisonous snakes. I had completely forgotten about it. It is a cedar oil product from Wondercide. So, I got that stuff out and sprayed it all around the outside of the chicken coop/run.

The snakes may be good for some things, but I don’t need them around me or my birds.

 

[Mimi13]

Please enjoy A Little Alabama Country Music! The same music I enjoy every evening. (Only I’m usually sweating profusely.) This was recorded at 8:25 pm on 5/28/20, overlooking my front pasture and ponds.

 

[Mimi13]

So here’s what happened this morning.

I was sitting and watching the ducks after I turned them out. I’m keeping them in their little run because Peaches, yet again, is limping badly...on her left foot this time. (No visible signs of any type wound.) Usually they all hit the water first thing and all the head bobbing and maniacal quacking begins. This morning, though, Peaches and Quinny stayed on the ground looking for ‘land snacks,’ aka poor little frogs. I only saw Petey and Ralphie in the pool so I immediately began looking for Hershey. She was NOWHERE to be found. I looked closer at the ducks in the pool and that’s when I noticed big ol Petey on top of my little bitty Hershey. Petey had Hershey completely hidden and completely submerged...for forever it seemed! I quickly interrupted that little soirée and Hershey quickly jumped out of the pool.