My Love Affair With Ducks...

[HalfWayUpAMountain]

It is not the weight, lifting five gallons is still ok for me, but the path to the duck-house entrance is bare loam and becomes slippery like soap when it is wet.
I need to rent another trailer and buy some pavers to build a path between our patio and the duck house to prevent accidents…

I dream of having a path of any kind !

I did buy wood to build a raised pathway but it got repurposed....

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

I dream of having a path of any kind !

I did buy wood to build a raised pathway but it got repurposed....

No wooden pathways, please: If the wood gets wet it will be slippery too. Cement pavers with a rough surface like those: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Mutual-...te-Concrete-Step-Stone-PV05016SQGRE/100350764

 

[HalfWayUpAMountain]

No wooden pathways, please: If the wood gets wet it will be slippery too. Cement pavers with a rough surface like those: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Mutual-...te-Concrete-Step-Stone-PV05016SQGRE/100350764

I appreciate the advice - with what we've got to work with, its not feasible.

 

[Mimi13]

Hi @Mimi13 what has happened? Why were you "dead"?
Yes, i have finished the duck-house extension and am now slowly moving the food and the water out of the house and i must build another automatic waterer and install it in the run, so that i no longer have to haul that five gallon waterer out and in.

Arthritis is an UGLY word. After being on prednisone for over a year I was finally weaned off at the end of September. Then slowly, the joint pain started coming back. My hands hurt and don’t want to work, back, hips, feet and shoulders ache, making sleeping almost unbearable. Mornings and evenings seem to be my worst times and that’s my usual times on BYC.

I am still able to tend to all the animals, 44 chickens, 5 ducks, 6 horses, 3 dogs, and 3 cats, although it is much harder when I’m hurting so bad.

I’ve been able to process 5 cockerels over the past 7-8 weeks, but I’ve got 7 more that I’ve put off processing and that is looming over me. I don’t like things looming over me! (It’s worse than a chicken, unbeknownst to me, sitting on a rafter above me and crapping on me.) It’s the little things like this that really bother me...kinda like not being on BYC. It seems like with each day that goes by without getting on BYC, it gets harder to get back on. IDK, maybe it’s just me.

On the bright side though, I finally went back to see the rheumatologist and she has put me back on a small dose of prednisone. That’s not the best scenario, but hey, I’m already not hurting as much.

I just appreciate and thank y’al for taking me back after being away for several weeks.

 

[Mimi13]

It is not the weight, lifting five gallons is still ok for me, but the path to the duck-house entrance is bare loam and becomes slippery like soap when it is wet.
I need to rent another trailer and buy some pavers to build a path between our patio and the duck house to prevent accidents…

Luckily I’ve got water up at the chicken/duck area or I wouldn’t be able to do it. But yes, slick is also a problem for me when changing out the multiple duck waters. Not to mention the dang hickory nuts that try their best to make me fall. I lost my battle with picking them up when the hurricane/tropical storm came through a month or so ago. There have been so many this year I can’t remember it’s name.

 

[Mimi13]

No wooden pathways, please: If the wood gets wet it will be slippery too. Cement pavers with a rough surface like those: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Mutual-...te-Concrete-Step-Stone-PV05016SQGRE/100350764

You are exactly right. Algae builds up on wood and one wet turns into a thick slime that’s slicker than ice. Yep, been there too.

 

[duluthralphie]

Arthritis is an UGLY word. After being on prednisone for over a year I was finally weaned off at the end of September. Then slowly, the joint pain started coming back. My hands hurt and don’t want to work, back, hips, feet and shoulders ache, making sleeping almost unbearable. Mornings and evenings seem to be my worst times and that’s my usual times on BYC.

I am still able to tend to all the animals, 44 chickens, 5 ducks, 6 horses, 3 dogs, and 3 cats, although it is much harder when I’m hurting so bad.

I’ve been able to process 5 cockerels over the past 7-8 weeks, but I’ve got 7 more that I’ve put off processing and that is looming over me. I don’t like things looming over me! (It’s worse than a chicken, unbeknownst to me, sitting on a rafter above me and crapping on me.) It’s the little things like this that really bother me...kinda like not being on BYC. It seems like with each day that goes by without getting on BYC, it gets harder to get back on. IDK, maybe it’s just me.

On the bright side though, I finally went back to see the rheumatologist and she has put me back on a small dose of prednisone. That’s not the best scenario, but hey, I’m already not hurting as much.

I just appreciate and thank y’al for taking me back after being away for several weeks.

I am glad you’re back. I was worried that without my advice you would be overtaken by evil dux.

I understand the pain, and sympathize with you.

I have visits from Art also. So far I only need Light pain killers most the time. However, I have Dupuytrens syndrome with it. That has caused me some problems like manual dexterity, holding a pen hurts, my signature is worse than normal, I drop a lot of things. And I find I can’t move my fingers well enough to do simply chords on my guitar.

Getting older is not for the faint of heart.

But I vow to keep up the dux wars until I can’t go on.

I find I need to adapt a lot.

I worry about when the day comes I can’t fish anymore. I only hunt deer or squirrels anymore. I can’t walk miles snd miles in the swamp carrying a gun. I still snowshoe and pick mushrooms, just at a slower pace than before.

I have been getting rid of my birds for the last couple years, but I seem to fail at that.

But enough about my pity party. I hope you can find a way to control the pain and stiffness. It seems sometimes dropping a med for a while then restarting it after a break resets the timer and it works like new again.

I will pray you get relief and all that comes with it.

never give up, the Dux want us to surrender!

 

[HalfWayUpAMountain]

Arthritis is an UGLY word. After being on prednisone for over a year I was finally weaned off at the end of September. Then slowly, the joint pain started coming back. My hands hurt and don’t want to work, back, hips, feet and shoulders ache, making sleeping almost unbearable. Mornings and evenings seem to be my worst times and that’s my usual times on BYC.

I am still able to tend to all the animals, 44 chickens, 5 ducks, 6 horses, 3 dogs, and 3 cats, although it is much harder when I’m hurting so bad.

I’ve been able to process 5 cockerels over the past 7-8 weeks, but I’ve got 7 more that I’ve put off processing and that is looming over me. I don’t like things looming over me! (It’s worse than a chicken, unbeknownst to me, sitting on a rafter above me and crapping on me.) It’s the little things like this that really bother me...kinda like not being on BYC. It seems like with each day that goes by without getting on BYC, it gets harder to get back on. IDK, maybe it’s just me.

On the bright side though, I finally went back to see the rheumatologist and she has put me back on a small dose of prednisone. That’s not the best scenario, but hey, I’m already not hurting as much.

I just appreciate and thank y’al for taking me back after being away for several weeks.

Welcome back @Mimi13

 

[Mimi13]

I am glad you’re back. I was worried that without my advice you would be overtaken by evil dux.

I understand the pain, and sympathize with you.

I have visits from Art also. So far I only need Light pain killers most the time. However, I have Dupuytrens syndrome with it. That has caused me some problems like manual dexterity, holding a pen hurts, my signature is worse than normal, I drop a lot of things. And I find I can’t move my fingers well enough to do simply chords on my guitar.

Getting older is not for the faint of heart.

But I vow to keep up the dux wars until I can’t go on.

I find I need to adapt a lot.

I worry about when the day comes I can’t fish anymore. I only hunt deer or squirrels anymore. I can’t walk miles snd miles in the swamp carrying a gun. I still snowshoe and pick mushrooms, just at a slower pace than before.

I have been getting rid of my birds for the last couple years, but I seem to fail at that.

But enough about my pity party. I hope you can find a way to control the pain and stiffness. It seems sometimes dropping a med for a while then restarting it after a break resets the timer and it works like new again.

I will pray you get relief and all that comes with it.

never give up, the Dux want us to surrender!

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!

 

[Mimi13]

Welcome back @Mimi13

Thank you!