OMG! I think i killed all my ducks! HELP!

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Sorry, @WannaBeHillBilly , but your antics ALWAYS make me laugh. You could be commentating on getting a root canal, and it'd be hilarious. You have quite the knack for storytelling. I remember feeling truly guilty when I lost it that time you had a run in with that very same hill...

I guess that makes the score Hill = 2, HillBilly = 0.

Poor HillBilly...

Actually it is Hill 3 and Billy 0.
I have started a potato patch on that hill and out of the 42 potatoes i planted only three came out, the rest rot in the ground because of all the rain we had and the poor drainage of that [censored][beep][beep] hill!
But i will not give up: In autumn there will be plenty of fresh and half composted duck bedding going into that spot and that will break the spell of the hill! (if i don't break something again…)

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Where DH and I lost it was when one duck puked up wiggling hoppers and another duck snarfed them down and puked, and then another duck....... I'm sorry, @WannaBeHillBilly , you could not expect us to keep a straight face through that! Yeah I agree, you have a future as a stand-up comic in 4-H shows or something. ... sell your story to an outdoor magazine or a poultry mag or something.... make some money off it.

I hear that a lot! When i'm on projects the colleagues always drag me to the nearest Thai-restaurant (i love Thai-food) for dinner and we all have a good time, sometimes the other guests complain about all the laughter at our table.
The funny thing is: I don't think i say such funny things, but everybody is choking and spilling their drinks. I consider myself as just a disgruntled employee who works for 20 years at the same company and had to listen to way too much BS speeches from incompetent mid-level managers who think they can actually think. You know, brains, brains are so beautiful! I wish everybody had one! i'm just sarcastic…

 

[Aunt Angus]

Actually it is Hill 3 and Billy 0.
I have started a potato patch on that hill and out of the 42 potatoes i planted only three came out, the rest rot in the ground because of all the rain we had and the poor drainage of that [censored][beep][beep] hill!
But i will not give up: In autumn there will be plenty of fresh and half composted duck bedding going into that spot and that will break the spell of the hill! (if i don't break something again…)

Well, it's great to see your spirit isn't broken!

And for what it's worth I believe you will overcome that hill!
(But if you can't/don't, be sure to post about it)

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Lessons learned:
So with all ducks alive and back to well i think it is time for some lessons-learned:

1. Ducks can over-eat! (Ok, except Blanca Duck.) Ducks can over-eat on tasty treats so badly that they become sick and can even choke to death.
2. Herding grasshoppers towards ducks is a bad idea, because of 1.
3. Sooner or later if your ducks are free ranging something like that will happen - my ducks dug up an ants nest not long ago and had a feast on ants which could have easily lead to 1.
4. Don't panic! Be prepared and don't freeze up like an idiot!
5. Know how to clean out a duck throat.
6. Know how to get medication (Charcoal pills) into a duck.
7. Know how to get some water into a duck.
8. Most important: Have your duck medicine cabinet stocked and available!
9. Again: Do not panic!

 

[Fishkeeper]

If you just keep piling good, nutritious material on top of the hill, bugs will work it into the soil for you. I wouldn't plant potatoes until you know the drainage is really good, or in a raised container- they're sensitive to rot. Grow things that don't mind wet roots so much.
With potatoes, you can plant them at the bottom of a tall container in about 6 inches of soil, wait for them to get decent-sized, and then slowly start adding more dirt. An inch at a time, giving them time to grow so they always have plenty of leaves above ground. The end goal is to have a very long, vertical underground stem, which the plant will have roots all along, and as such will produce potatoes all along.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

By the way, Blanca Duck being Blanca Duck, see that duck sleeping with her head in the no waste feeder? That's Blanca!

She was actually sleeping with her head in the feeder until one of the other ducks stepped on her tail. One day she will swallow the whole world…

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

If you just keep piling good, nutritious material on top of the hill, bugs will work it into the soil for you. I wouldn't plant potatoes until you know the drainage is really good, or in a raised container- they're sensitive to rot. Grow things that don't mind wet roots so much.
With potatoes, you can plant them at the bottom of a tall container in about 6 inches of soil, wait for them to get decent-sized, and then slowly start adding more dirt. An inch at a time, giving them time to grow so they always have plenty of leaves above ground. The end goal is to have a very long, vertical underground stem, which the plant will have roots all along, and as such will produce potatoes all along.

The reason why i tried potatoes is that these are the only plants that the West Virginia deer won't eat! I have a neighbor who has fenced in a piece of his land for vegetables with a three meter (10') tall fence with barb wire on top and still the deer got in.
We had so much rain here this spring that my tomatoes and pepper plants almost drowned…

 

[AmyJane725]

Lessons learned:
So with all ducks alive and back to well i think it is time for some lessons-learned:

1. Ducks can over-eat! (Ok, except Blanca Duck.) Ducks can over-eat on tasty treats so badly that they become sick and can even choke to death.
2. Herding grasshoppers towards ducks is a bad idea, because of 1.
3. Sooner or later if your ducks are free ranging something like that will happen - my ducks dug up an ants nest not long ago and had a feast on ants which could have easily lead to 1.
4. Don't panic! Be prepared and don't freeze up like an idiot!
5. Know how to clean out a duck throat.
6. Know how to get medication (Charcoal pills) into a duck.
7. Know how to get some water into a duck.
8. Most important: Have your duck medicine cabinet stocked and available!
9. Again: Do not panic!

10. Cleaning up explosive duck diarrhea is a labor of love.

 

[AquaDuck]

Wow! That's both terrifying, ridiculous and hilarious at once!
Glad all your ducks are fine after almost gorging themselves to death. Good job on the not panicking, would be my first reaction for sure.

 

[Magnolia Ducks]

So glad everything is fine. I would never thought about this happening. sorry you got scared like this. I have never seen a duck vomit and that would have freaked me the f out.
I put the ducklings in a pool yesterday afternoon and they hated it. Jumped out and pooped everywhere. Who every heard of ducklings that don't like water.