Pekin Duck Club!

[freakshow5]

Please add me to the list.

 

[JadeComputerGal]

I'm so upset and angry right now, I can't think straight. While I was @ my daughters volleyball tournament my ducks were in the yard doing their thing waddling around eating bugs, when my neighbors German. Shepard attacked and killed one of my female ducks. My son came upon the attack and chased the dog off, after she dropped my duck on the ground. One of my females wedged herself between the house and the snowblower, so badly we had to get her unstuck. My Pekin and the other female tried to jump into my sons arms. I'm so upset

My ducks were free ranging in my yard, which they did everyday. They were in my garden eating away when the dog got loose from its run. Which this not the first time, this dog got loose 2 months ago and went after my chickens.

I am so very sorry for your loss. I am so very sorry.

I have no advice for you about what you should do because what I would do, no matter how kindly, would alienate the neighbors. I would explain to my neighbor that I was not going to live in fear of their dog vs my ducks, and that I wasn't going to tolerate another incident. I would tell them I'm sure they're fond of their dog, and that they need to find a way to reliably contain it, or at least keep it off my property if they're fond of it. I would explain that, if I saw it on my property again, regardless whether it was an immediate threat, I would have to call animal control to ask them to come collect it and not allow it to come back. I would explain that I wasn't saying any of this to be mean, only to protect my own animals from their dog's incursion onto my property, and that I would not blame them in the least if it had been a case of my ducks going to their property and their dog getting them because of that.

We all need to control what our own animals do. This is on your neighbors. I don't do wing clipping of my ducks, but I promise you I would if they were flying over to our neighbors' properties and taking a dip in their pools. Almost everybody here has a pool, and our own ducks won't be an exception to my "don't annoy the neighbors" rule if they ever start doing that.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I would love to join your club, we are going to purchase our first 2 ducks, and would love to get advices

Welcome to BYC!! @bernieduck

 

[Miss Lydia]

I am so very sorry for your loss. I am so very sorry.

I have no advice for you about what you should do because what I would do, no matter how kindly, would alienate the neighbors. I would explain to my neighbor that I was not going to live in fear of their dog vs my ducks, and that I wasn't going to tolerate another incident. I would tell them I'm sure they're fond of their dog, and that they need to find a way to reliably contain it, or at least keep it off my property if they're fond of it. I would explain that, if I saw it on my property again, regardless whether it was an immediate threat, I would have to call animal control to ask them to come collect it and not allow it to come back. I would explain that I wasn't saying any of this to be mean, only to protect my own animals from their dog's incursion onto my property, and that I would not blame them in the least if it had been a case of my ducks going to their property and their dog getting them because of that.

We all need to control what our own animals do. This is on your neighbors. I don't do wing clipping of my ducks, but I promise you I would if they were flying over to our neighbors' properties and taking a dip in their pools. Almost everybody here has a pool, and our own ducks won't be an exception to my "don't annoy the neighbors" rule if they ever start doing that.

Fencing.

 

[duckies1230]

I'm so upset and angry right now, I can't think straight. While I was @ my daughters volleyball tournament my ducks were in the yard doing their thing waddling around eating bugs, when my neighbors German. Shepard attacked and killed one of my female ducks. My son came upon the attack and chased the dog off, after she dropped my duck on the ground. One of my females wedged herself between the house and the snowblower, so badly we had to get her unstuck. My Pekin and the other female tried to jump into my sons arms. I'm so upset

I'm so sorry.

 

[bernieduck]

I'm so sorry.

I'm sorry for your loss.

 

[JadeComputerGal]

Fencing.

Yes, I completely agree, but wouldn't you agree that's on the neighbors if they can't contain this dog otherwise? I go on 'whoever is causing the problem also needs to cause the solution.'

We couldn't fence our property if our neighbors were causing a problem. We'd need a fence 6 feet tall to keep out a determined large dog, and the cost of the fence itself and the permits required would be around $6K. I know that because we were looking at doing that before we decided to start looking at selling and buying a bigger property next spring, somewhere we'd be staying long-term and would be willing to put that kind of money into fencing something we were about to leave.

 

[duckies1230]

My advice to you as a close acquaintance even if not what you'd call a 'friend' is that you don't want to overwhelm yourself with ducks right now. You've been expanding the number of ducks/drakes you're thinking of getting over the past few days, and you're letting this get the best of you. I say this in all kindness, darling. Scott and I were invited to go get some ducks from one of the best breeders in the country in October, and I told Scott just today, "Regardless whether we can get ducks from xyz person, we cannot do that until we sell most of the others." That was very, very hard for me, especially after just losing our top show duck, but sometimes I have to reign myself in and be pragmatic.

I would get one female, just one, and no other drakes. Just one other to keep JoJo company with something of his own species. See how that works out for you where you are now, and expand once you move if you decide to do that. A brand new duck is almost certainly not going to be as well-behaved as JoJo, and it will probably make you very glad you didn't get another 2-3 to deal with all at once.

I agree with you completely. I don't even want another duck right now but it is his best interest. Right now he's sitting on top of the couch watching TV, he's content. Anyhow, the problem with one female is that I need a duck of a certain age and in a certain weight class. And I can't find a single duck that fits that description whose owner will only sell them, they are all selling pairs or trios.
Also I reaslize a new duck will not behave like JoJo but I also realized that in Jan/Feb I will have a newborn basby so jojo is not going to get as much attention from me. The world can freeze over before I would get rid of jojo so I need to get him a mate now so by then things can be better and the two ducks will be happy together.
As for keeping him in a crate, there's no need. Some house duck owners let their duck sleep in their bed, but thank you for the advice!

 

[JadeComputerGal]

I agree with you completely. I don't even want another duck right now but it is his best interest. Right now he's sitting on top of the couch watching TV, he's content. Anyhow, the problem with one female is that I need a duck of a certain age and in a certain weight class. And I can't find a single duck that fits that description whose owner will only sell them, they are all selling pairs or trios.
Also I reaslize a new duck will not behave like JoJo but I also realized that in Jan/Feb I will have a newborn basby so jojo is not going to get as much attention from me. The world can freeze over before I would get rid of jojo so I need to get him a mate now so by then things can be better and the two ducks will be happy together.
As for keeping him in a crate, there's no need. Some house duck owners let their duck sleep in their bed, but thank you for the advice!

Please don't misunderstand. I wasn't saying you need to crate him. He sounds like he has no problem staying where you'd like him to be at the time, and many house duck owners would do anything for that. I was saying that you'd want to crate what you get as a companion if it's something that has the ability to fly around the house at night when you're sleeping. I think I need to look back at my post to maybe edit it if it came across like I was saying JoJo needs to be in a crate.

 

[duckies1230]

Please don't misunderstand. I wasn't saying you need to crate him. He sounds like he has no problem staying where you'd like him to be at the time, and many house duck owners would do anything for that. I was saying that you'd want to crate what you get as a companion if it's something that has the ability to fly around the house at night when you're sleeping. I think I need to look back at my post to maybe edit it if it came across like I was saying JoJo needs to be in a crate.

No no, its not that. That's why I'm trying to find info on the Muscovy female from owners bc the idea of her flying around the house ain't something I'm too fond of...lol...i posted on show off your house ducks hoping to find some answers. I apologize if I sounded offensive. Trust me hun, it wasn't you at all!