Ok, so I've had runner ducks for three years now and this forum has been my "goto" for all my duck related inquiries. Since I had a question this time that I didn't find a satisfying answer to, I decided to finally join. 
Our Runner Duck-Tale up to the present: (for those with the patience to read a little
)
We started of with two 4day old ducklings, which I hand reared because we preferred tame duckies. We adopted them for their infamous slug eating abilities, and they have sure delivered on those! Their names are Ping & Pong. And the one we thought was a boy, was a girl, and vice versa.
Now we were told Runners were horrible mommies so our surprise was huge when one day, out of the blue, we woke up to 13 duckies instead of 2. There was no way for us to keep them. Even though our duckies may run freely during the day on 4000m2, they still need to get into their foxproof pen at night and that just couldn't hold 13 adult ducks.
So I made a little adoption site for them, asking good human moms and dads to please adopt our little fluffy Ping-Pong Balls. If you are interested, here it is: http://kr33cher.wix.com/ping-en-pong (mind you it is in dutch, but has many cute pictures ).
All of them were adopted between 4 weeks and 6 weeks old. We made sure those that got along could stay together, or at least that is what we tried to do. It was both a happy and a sad day when they all went to their new homes. It is incredible how quickly your mind adjusts to walking around with 13 ducks. We have recently received news that two of our adoptees have died, but the rest are still doing great.
One little duck had issues however. After being adopted, it turned out he stopped liking his brothers. Or they stopped liking him, we don't know... Bear and Brownie decided they loved each other very much. So they stuck together like glue and shunned poor Beetle. If Beetle tried to socialise, they pulled his tail feathers. So... Beetle came back to us and started living with his mommy and daddy again. After a while we noticed the issue probably wasn't with Bear and Brownie after all. Bear and Brownie inherited Pings kind and soft disposition. Beetle however, got his feisty mother's character. True alpha duck him. We renamed him Peppy.
Because he was such an alpha and Pong is his mom, we got another duckie, called Amelia, after Amelia Earhart, because the first thing she did when she got home, was fly off. It was a difficult acceptance time, but after a while, each duck found their spot and Pong and Amelia became close friends. So close that they decided to hatch one egg in their first year together. And I learned a harsh lesson. Little duckies can jump really high. And Little Quick, did his name justice. After one week, I found him, he had jumped his own height and went swimming. But couldn't get out in time anymore. It still makes me sad, he was such a kind little duck, just like his father Ping.
Another year passed, this time Pong laid the eggs, and Amelia decided to hatch them. Pong visited her every day. Only in the last week before hatching, Pong decided to start sitting next to Amelia day and night and kept her company 24/7. There were 5 eggs, one egg never grew. Four duckling hatched. At first Amelia and Pong were sharing custody and were being super proud moms.
Four days in, one little duckling couldn't keep up. Didn't want to eat any more, just drink a bit. Lagged behind, laid down a lot, didn't forage. He/she (we didn't know at that time) had always been a bit of a "loner", or so we thought. Maybe she was the last to hatch or something and had had a bit of issues from the start... Whichever the case, I kept a close eye on him/her and finally decided to take him/her in.
The first days were touch and go. (S)he got a heat light, a soft towel, a cuddly momma bear and water with apple cider vinegar for her electrolytes and oregano as antibiotics. Slowly but surely (s)he regained his/her strength.
Ok, enough with the double wording, we found out "it" was and is a she. We now call her Poppy. And because Peppy can sometimes really act like an *ss, she will stay with us until she is full sized and can fend for herself.
So back to Amelia and her three kids. After a week, Pong got bored being a mom and went back to her regular duck business. Amelia however, kept being super mom. But for some reason, since Pong lost her interest, Ping and Peppy felt Amelia and her little ones were fair game. They started being really mean to Amelia and her kids. After waking up a whole week at 5 am because of the mayhem they were causing and on the seventh day finding Amelia's neck had no more feathers, I decided enough was enough. I found a new foster home for them. So at almost three weeks old, Amelia and her three kids were adopted by a very kind woman and her mother. I didn't like saying goodbye, but I was taught that my wishes come second to the needs of the animals I care for.
So far the balance has been restored, but for Pong, another girl in the pack is absolutely a necessity. In about two to three weeks, Poppy will be fully grown and we hope her introduction into the group will go smoothly. So far, we take her out on walks and she can sit in front of the coop to get acquainted, but judging by Peppy's behaviour, waiting for her full size, seems like the wise thing to do. In the meantime, she likes us as human surrogate parents and also enjoys laying on our laps to watch movies with us at night.
Our Runner Duck-Tale up to the present: (for those with the patience to read a little
)We started of with two 4day old ducklings, which I hand reared because we preferred tame duckies. We adopted them for their infamous slug eating abilities, and they have sure delivered on those! Their names are Ping & Pong. And the one we thought was a boy, was a girl, and vice versa.
Now we were told Runners were horrible mommies so our surprise was huge when one day, out of the blue, we woke up to 13 duckies instead of 2. There was no way for us to keep them. Even though our duckies may run freely during the day on 4000m2, they still need to get into their foxproof pen at night and that just couldn't hold 13 adult ducks.
So I made a little adoption site for them, asking good human moms and dads to please adopt our little fluffy Ping-Pong Balls. If you are interested, here it is: http://kr33cher.wix.com/ping-en-pong (mind you it is in dutch, but has many cute pictures
).All of them were adopted between 4 weeks and 6 weeks old. We made sure those that got along could stay together, or at least that is what we tried to do. It was both a happy and a sad day when they all went to their new homes. It is incredible how quickly your mind adjusts to walking around with 13 ducks. We have recently received news that two of our adoptees have died, but the rest are still doing great.
One little duck had issues however. After being adopted, it turned out he stopped liking his brothers. Or they stopped liking him, we don't know... Bear and Brownie decided they loved each other very much. So they stuck together like glue and shunned poor Beetle. If Beetle tried to socialise, they pulled his tail feathers. So... Beetle came back to us and started living with his mommy and daddy again. After a while we noticed the issue probably wasn't with Bear and Brownie after all. Bear and Brownie inherited Pings kind and soft disposition. Beetle however, got his feisty mother's character. True alpha duck him. We renamed him Peppy.
Because he was such an alpha and Pong is his mom, we got another duckie, called Amelia, after Amelia Earhart, because the first thing she did when she got home, was fly off. It was a difficult acceptance time, but after a while, each duck found their spot and Pong and Amelia became close friends. So close that they decided to hatch one egg in their first year together. And I learned a harsh lesson. Little duckies can jump really high. And Little Quick, did his name justice. After one week, I found him, he had jumped his own height and went swimming. But couldn't get out in time anymore. It still makes me sad, he was such a kind little duck, just like his father Ping.
Another year passed, this time Pong laid the eggs, and Amelia decided to hatch them. Pong visited her every day. Only in the last week before hatching, Pong decided to start sitting next to Amelia day and night and kept her company 24/7. There were 5 eggs, one egg never grew. Four duckling hatched. At first Amelia and Pong were sharing custody and were being super proud moms.
Four days in, one little duckling couldn't keep up. Didn't want to eat any more, just drink a bit. Lagged behind, laid down a lot, didn't forage. He/she (we didn't know at that time) had always been a bit of a "loner", or so we thought. Maybe she was the last to hatch or something and had had a bit of issues from the start... Whichever the case, I kept a close eye on him/her and finally decided to take him/her in.
The first days were touch and go. (S)he got a heat light, a soft towel, a cuddly momma bear and water with apple cider vinegar for her electrolytes and oregano as antibiotics. Slowly but surely (s)he regained his/her strength.
Ok, enough with the double wording, we found out "it" was and is a she.
We now call her Poppy. And because Peppy can sometimes really act like an *ss, she will stay with us until she is full sized and can fend for herself.So back to Amelia and her three kids. After a week, Pong got bored being a mom and went back to her regular duck business. Amelia however, kept being super mom. But for some reason, since Pong lost her interest, Ping and Peppy felt Amelia and her little ones were fair game. They started being really mean to Amelia and her kids. After waking up a whole week at 5 am because of the mayhem they were causing and on the seventh day finding Amelia's neck had no more feathers, I decided enough was enough. I found a new foster home for them. So at almost three weeks old, Amelia and her three kids were adopted by a very kind woman and her mother. I didn't like saying goodbye, but I was taught that my wishes come second to the needs of the animals I care for.
So far the balance has been restored, but for Pong, another girl in the pack is absolutely a necessity. In about two to three weeks, Poppy will be fully grown and we hope her introduction into the group will go smoothly. So far, we take her out on walks and she can sit in front of the coop to get acquainted, but judging by Peppy's behaviour, waiting for her full size, seems like the wise thing to do. In the meantime, she likes us as human surrogate parents and also enjoys laying on our laps to watch movies with us at night.
