Show off your house ducks!

[Amykins]

That was jerk husband #2. I married an even crazier 1 after him. He came after me with an 8 inch kitchen knife, but ended up with the worst end of it when he forgot I had had martial arts training & ended up with his head in a wall.
My advice on jerks: kick their butt or kick them to the curb.
My advice on cute little sexually frustrated duckies: stick his butt in a cage until he learns not to bite.

I DO stick his butt in a cage, but it doesn't work! Also @kukupecpec , he attacks the bejeezus out of those diapers! I don't get it, he's totally cool with his old ones and these aren't all that different from that. But he loves nothing more than to maul them constantly! I tried to pick one up so he couldn't get it but he RAN over, nabbed it, and had such a good grip on it I lifted him right into the air along with the diaper, dangling off it a white fluffy keychain!

 

[18angovem]

Thank you everyone for the lovely compliments and so far I am enjoying this forum quite a lot. You all have awesome advice, stories, and ducks! I feel rude I had forgotten to mention who these two even are earlier. Louis, is a Peking/Magpie mix breed, and Josie is a Swedish Blue. Both are three years old.

Not a recent pic right?

 

[LadyHawkeAvry]

That was jerk husband #2. I married an even crazier 1 after him. He came after me with an 8 inch kitchen knife, but ended up with the worst end of it when he forgot I had had martial arts training & ended up with his head in a wall.
My advice on jerks: kick their butt or kick them to the curb.
My advice on cute little sexually frustrated duckies: stick his butt in a cage until he learns not to bite.

Yes, my first husband was just as much a winner. It took me way longer than I should have to kick him to the curb... So very glad that I did!!!!!

 

[LadyHawkeAvry]

So after their shower today, when I brought the ducklings back into the family room I let the cats back in. I figured they were big enough to hold their own (gotta love those fast growing heavy duck breeds!), as they have been regularly chasing the cats around and biting their toes.

First up, my ancient queen, Ko. She is pretty much bombproof, and at her age, has seen it all.

She discovered that if she wants to lick the bowl after I eat shredded wheat, she has to share. Notice she is totally unconcerned about the swarm of ducks putting their heads in with her...
Next up, Hermes, a six month old kitten, one of four that were left on my back porch last fall...

He actually lay down with the downy half dozen...

....and cuddled and groomed them like he would with his sisters....

 

[Julie Birb]

That was jerk husband #2. I married an even crazier 1 after him. He came after me with an 8 inch kitchen knife, but ended up with the worst end of it when he forgot I had had martial arts training & ended up with his head in a wall.
My advice on jerks: kick their butt or kick them to the curb.
My advice on cute little sexually frustrated duckies: stick his butt in a cage until he learns not to bite.

Jesus dancing on a biscuit; funny, Amykins. SilkieSensation, great job defending yourself and putting a$$hole's head thru the wall.

 

[Amykins]

She discovered that if she wants to lick the bowl after I eat shredded wheat, she has to share. Notice she is totally unconcerned about the swarm of ducks putting their heads in with her...
Next up, Hermes, a six month old kitten, one of four that were left on my back porch last fall...

He actually lay down with the downy half dozen...

....and cuddled and groomed them like he would with his sisters....

Pleeeease be careful and don't let him groom the duckies or let them drink out of a bowl he ate from, since virtually all cats carry pasteurella, which is basically birdie cholera! It's totally awesome that he loves the duckies so much, though. I wish my kitties loved Wobbles, even though it's super risky to get licked by them. Heck, my vet even tells me to cool it with the smooches since it's likely Hils and I are also carriers. ;_;

Speaking of Wobbles, I'm really struggling, guys. I still don't know what on earth to do. I haven't slept in days, and can't take naps because of his behavior. Doesn't anyone out there have any ideas on ducky discipline? Or for that matter, experience with a lone male house duck at all? I know most of you awesome ladies have equally awesome hens, so I worry that I'm sort of on my own here. I can't get Wobs to stop attacking anything and everything, including me. He still tries to destroy the diapers every time I have to change him, and he hasn't been so bad about it since I first introduced him to diapers in the first place!

 

[LadyHawkeAvry]

Pleeeease be careful and don't let him groom the duckies or let them drink out of a bowl he ate from, since virtually all cats carry pasteurella, which is basically birdie cholera! It's totally awesome that he loves the duckies so much, though. I wish my kitties loved Wobbles, even though it's super risky to get licked by them. Heck, my vet even tells me to cool it with the smooches since it's likely Hils and I are also carriers. ;_;

Speaking of Wobbles, I'm really struggling, guys. I still don't know what on earth to do. I haven't slept in days, and can't take naps because of his behavior. Doesn't anyone out there have any ideas on ducky discipline? Or for that matter, experience with a lone male house duck at all? I know most of you awesome ladies have equally awesome hens, so I worry that I'm sort of on my own here. I can't get Wobs to stop attacking anything and everything, including me. He still tries to destroy the diapers every time I have to change him, and he hasn't been so bad about it since I first introduced him to diapers in the first place!

Everybody's dear friend pasteurella muliticia!! I saw that stuff cause a cellulitis from a cat bite that sent the patient to the hospital! Dogs also are colonized pretty heavily with it! In humans it can't be transmitted by casual contact - it has to enter through a break in the skin before it causes any problems, and then it's obscenely virulent!! (Over 80% of bites become infected) I didn't think about it because it does not get transmitted that way in people!! If you and your husband had significant colonization, you would both be on IV antibiotics - it is really, really, nasty when internal!! We humans are just as bad (human bites get infected at an equally high rate), but we are colonized by different nasties! I would be curious to know why it's worse for birds - is it an immune system thing? I'm going to have to hunt through the literature now - my cats and birds have always interacted, so I'm wondering now if I should keep them completely separate in the house (I can't control it outside because if my cats aren't laying out in the field with the birds, there are often feral and domestic cats that pass through the property. Did your vet say anything about feet? The ducks preferentially bite cat feet, and I know that kitten claws in particular are often colonized with bartonella henselae which again causes illness in humans when the claws break the skin (cat scratch disease)... Thanks for the heads up!!

I would ask your neighbors if they would object to an air horn - as it does work well. Mounting would be best simply because it is the natural way ducks show dominance, but I would be nervous as well with a bird as teeny tiny as a call duck!! Perhaps a folded towel or soft stuffed animal placed on his back to simulate another bird while not applying any potentially damaging weight? It may not work without the neck grabbing, but worth a shot!

 

[LadyHawkeAvry]

Went to my buddy the Merck Manual - treatment of pasteurella is different too!!! In humans we start with augmentin because penicillin is often ineffective - in birds it's the go to drug of choice for sulfa resistance! Haven't found why birds have such profound systemic infections yet, but the fact that they call it cholera is too kind of a term!! It is just plain dreadful! It causes suppurative lesions literally everywhere! Going to have to look at vaccinating against it, too much wildlife here not to!

 

[kukupecpec]

I DO stick his butt in a cage, but it doesn't work! Also @kukupecpec
, he attacks the bejeezus out of those diapers! I don't get it, he's totally cool with his old ones and these aren't all that different from that. But he loves nothing more than to maul them constantly! I tried to pick one up so he couldn't get it but he RAN over, nabbed it, and had such a good grip on it I lifted him right into the air along with the diaper, dangling off it a white fluffy keychain!

What does he actually do when you crate him that's not working for you? If it's just a matter of attacking the cage you could try switching to a solid plastic type cage, or even a cardboard box. Badly behaved male fowl at my house get eaten... lol can't eat poor little wobs!
He attacks them when he's wearing them, or when they are just sitting around? Cause ChaCha will chew on them like toys if left out. If she's wearing it she just preens it with the rest of her feathers lol

This picture is just too much!!! Oh my gosh I'm dying! I wish my animals all got along!

I would ask your neighbors if they would object to an air horn - as it does work well. Mounting would be best simply because it is the natural way ducks show dominance, but I would be nervous as well with a bird as teeny tiny as a call duck!! Perhaps a folded towel or soft stuffed animal placed on his back to simulate another bird while not applying any potentially damaging weight? It may not work without the neck grabbing, but worth a shot!

I agree with the mounting! Now my experience is with geese, so I may not be much help, but when I had trucker with my gander I had to be the dominant one. He'd charge, I'd grab him and force him onto his back and honk about like "in the winner!" Until he shut up and gave up, then I'd let him back I'll and rub it in some more "honking" my victory to make sure he didn't think he skulls challenge me again, but I had to go through the whole song and dance every few days.

 

[Julie Birb]

So after their shower today, when I brought the ducklings back into the family room I let the cats back in. I figured they were big enough to hold their own (gotta love those fast growing heavy duck breeds!), as they have been regularly chasing the cats around and biting their toes.

First up, my ancient queen, Ko. She is pretty much bombproof, and at her age, has seen it all.

She discovered that if she wants to lick the bowl after I eat shredded wheat, she has to share. Notice she is totally unconcerned about the swarm of ducks putting their heads in with her...
Next up, Hermes, a six month old kitten, one of four that were left on my back porch last fall...

He actually lay down with the downy half dozen...

....and cuddled and groomed them like he would with his sisters....

That is super adorable. I love the color contrasts between the webbed Fuzzes and cat.