Show off your house ducks!

[Julie Birb]

Merry christmas! It takes a special sort of weirdness to own a house duck. doesn't it? But I'm glad to have found an open-minded, and open-hearted community that loves their indoor duckies as much as I do. I hope you all have a wonderful day. <3

Well said Amykins. Although I don't own ducks I have found BYC to be a great community of duck loving folks and am entertained endlessly by all the great pictures, posts and quips. I love ducks and the closest thing I have to them are 2 great zebra finches who fly free most the time in my home.

 

[Amykins]

Awww, I love finches! Their little unique chirps are always so delightful. Do you have any photos of them? I know, I know, this is the duck thread, but....it's christmas!

 

[Aylesbury]

Yes it does. But it does not last very long. I just feel at home on this thread. And I learned so much from it too. I should say that my ducks are not 100% house ducks; they spend most of their time out in the garden pond. But it is so nice to have them in the living room once in a while. My ducks are big birds too so they do produce a lot of poop. So their visits are short As it was Christmas we had them in and we had a lot of fun. Merry xmas

 

[Julie Birb]

Awww, I love finches! Their little unique chirps are always so delightful. Do you have any photos of them? I know, I know, this is the duck thread, but....it's christmas!

Haha. I have one of my
male Jibby. He's on top of a cage but behind another one. Not the best shot of my little chubby chunk but most my photos are on my smartphone and I don't know how to download them via the mobile site. And, yes, their sounds are very delightful.
and in this one, below but barely visible is Little Bit the girlish one. Had to keep them separated for a while because they would fight.

Thanks for letting me share on this wonderful duck thread Amy. Merry Christmas!!

 

[Julie Birb]

Love

Yes it does. But it does not last very long. I just feel at home on this thread. And I learned so much from it too. I should say that my ducks are not 100% house ducks; they spend most of their time out in the garden pond. But it is so nice to have them in the living room once in a while. My ducks are big birds too so they do produce a lot of poop. So their visits are short As it was Christmas we had them in and we had a lot of fun. Merry xmas

Love your avatar. Ah. That's nice you let the puffers inside for Christmas. I reckon they love being around you all. It's evident from the pictures they don't mind being held.

 

[Amykins]

FLIGHT UPDATE: Wobbles is flying! ...Kind of.

He'll follow me down the stairs, often with hilarious and kind of sad results. Yesterday he kept flying straight into the fireplace! THAT was a fun bath time. Trying to get soot out of oiled feathers is no day at the picnic. Usually he just hits the bottom stair and rolls a few times, so I've taken to standing at the bottom and actively coaxing him down so I can catch him before he crash-lands.

Out of all the times he's attempted to fly, he's only had one single successful landing. I know ducks aren't the most graceful of creatures, but has anyone else had growing pains when it came to learning how to fly? QuackersMama, didn't you have a few stories about it?

 

[Julie Birb]

FLIGHT UPDATE: Wobbles is flying! ...Kind of. 

He'll follow me down the stairs, often with hilarious and kind of sad results. Yesterday he kept flying straight into the fireplace! THAT was a fun bath time. Trying to get soot out of oiled feathers is no day at the picnic. Usually he just hits the bottom stair and rolls a few times, so I've taken to standing at the bottom and actively coaxing him down so I can catch him before he crash-lands. 

Out of all the times he's attempted to fly, he's only had one single successful landing. I know ducks aren't the most graceful of creatures, but has anyone else had growing pains when it came to learning how to fly? QuackersMama, didn't you have a few stories about it?

awesome for little Wobbles. What a cute little guy trying to fly. He a bird.

 

[Amykins]

awesome for little Wobbles. What a cute little guy trying to fly. He a bird.

I was worried at first, because at 5 months he still wasn't accomplishing anything more than pathetically fluttering 2 feet off the ground for a few moments. Hils and I don't want to clip his wings until he finally gets the hang of it, otherwise we fear he'll never learn and therefore won't be able to escape the cats if needed or save himself if he falls off a high ledge.

It's just slow going, and you can only bear to see the lil' guy wham into the stairs and roll the rest of the way down before you give up and clip him so he won't hurt himself trying to get off the ground, you know? It breaks my heart to see him crash into things. Just this evening, he tried to fly up onto my bed from my husband's arms, tripped over his own feet and then just kept tumbling until he smacked head-first into my headboard! My poor, clumsy baby...

 

[Julie Birb]

Oh no Amy. A conundrum you guys have with little sweetie Wobs. The thought of him getting hurt is horrible. I couldn't stand to watch him crash down the stairs like that. Indeed you and Hils have to wait it out and see how he develops. Hopefully he'll get stronger flight muscles while being supervised in his attempts.

 

[Amykins]

I admit it's a bit funny to see, but it's also horribly upsetting! We've tried to toss him onto soft things like onto pillows and into the lake out back, but he seems to hate the water. He'll flap like man and make a beeline back to the shore where we are. We aren't allowed to swim in the lake, so I'm gonna hold off until I can take him to the Sound and swim out there with him.

Another fun tidbit - he has a new habit of losing his mind when I go to use the bathroom. He'll follow me in and when I sit down, he starts quacking and running in tiny circles all super-excited. I have no idea why! What on earth is going on in that little skull??