Show off your house ducks!

[Amykins]

Good to hear Amykins. Wobbles is a neat little bird. I have been following this thread and it's nerve wracking even for me. Am really hoping Angovem and ducklet work out. Thank goodness for Lacrystol.

Yeah...having had a hatchling die in my hands I know firsthand just how gutting it is. When I lost all my eggs two years ago I kept the incubator on my bed and hand-turned the eggs. I was literally a helicopter mom! So when those died I was devastated. Luckily with Wobbles' clutch I had a better bator that was totally automated, and even then I candled every week and checked the water and temp levels like a hawk!

Ducks really are like babies to me!

 

[Julie Birb]

Yeah...having had a hatchling die in my hands I know firsthand just how gutting it is. When I lost all my eggs two years ago I kept the incubator on my bed and hand-turned the eggs. I was literally a helicopter mom! So when those died I was devastated. Luckily with Wobbles' clutch I had a better bator that was totally automated, and even then I candled every week and checked the water and temp levels like a hawk!

Ducks really are like babies to me!

That is so awful having that happen. I've had one of my finches die in my hands before. I hate that aspect about pets but try not to dwell on it.

 

[18angovem]

Have you thought about "leasing" a female duck until you can get an imprinted one?

 

[Amykins]

Have you thought about "leasing" a female duck until you can get an imprinted one?

Where? From who? No one else around here owns ducks, let alone calls. Can't exactly see a pigeon-sized Call male trying to mount a Pekin or even a Muscovy!

This is part of why I was a bit disappointed when Wobbles turned out to be a boy. All I can do is ride out the next few months and hope against hope that when I finally get those eggs, that they successfully hatch, and I get a female. But the odds of that happening are so low...I just don't know what I'm gonna do.

It's a shame indoor ducks are still so rare, I can't just buy an adult duck who's been raised outdoors with other ducks and try to force it to live inside, you know?

 

[18angovem]

Yeah.... I see. Just get a duck costume for your cat and let the cat take the brute of it.

The orange one is the cat. Blue is wobbles.

 

[Amykins]

Like I said we've tried decoys, even high-quality ones (one heck of a lucky thrift store find!), but nothing works. He wants to shtupp people, not ducks. ...Makes me worry that even if we DO get a female, if she's not in season he'll just view her as another threat. He'll attack anything if it's in my hands; lotion bottles, drink cups, my music equipment, you name it.

 

[18angovem]

Wow very protective. Maybe you have a house guarding duck?

 

[Amykins]

Wow very protective. Maybe you have a house guarding duck?

LOL I totally do! When anyone knocks at the door, his head shoots up and he quacks VERY loudly. Hils and I joke that if anyone ever were to break in we'd know about it immediately, either from his quacking or the fact that whenever there's a stranger in the house my turkey-sized cat will RUN into our bedroom and shove himself under the covers!

 

[Julie Birb]

Like I said we've tried decoys, even high-quality ones (one heck of a lucky thrift store find!), but nothing works. He wants to shtupp people, not ducks. ...Makes me worry that even if we DO get a female, if she's not in season he'll just view her as another threat. He'll attack anything if it's in my hands; lotion bottles, drink cups, my music equipment, you name it. 

is it because he only recognizes people since that's what he's imprinted on instead of other ducks which he's not been around?

 

[Amykins]

is it because he only recognizes people since that's what he's imprinted on instead of other ducks which he's not been around?

Yeah, probably. But he knows what ducks are, we're pretty sure he knows he's one too since whenever he encounters the local mallard flock he'll quack and get all excited.

Too bad it's still winter...and I don't think any of the permanent duck residents would appreciate his advances.