Show off your house ducks!

[Scovy Momma]

Eeeee,sweet Daisy. I love her in the car carrier. I'd pet her too if I saw her driving around with you. Her face is sweet. Beautiful coloring on her wings. Amazing iridescence.

Awww! Thanks sweets! Yeah, she was a very beautiful muscovy but I just may be biased

 

[Scovy Momma]

I'm not sure if it's just the, er...marbles, or if they amputate the. Um. Corkscrew. ...This is awkward.

You're adorbz!

 

[casportpony]

Quote: Endoscopy even when the testes are huge?

-Kathy

 

[Amykins]

Endoscopy even when the testes are huge?

Yup!

 

[casportpony]

Quote: Thanks, I had no idea they could do that.

-Kathy

 

[LadyHawkeAvry]

Been contending with a weasel here. My ducks are all huge and even the teenagers don't get harassed, but my skunkproof aviary was no match for a tiny weasel. I lost all my adult game birds with the exception of the kitchen quail. There is a bottleneck at the grow out pens until I trap the little bugger!!

The big birds are all unaffected by the tiny predator, and when I pulled Pale Girl in to give her a second round of antibiotic in her knee, I brought in Big Boy to keep her company. She finally is feeling well enough to start laying again. Big boy, however, got quite the surprise - Gunther took over the position as top drake while he was gone. He ran out to greet the rest of the Pekin crew, only to be intercepted by Gunther, who immediately administered a beating to assert his dominance. I never thought the old boy had it in him to take over the flock, but he did!

Missy has been surprisingly good with the influx of baby waterfowl for the season. She doesn't like the heat of the room while the babies are brooding though, so she made a nest under the end table in the living room. I miss her trying to eat my hair at night.. I can't coax her in when the room is hot. I have 3 incubators running and a ton of brooder tubs going though, and it's hot enough most days that the babies don't need supplemental heat. I have to plan some more special outings with her to swim in the local streams and rivers. I think I am more traumatized by her not being with me all the time than she is!

@Amykins : Here's hoping that Wobbles settles down by next season and is a gentleman to the little lady Bean!!! She's such a pretty girl, and he's such a character - I would love to see what that produce!! Perhaps he needs to experience a hen that doesn't put up with nonsense. Mama Saxony dominated any drake who approached her except for Gunther. One of my Khaki drakes used to chase the big girls relentlessly. Then Mama whipped him around like a rag doll. He began thinking twice about aggressively chasing the ladies after that...

 

[Amykins]

Oh no! Ugh, weasels and I have a complicated relationship...they're so darn cute, but they're more vicious than any raccoon or coyote I've ever encountered. I'm not surprised that he got so many of your birds, they seem to enjoy killing. Oh LadyHawke, I'm so sorry. :/ Your poor babies...


Please forgive me, but I can't help but feel tickled how out of everyone, that little quail is the one that made it! I hope he's not too lonely in that big dogloo of his now.

 

[LadyHawkeAvry]

Oh no! Ugh, weasels and I have a complicated relationship...they're so darn cute, but they're more vicious than any raccoon or coyote I've ever encountered. I'm not surprised that he got so many of your birds, they seem to enjoy killing. Oh LadyHawke, I'm so sorry. :/ Your poor babies...


Please forgive me, but I can't help but feel tickled how out of everyone, that little quail is the one that made it! I hope he's not too lonely in that big dogloo of his now.

I had another blue egg layer in that group of quail as well - I got my first blue egg shortly before the weasel started his late night raids. It's in the incubator now. As a ferret owner - also find weasels adorable, but the sheer carnage was staggering! Fortunately, I have an unrelated pair of quail who is laying, eggs from all the laying quail incubating, and have 14 pheasants in lockdown. I sold a lot of my teenage chickens, including Little Bit - who was a favorite but will never grow to a size where she would be predator proof. Just like all the birds I hatch, they are imprinted, and so I just pick them up by the armful at night and bring them in. With around 20 rapidly growing birds I thinned the ranks so I only need to make a couple of trips now to bring everyone in for bed. We were buttined up against larger predators here, but the furry Quisinart was a game changer for sure!
So fortunately, I still have a pair of quail buddies, and Prince the pheasant may yet return when food gets scarce, He is imprinted, but terrified after his lady love got shredded, so he was not about to come to me. There is plenty of food for him at this time of year. In the meantime, I can trap that cute little beastie and put an end to his reign of terror...

I have my 84 egg cabinet packed full to capacity - the flock will bounce back fast!

Tomorrow will be a girls' day out for Missy - I think a nice walk up the river in a shale canyon will make her happy. The water is warm this time of year, with spots where she can swim and dive, and she will get loads of attention. I'll have to get a sitter for the little imprints and the active hatch so she will have 100% of the attention. Have to spoil my little girl!

 

[Amykins]

Aww, a hike with Missy DOES sound lovely. Please take lots of photos tomorrow for us to see! We've tried taking Bean on trips but she's just such a wilting flower and a total spaz, she flips out and won't come to me. You should have seen her at the vet yesterday, a technician came in to say hi to her and she flipped out so much she toppled out of my lap and began tearing around the exam room like a whirling dervish! It was pandemonium. Oi. I really hope her "everything is terrifying" thing is just a phase. She's even scared of food. She's SCARED OF FOOD.

 

[Julie Birb]

Interesting read for those thinking about castration:
http://www.avianstudios.com/blog/bird-vasectomy-and-castration/

-Kathy

Very interesting, Kathy. Thanks for posting the links. I never gave any thought to birds' sexual anatomy and oddly enough never considered that females have a uterus.