The Duck Thread

[JadeComputerGal]

HA...Gina, please don't make me go find the list again. IRC?

Sorry about that, Lady Deb. I realized as I pressed submit that some here probably wouldn't know what IRC is, but I decided not to edit the post because I also figured nobody would care.

IRC stands for Internet Relay Chat. It's a very old, text-only chat system. Many, many things around it, but one thing was that you didn't have the GUI you have now, so you had to recognize things like '( to know what people were saying because it was mostly done in what you might now consider IRC shorthand. If you didn't know the lingo, it could be very hard to keep up with the conversation.

Believe it or not, I actually miss it.

 

[hhbirdlover]

This is so sad and just frustrating. First my bantam goes missing, then my ducklings get killed, this morning just two hrs after letting them out one of my dorkins was floating dead in the pond and right now my husband has come back from putting all the birds in the coop for the night and he says one of my muscovy females is missing

What the heck is going on

sounds like you have a persitant predator. Earlier this year,my husband and i awkoe to find 28 birds dead in the yard. Taken out their pen and killed. It was a combination of stray dog and an opossom. I killed both. The dog dug under the pen and the opposum took the oppurtunity. It broke my heart. I had no problem settingtraps then killing what killed mine. The dog had attacked a person anyways. Keep them in thier pen. Set traps. You will find out. We rebuilt out pens. A layer of chicken wire overlapped with chain link. Good luck and i am truely sorry for your loss. It broke my heart to lose. Mine and i know it broke yours.

 

[hhbirdlover]

This is so sad and just frustrating. First my bantam goes missing, then my ducklings get killed, this morning just two hrs after letting them out one of my dorkins was floating dead in the pond and right now my husband has come back from putting all the birds in the coop for the night and he says one of my muscovy females is missing

What the heck is going on

if you have an outside dog, pit it next to your pens. I have pit bulls that are on leads around my pens. They protect and serve my babies. Knowing everymorning i awake to live birds, they get loved and fed.

 

[hhbirdlover]

Not that they dont, if a bird is found dead. Yet thwy have not failed me yet.

 

[Blue Godz]

We have several dogs two are our guards, but we let Odin out to roam the rest of the acreage during the day, which is when these last two "attacks" have happened

The lady that helps us clean and the workers who help us with repairs were all out there today and my husband goes back and forth to the show garden about 4 times a day. We have 8 acres and the animals are contained in about 1/2 acre around the pond, but I would think that if there had been a big comotion someone would have heard something. ....

Hmmmm come to think of it my doggies (4 who are not on guard duty) were chasing something to the canal about 40min before I found Dorothy dead in the pond....

We need to get to the bottom of this, I really don't think it's a dog cause our dogs would have gone apeshit over another dog in the property....we hear the coyotes every night and have seen them crossing the street in front of the property, but my dogs would have gone even crazier than if had been a dog....there are indeed foxes, and we are often watched by a flock of halks, but the bird area is all under a thick canopy of trees, and we haven't seen them halks around in months.

....the lady did say she saw a snake thicker than her arm in the canal. ...i though she was exaggerating because she's afraid of them, but now I'm wondering if she was saying the truth afterall.....

I'm getting Odin and Hagen spiked collars and vests and leaving Odin in the bird area during the day from now on.

My husband says he'll be going out to hang out with them more often and I'm thinking of putting up some cameras to transmit live to my tv. My dad does this with his dogs and I had been thinking about doing it here for the birds for a while now, but I think it's totally needed now that we can't be out there 24/7 like before.

I'm really sad about my ducklings and chickies, but I'm also super concerned about the ones I'm receiving in October. Me and hubby are also very concerned about baby Bartholomew getting attached to one of the birds and then having it get killed or go missing


Aggghhhh

....sorry to rant...it's just so weird and frustrating and worrisome.

I'm hoping the myscovy girl just got spooked and is way up on a tree or something. ....

 

[JadeComputerGal]

Wow, Jade...I'm so sorry you had to deal with such massive, heartless jerks! You should never have had to remove your precious birb kids from your work profile. Boy, be happy it wasn't me in that meeting because I would have torn into those obnoxious peons! "Any of you gents have a pet rat? Welp, I bet it'd look hilarious dead in my trap at home! Oh, you have a dog? Cool, that Korean restaurant just opened up off Main street, I bet I could sell him for a hefty sum per pound of meat. Oh, you have a fish tank? Awesome, hors d'oervres on me, everybody!"

Seriously, if you don't have a direct superior or HR department to take this to, consider firmly reminding everyone that their "jokes" are horrifically tactless and are completely uncalled for. Or at the very least, if you do lie and tell everyone at work you rehomed them, tell them it's because you were too upset at their cruel teasing and gave them up so you wouldn't have to take it anymore. That oughta make 'em feel lower than dirt, as well they should!

Gina, I'm sorry you've had to tolerate such insensitive jerks! I certainly understand this approach. In general, people like that don't change easily and some go so far has hitting that "button" even harder when they know it bothers people. I've seen it happen too many times. I hope this solution does bring their remarks to an end.

I so much appreciate the sentiments, and it really is best this way. These aren't mean people, just people who I guess don't know what to say about ducks and say whatever dumb thing comes into their minds, which is food. The meeting wrapped up with something like, "Gina's ducks...bbq sauce..." They truly aren't cruel people. I just think it's best to eliminate anything duck from my work conversation. I can't take it anymore. I will eventually be in the office at a meeting where this happens if I don't change it now, and it's not going to be pleasant if I tear up in a meeting where people can actually see me. Blah.

Thanks so much to both (all) of you. Love you so very much.

 

[hhbirdlover]

We have several dogs two are our guards, but we let Odin out to roam the rest of the acreage during the day, which is when these last two "attacks" have happened

The lady that helps us clean and the workers who help us with repairs were all out there today and my husband goes back and forth to the show garden about 4 times a day. We have 8 acres and the animals are contained in about 1/2 acre around the pond, but I would think that if there had been a big comotion someone would have heard something. ....

Hmmmm come to think of it my doggies (4 who are not on guard duty) were chasing something to the canal about 40min before I found Dorothy dead in the pond....

We need to get to the bottom of this, I really don't think it's a dog cause our dogs would have gone apeshit over another dog in the property....we hear the coyotes every night and have seen them crossing the street in front of the property, but my dogs would have gone even crazier than if had been a dog....there are indeed foxes, and we are often watched by a flock of halks, but the bird area is all under a thick canopy of trees, and we haven't seen them halks around in months.

....the lady did say she saw a snake thicker than her arm in the canal. ...i though she was exaggerating because she's afraid of them, but now I'm wondering if she was saying the truth afterall.....

I'm getting Odin and Hagen spiked collars and vests and leaving Odin in the bird area during the day from now on.

My husband says he'll be going out to hang out with them more often and I'm thinking of putting up some cameras to transmit live to my tv. My dad does this with his dogs and I had been thinking about doing it here for the birds for a while now, but I think it's totally needed now that we can't be out there 24/7 like before.

I'm really sad about my ducklings and chickies, but I'm also super concerned about the ones I'm receiving in October. Me and hubby are also very concerned about baby Bartholomew getting attached to one of the birds and then having it get killed or go missing


Aggghhhh

....sorry to rant...it's just so weird and frustrating and worrisome.

I'm hoping the myscovy girl just got spooked and is way up on a tree or something. ....

not to be a debbie downer on your home, but i have 3 babies that went missing and never returned. I found their feathers. Foxes and cyotez are a real threat. I dont know about your state, but in mine it is legal to kill both if they are killing livestock. Also consider, not saying it is, but consider the dog on the lose may be doing it. Put them all in a pen with a roof cover.good luck mam, and like i said.... i am sorry for yojr loss

 

[JadeComputerGal]

We have several dogs two are our guards, but we let Odin out to roam the rest of the acreage during the day, which is when these last two "attacks" have happened

The lady that helps us clean and the workers who help us with repairs were all out there today and my husband goes back and forth to the show garden about 4 times a day. We have 8 acres and the animals are contained in about 1/2 acre around the pond, but I would think that if there had been a big comotion someone would have heard something. ....

Hmmmm come to think of it my doggies (4 who are not on guard duty) were chasing something to the canal about 40min before I found Dorothy dead in the pond....

We need to get to the bottom of this, I really don't think it's a dog cause our dogs would have gone apeshit over another dog in the property....we hear the coyotes every night and have seen them crossing the street in front of the property, but my dogs would have gone even crazier than if had been a dog....there are indeed foxes, and we are often watched by a flock of halks, but the bird area is all under a thick canopy of trees, and we haven't seen them halks around in months.

....the lady did say she saw a snake thicker than her arm in the canal. ...i though she was exaggerating because she's afraid of them, but now I'm wondering if she was saying the truth afterall.....

I'm getting Odin and Hagen spiked collars and vests and leaving Odin in the bird area during the day from now on.

My husband says he'll be going out to hang out with them more often and I'm thinking of putting up some cameras to transmit live to my tv. My dad does this with his dogs and I had been thinking about doing it here for the birds for a while now, but I think it's totally needed now that we can't be out there 24/7 like before.

I'm really sad about my ducklings and chickies, but I'm also super concerned about the ones I'm receiving in October. Me and hubby are also very concerned about baby Bartholomew getting attached to one of the birds and then having it get killed or go missing


Aggghhhh

....sorry to rant...it's just so weird and frustrating and worrisome.

I'm hoping the myscovy girl just got spooked and is way up on a tree or something. ....

Cameras are great. We have those covering ever part of our property so we can sit in the house and check what's going on outside.

What you're describing sounds like either a predator that takes their prey away, which seems like it would set off a dog alarm, or a large snake. Without going into a lot of grossness, the kind of snakes you have are probably constrictors. Venomous snakes don't usually get as large as what you've described. Either one will subdue the prey then consume it. You don't find residue from that unless you know where the nest is because they sometimes, umm, cough up parts of what's left, but that can be days later.

 

[Miss Lydia]

What about your own dogs are you sure they are trustworthy around your birds?

Very sorry for your losses.

 

[Julie Birb]

This is so sad and just frustrating. First my bantam goes missing, then my ducklings get killed, this morning just two hrs after letting them out one of my dorkins was floating dead in the pond and right now my husband has come back from putting all the birds in the coop for the night and he says one of my muscovy females is missing

What the heck is going on

OMG I am so sorry.