The Quack Shack

[Supercow]

Happy Second Weekend Day to Everybody!​

Enjoy it while it lasts! - We had another end of the world scenario here yesterday evening. I was working outside in the duck yard when i suddenly noticed that it was completely quiet. Next thing i noticed was that all the ducks were sitting in the grass in front of me, panting and staring at something in the sky…
Turned around and instantly needed fresh underwear: A huge thunderstorm had managed to sneak up on me from the north-east, which is a very unusual direction for weather to approach. Sky was dark green and there was plenty of lightning in those clouds.
I barely managed to secure all the tools before the storm broke loose and it turned out that wasn't a good idea to just lean the wheelbarrow against the house… it got blown away during the first gusts. The ducks were so scared by the view of a wheelbarrow bird of prey that most of them panicked and fled into the duck house, the others sought shelter in front and under the patio.
As quickly as that storm had approached it was over and the sun came back out to provide us with a free outdoor sauna experience.
Currently it is somewhat more moderate outside, but the clouds in the north-east are growing again.

The weather is for sure getting more creative ... I've also noticed that in the last several years the hit and miss ratio when planting young trees has turned sour for some reason; in the olden times of say 10 years ago all of them made it as a rule, nowadays maybe half. Don't know what to attribute that to. Maybe just my older age

 

[Supercow]

That is a lot of protein! - I need to look at the dog food aisle next time and compare prices. The cat-food that i am currently buying is the house-brand of one of the farm-stores here and contains 22% protein.
Looked up Defu feed, their prices would ruin me! My ducks go through a 40lbs (18Kg) bag of cat-food in less than two weeks and i have to cough up 1$ per pound currently.

Yes, Defu is very good and very expensive. It was a special situation that enabled us to get it in quantity. But the younger dog is grown now (just turned a year old).

She has a special way of looking at you like Dobbie the house elf in Harry Potter...

They look like there has just been a quarrel but it's OK really

 

[Miss Lydia]

Is that older age or old age with out the er on the end?

I just looked up Solvenia what a beautiful country you live in. Love those mountains similar to ours here in NC

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Well the vet for sure took a poop specimen to the lab, whether she will be making a culture or not I don't know at the moment - it would not happen instantly while we were there anyway. We were advised to be in touch Monday / Tuesday so it looks like there would be some followup.

The bill was 26 eur for the exam and 13 eur for the antibiotics bottle which is good till 2026 and can be kept around for a while in a suitable place. We went for the full bottle so in case there is another problem we have something handy.

Junior continues to be in love with peas and lettuce, I keep dunking her head to clean the nares, we're administering the antibiotic ... I cooked some vitamin-boosted rice but it was not warmly received. Yeast sprinkled over peas goes down smoothly though.

When the eye infection cleans up we'll let her try to run with the flock again and see how that's going. Currently she's either in a large crate or in a 2 x 4 m mini enclosure over the day, and in a crate in the duck coop overnight, as before.

Unrelated, experimented with some fresh comfrey today but nobody gave a duck about it. Next I'll try it dried.

Okay, vets seem to be cheap in the EU, the vet here charges $80 for just examining a duck! Just don't ask for the prices of the medications. And worse, since this weekend you can no longer obtain any antibiotics without a prescription, even for animals.

Add a tablespoon per cup of rice of sugar to the rice! Ducks have a sweet tooth (like me!). - And try to give the others some of the rice too, so that they develop a taste for it just in case..

Comfrey? - I read on Wikipedia that this stuff should be used externally only as too much of it ingested can cause liver damage. - My ducks love Peppermint (like me!) and are able to make whole peppermint shrubs disappear in less than five minutes… They also love to raid my Oregano, the Marjoram, Winter-Savory and the Thyme. Basil makes them jump, all good stuff, but they tend to eat these plants whole so i keep planting and planting and planting - for the duck!

 

[Supercow]

Comfrey? - I read on Wikipedia that this stuff should be used externally only as too much of it ingested can cause liver damage. - My ducks love Peppermint (like me!) and are able to make whole peppermint shrubs disappear in less than five minutes… They also love to raid my Oregano, the Marjoram, Winter-Savory and the Thyme. Basil makes them jump, all good stuff, but they tend to eat these plants whole so i keep planting and planting and planting - for the duck!

Correct about the comfrey, great externally though - traditional name is knitbone and I can affirm that this works).
However as I understand it, it seems OK for poultry; I guess it all depends on quantity.
Good info about the herbs, I guess I'm about to run into some problems

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Nice suprise today - twice in a row the ducks have packed themselves up in the coop in the evening, going up the ramp and everything, everybody inside, with just the guard duck standing watch on the top of the ramp.

Guard duck = the one that sounds like a particularly large basso profundo toad, CRRROOOAK if there is anything that seems dangerous.

When i heard the flock back inside in the evening - both parties, me and the duck, enjoy that ritual - my oldest drake, Mr. Limpy stands at the door, counting the ducks. Somehow he knows if somebody is late and refuses to go inside until the late-comer has rushed in. Then he looks at me, stating "RRRRRAAASSP!" and walks inside.

Is your guard duck a drake? "CRRROOOAK" sounds like a drake to me...

 

[Supercow]

Is your guard duck a drake? "CRRROOOAK" sounds like a drake to me...

Well, I hope not but I guess we'll see.... I believe by this age (4 and a half months) it should already have been obvious? I can see the ducks "mating" on land and I think it's just a simulation ... I could be in for a surprise

 

[Supercow]

Is that older age or old age with out the er on the end?

I just looked up Solvenia what a beautiful country you live in. Love those mountains similar to ours here in NC

It's the kind of age when you know you're not young; but are still hesitant to consider yourself old although you understand this rationally

My father (81 this year) says: you always feel 25 in your heart, it's just that more and more parts hurt. So far this seems very accurate to me.

Yes, nature has been good to Slovenia. The land is glorious; the country, as a political entity, maybe not so much but... You know how they say "the grass is greener on the other side of the fence" and how people like to go "oh this is ONLY possible in our country" whenever they have a bad experience. Well, there's a lot of that. In the end it's the individual perspective that counts.

I was just discussing things with my wife the other day and we decided we're actually old hippies. We were born a bit late for that (late 60's) but that's what it's come to.

 

[Miss Lydia]

One nice thing about living in the country is you don't have to even acknowledge there is big disgusting filthy cities and even though you know they are there [out of sight out of mind.]
we're old hippies too nice to meet you.

 

[Canadian Wind]

The weather is for sure getting more creative ... I've also noticed that in the last several years the hit and miss ratio when planting young trees has turned sour for some reason; in the olden times of say 10 years ago all of them made it as a rule, nowadays maybe half. Don't know what to attribute that to. Maybe just my older age

Mother Nature is going through menopause!