The Quack Shack

[Pyxis]

Well, in good news, the runner duck egg seller apologized and has sent more eggs. Claims they don't have a broody and said it might just be the heat down south - but that would mean that the eggs sat uncollected for at least two weeks...also not good, lol.

Oh well, hopefully there won't be issues with the replacement eggs.

Never did get more eggs from the mallard egg seller. He said he would send some if I paid shipping, I agreed, emailed him several times to get him to send me an invoice for shipping annndd nothing. Guess I'll just have to try to find a different seller and buy more, because I only hatched one duckling, sigh.

 

[Magnolia Ducks]

Stranger Danger Alert from my ducks! - Got outside and shot this incredible footage of a rare PeaDuck:

Now what to do with this rare bird?
Are "PeaDucks" compatible with Mallard derived ducks?
Do they pose a danger for my little ducklings?
I have no experience with pea-fowl at all…

Pea fowl are prone to wandering. It may belong to a neighbor.

 

[Luv Ducks]

Pea fowl are prone to wandering. It may belong to a neighbor.

There used to be one on my bus route years ago. It would always cross the road to eat the neighbor's horses feed. They had a stallion that was mighty mean at times. It decided enough was enough and kicked the Pea fowl's head off. It never wandered any longer.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

I wish you lived closer to me. There are a ton of them on Craigslist not that far from me. I can't believe you don't have a lot of them on yours too. I guess I am super lucky here. They are the most popular duck on Craigslist.

Actually, there are no Muscovy Ducks on the Craigslist for Charleston WV at the moment. The problem with sellers on CL is, that they also sell only unsexed ducklings. And i have been very unlucky with the 50% male/female ratio in the past. With Mallard derived ducks this is manageable, somehow, but with the Muscovy drakes being the size of a schoolbus…

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

We had what I will call a skink in our yard the other day. Small lizard with a blue tipped tail. It was not far from the duck pen. I have never seen any in our yard before, only on the RR tracks not far from our house years ago. I don't know if they are poisonous or not but hopefully not because they are small enough that I could see one of my Ducks trying to eat it.

Before we got our first ducks in 2018 there were plenty of lizards around the house, their numbers have since significantly decreased…
Fortunately the number of nasty insects have gone down too, lead by the dwindling numbers of stinkbugs.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Only thing mine don’t seem interested in if I try and give them one is a slug they will walk away from them.

Slugs are the ice-cream sundays here!

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Those I have heard can be a problem if you eat one. What I had read was that they can live and produce a web like substance in its victim. My Father in law accidently ate one years ago and had to go to the hospital with problems with his intestines. They said it was not due to the slug but it was awfully strange that he was fine before he ate it and had to have part of his intestines taken out afterwards. Ducks may be smarter than people give them credit for.

The disgust of having eaten something disgusting alone can have adverse effects on our digestive system.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

theres enough predators around here

Which (imho) should put the call-duck in an advantage, as it is able to fly away from a ground based predator. (?)

 

[Miss Lydia]

Good Saturday Morn and Eve to you all.

We have 2 new little Runner ducklings my Muscovy Joy hatched them

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Oh wow!!! Did you capture him? Do you have neighbours that he might have escaped from?

@casportpony

To my knowledge, none of the neighbors in the holler keeps any peafowl. Most poultry kept here is for food reasons…