The Quack Shack

[Luv Ducks]

The one that got my two baby ducklings last year ate every single bit of them and left me the bones. It actually left the head alone on one of them but skinned the other one entirely.

Lol! I should update it. I have sold out of some birds and no longer have them, and have other birds, like Rex here.



Seems well! She had those superficial wounds that I Blu Koted, and I started her on some antibiotics just in case.

So happy that she is home and safe. I pray that you find the owner of that dog so that this never happens again.

 

[Jenbirdee]

Hello all!

Today was busy. I went and picked up a Pilgrim gander to go with that rescue goose I took in. However, now looking at his size compared to her, I'm worried she's maybe not a Pilgrim. Anyone in here keep them and can weigh in? Please excuse the mud, we are in mud season full swing here. The geese sure aren't minding the mud puddles though!

And, the ravens are stealing all my eggs I caught a cool video of the rooster trying to chase one out of the emu barn and then having to get emu backup, but I'm embarrassed to post it because of all the mud, LOL. Of course it also happened during the hour I had just taken all the winter bedding out and was doing the other coops and hadn't put fresh hay down, so it's literally just a mud floor in the video, bleh.

BUT anyway, I decided to try a roll away nest box to see if that keeps my eggs safe. I looked into pricing and they are like $110 to buy! So I built one.

Since the birds keeping trying to lay all their eggs in the emu feed buckets, I figured I'd mount it in the emu barn.

We'll see if they take to it and if it keeps the ravens from getting my eggs - hopefully being located in the emu barn they won't want to mess with it much.

my pilgrim gander and my pilgrim goose are both 13 pounds each. I think my gander is a little runty.

 

[Jenbirdee]

I had quite the day.

Last night before I went to sleep at midnight I checked my cameras for the emu pasture - I do it every night to make sure all is well.

All was not well. I saw a dog repeatedly going into and out of the emu barn, meaning it had gotten into the emu pasture somehow. I jumped up and sped out to see what was going on.

The dog was gone...but the damage was done. It killed everything it could get ahold of, so all my ground roosting birds that live with the emus. My ducks, my geese, it managed to get a few chickens, it got both my roosters. It got my royal palm tom and one hen. The rest were roosting six feet up so they were spared.

And the worst part - it scared Ciara the emu so much she actually went over the six foot tall fence. In the dark and scared, I hoped she didn't go far but knew that actually she probably took off running. Still, I scoured my property in the dark looking for her. No luck.

I got what sleep I could, about an hour, and got up at daylight. I was prepared to make posters and hand them out to all the neighbors if I had to. I called the police to report her missing in case they got any calls.

I did not find her on my property. We drove around for awhile looking in the woods on either side of the road with no luck. As I resigned myself to the fact that she might not turn up, or was possibly injured or maybe was hurt so badly she was dead in the woods somewhere, I started to head home.

Then my Dad, who had left after helping me look for awhile, came back and caught me as I was driving back to the house. He had put a post on Facebook, and someone had seen her, and through word of mouth their phone number made it to my father.

He called them and they said they had seen her a half hour ago. So we drove to where she was seen - which was two miles from home.

We began looking and after about a half hour, we found her! She was in the woods around their property. Some rope and some wrangling later, I had her caught and locked in a stall in their barn because, as luck would have it, their property used to be a horse stable.

So now she's there, and I'm waiting for my friend to get his trailer operational so I can haul her home. She has superficial wounds - a big scrape down her neck, and a scraped up wing, but other than that, I have not found any wounds.

And now I have to turn my attention to holding the owners of the dog responsible for this. And I will be. One way or another, they are paying for this, even if I have to drag them to court. I'm 95% sure I know who owns the dog and if it's not them, you best bet I'll be finding out who does own it.

In the daylight, I can see where it literally tore through the fencing to make a gap it could squeeze under. It then ripped open my new turkey breeding pen to get at the turkeys. No way it doesn't have injuries to its mouth. I've had dogs attack free ranging birds before, but this is a new level.

I also hope Ciara nailed it. Make it think twice about coming back.

oh my goodness I just read this! I am so sorry for all your losses and injuries and pray you do find the dog owners.

 

[Jenbirdee]

this is a ten second vid of my ducks “on spring break” if you listen to it- do you hear a drake in there? whaaa? i only have 12 hens! ???

 

[Canadian Wind]

this is a ten second vid of my ducks “on spring break” if you listen to it- do you hear a drake in there? whaaa? i only have 12 hens! ???

All sounds like females to me, except maybe that groan-y kind of noise right at the end. My drakes occasionally make noises like that, not the ducks.

 

[Miss Lydia]

this is a ten second vid of my ducks “on spring break” if you listen to it- do you hear a drake in there? whaaa? i only have 12 hens! ???

Are they heading to the beach in Florida for spring break? You better keep them home mama duck.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

oh yeah you’re right ! lol I looked it up apparently in some parts of the world it’s the 19th and some parts of the world It’s the 20th I guess that’s because of the international dateline or something? well either way I’m just so glad it’s here!! aLSo my duck’s are today happy happy ducks, who have another great reason to rejoice with me because this morning, my neighbor, up the hill behind the duck yard… he cut down the two huge dead trees that I’ve spoken to him about years ago !! (because they have been looming over the duck house for years…)
I wasn’t warned, however, and the ducks were all freaking out. I had to cut, quickly, an emergency duck size escape hole through the fencing to let them down into the goose area away from the trees falling, and obviously had to move the geese further away too…
edit to add I do a lot of editing…
I couldn’t access the normal safety, escape route without endangering my own life, and therefore had to cut the hole, but has since been repaired by me, of course, with handy dandy, zip ties, and extra piece of fencing.
Hallelujah the menacing trees are gone!!!! thanks God!

Praise the (late) insight of your neighbor! I hope all ducks are okay and the duck-house is undamaged?
When it comes to my dux safety i drop all guards for myself. I once ran outside barefoot in January to confront a neighbors dog that was about to dognap one of my drakes, i herded them back into the duck-house during a hail-storm and i frequently take the risk of slipping and sliding straight to hell to lock them up in the evening.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

She's home!

It involved renting a Uhaul and having my Dad drive while I road in the trailer holding a piece of OSB to keep her in a corner, walking her on a rope over my lovely muddy yard that the trailer couldn't be driven over, and then getting the rope back off her once she realized she was home and really just wanted to take off, but it's done.

View attachment 3776408

At least some good news! - Did you find out to whom that dog belongs?

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

this is a ten second vid of my ducks “on spring break” if you listen to it- do you hear a drake in there? whaaa? i only have 12 hens! ???

I have not heart a drake. That grunt at the end of the video is the approval grunt of a very happy duck.

 

[Jenbirdee]

Praise the (late) insight of your neighbor! I hope all ducks are okay and the duck-house is undamaged?
When it comes to my dux safety i drop all guards for myself. I once ran outside barefoot in January to confront a neighbors dog that was about to dognap one of my drakes, i herded them back into the duck-house during a hail-storm and i frequently take the risk of slipping and sliding straight to hell to lock them up in the evening.

ikr? i certainly would have run through danger up to their side gate and opened it for them if I thought they would’ve actually come up to the north east side of their pen , up, around and out them down the hill that way…. But they were all squished up down in the south west corner of the pen, so i knew i must RUN WITH SCISSORS
to cut them a hole through the fence lol