The Quack Shack

[Miss Lydia]

I realized why the ducks were talking so much this afternoon…I forgot to rinse and refill the pool They were mad! It wasn’t two seconds after I turned my back and I heard splashes.

They do expect an awful lot for us, don't they?

 

[Luv Ducks]

Pelicans eat ducklings too…

Thanks Frank, now I won't have them on my best loved birds list either. I know it is the balance of nature but its just so hard for me to love something that takes out innocent baby ducklings. It's just me. I know snapping turtles, snakes, and a thousand other things can get them but I can still not like them for doing it. I don't hate the animals that do eat them, I just hate what they do.

 

[Luv Ducks]

I realized why the ducks were talking so much this afternoon…I forgot to rinse and refill the pool They were mad! It wasn’t two seconds after I turned my back and I heard splashes.

One thing for sure, they won't fire you!! LOL

 

[Luv Ducks]

You know what they say... Good decisions come from experience, experience comes from bad decisions

I really have to rest and drink now (30+ C days) ... It was a lot of work. But I think they will enjoy their new home.

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Such a great setup you made for them. They look like Happy Ducks to me!!!

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Pressure-treated wood boards coated with melamine, used on building sites to create molds for poured concrete - https://www.merkur.si/opazna-plosca-27-mm-1500x500x27-mm-a-klasa-kos-0-75-m2-pal-30-m2/ - very resilient, stiff and easily cleaned.

It seems the correct term is "formwork panels" - https://www.hasslacher.com/shuttering-boards

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Very interesting choice! - My dad worked in construction and we had plenty of, what was called formwork-panels at my home that "randomly" fell of trucks…
But these were very different that today's stuff: Raw wooden boards, total 1x2meters, clamped together with iron u-braces at the short-ends. The wood was infused with creosote and was dowsed with diesel right before the concrete was poured into the formwork to prevent the concrete from sticking. No way i would use that stuff for my ducks today! But it didn't stop me back then to use it for tree-house construction.
That duck house is looking very impressive and sturdy. As my duck's house is showing wear and tear everywhere i need to build a new and larger home for them asap.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

We've seen sunstroke in the past with another duck but this one was sitting in the shadow apparently comfortably, no panting, no visible signs of stress apart from the glaringly obvious fact that she did not join the pea party. That's an obvious "general duck error". We're still going with insect bite as the likely explanation.

Are "unhealthy" mushrooms an possibility? - I have not seen any insect being able to sting or bite one of my ducks before being eaten. Not even those palm-sized wolf-spiders we have here stood a chance.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

That’s really sad. There’s a lot of heron here at the Chesapeake Bay. but sometimes I wonder if some of them could also be egrets or even ibises lol
I had one fly overhead and land on my duck house last year, all I could think of to do was scream until it flew away.

On sunny days i use a mirror to scare them away, works also for circling bops overhead.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

here’s pics of the ingredients and uses for that epsom poultice. i think it’s helping chubbs’View attachment 3915996View attachment 3915997 ankle.

Methyl Salicylate is cooling and suppressing pain. Basically Aspirin with an alcohol wrap.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Not perfect in every detail but very far from bad. The young ducks are now going to spend the night in their new house.

Tomorrow I need to put up the roof panels and make a wire skirt around the bottom so ducks don't hide under their house. And a ramp. And move the fence. And so many things.

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O contraire Monsieur! - That is absolutely perfect!!
Love those skylights and i am sure the ducks will love those too.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Come to Canada and build one (or five) for me?

And after that you can make a stop in West Virginia?