The Quack Shack

[Canadian Wind]

So quiet in here lately...

Hope everything is well with @WannaBeHillBilly ! Wish @Miss Lydia had her internet back.

Second storm of the week has started. I *just* finished shovelling the driveway from the first one on Thursday.

Birds all had their pens cleared, fresh straw and shavings down. Now I'll have to do it all again.

Still no eggs from the ducks. I have, though, started hatching chicken eggs! First batch is due in two weeks.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

There was an attack on the ducks last night... or they simply got super scared. It was dark already and suddenly the (almost) whole flock ran screaming and flapping away from their coops toward the human house... They would not return, it took a while for them to cool down enough to approach their homes again. And even then they ALL crammed into a single one which is unheard of, usually the 2 flocks insist on staying separate for the night.

And then as I was getting ready to close everything up... QUACK QUACK from the outside orchard and there was another duck, must have run in the other direction vs. all the others. Stiff with fear, hardly moved, could be picked up or turned around or whatever, like an owl in daytime.

I carried her into a barrel of water to try and relax a bit and then into the duck house with the others. She seemed fine - no obvious wounds, no large areas of missing feathers.

Today she is limping and is keeping away from everybody else, while they explore around she is just standing in one place not doing anything.

So I brought back the duck therapy dog crate, stuffed it with straw, used the dog's bowl holder which is very studry and prevents the bowls from being flipped. In one bowl she has water with a vitamin/mineral powder and in the other, the duck superfood, peas sprinkled with yeast. She is eating and drinking normally and at a good clip.

Maybe she's just very much stressed and needs a day or two to recover. I guess the time to merge her back into the flock will be when she starts quacking about it -- she's been very silent.

View attachment 4049608

There was a similar incident here last week's Monday night: As usual, one half of the flock ran off to the pond before the supper-bowl was served while the other half walked into the dux house for the night…
At about 10pm i heart ducks outside and found some of the pond-ducks sitting in front of the dux-house door. They were looking scared, so i opened the door and let them inside, when i noticed the rest of the pond-ducks running - really RUNNING - down from the pond towards safety. Wings flapping, ducks stumbling and rolling downhill, just trying to run away from something scary…
Let them inside the dux-house and locked them in, then grabbed the flashlight and my trusted machete and walked up to the pond to find
.
.
.
A ruffled up, numbed and scared Sunny Sunshine duck bobbing in the pond, swimming around in circles. That was another moment i wish i had a scoop-net, there was nothing i could do to help her but pointing the flash light on her and moving the circle of light towards the shallow end of the pond.
Finally her brain un-numbed, she looked at me, quacked and followed the circle of light to the edge of the pond, jumped out and ran towards me. She stayed close to my feet and walked down from the pond to the house with me. As soon as we reached the lightened area, she ran of towards the dux-house and demanded to be let in.

I have no clue what had happened, nor do i know if someduck died that night at the pond. My theory is that something tried to get Sunny but she was able to break free and flee to the pond where i found her…

Did they learn from that experience?

Of course not! - Tuesday evening half of the flock ran off to the pond before the supper bowl was served again…

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Apologies for my absence, i am disappointed to put it mildly:
Early last week it looked like i landed some contract work, but it ball fell apart. Lot's of hours for nothing…
Later that week i learned that in order to apply for a position with with the local government, you need to supply them with a transcription of your foreign education grade. I have been working in the IT industry for over 40 years, 25 years with a fortune 500 company, 17 years in the United States…
And they have ignored all that and tossed out more than 30 of my applications because i did not submit a translated and evaluated copy of my high-school certificate that i obtained over 40 years ago?!
So much wasted time…

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

So quiet in here lately...

Hope everything is well with @WannaBeHillBilly ! Wish @Miss Lydia had her internet back.

Second storm of the week has started. I *just* finished shovelling the driveway from the first one on Thursday.

Birds all had their pens cleared, fresh straw and shavings down. Now I'll have to do it all again.

Still no eggs from the ducks. I have, though, started hatching chicken eggs! First batch is due in two weeks.

As said, rough week…
At least the weather is a bit cooperating, very little snow and it all melted away quickly. However this week's temperatures here...

I do hope that's it for this winter's hard freeze's! Have already sown in the first Tomatoes, Peppers, Squashes and Melons.

 

[Jenbirdee]

As said, rough week…
At least the weather is a bit cooperating, very little snow and it all melted away quickly. However this week's temperatures here...
View attachment 4052974
I do hope that's it for this winter's hard freeze's! Have already sown in the first Tomatoes, Peppers, Squashes and Melons.

Inside hopefully

 

[Canadian Wind]

As said, rough week…
At least the weather is a bit cooperating, very little snow and it all melted away quickly. However this week's temperatures here...

Sorry to hear that. If it makes you feel any better, I have over a metre of snow on the ground from just the past week, and windchill is close to -30.

 

[Supercow]

-10 C (14 F) here this night and probably the next one. It's expected, if not particularly welcome, as the worst of the winter cold usually comes during February. We'll probably see a local version of the famous "ducks changing their minds" clip today...

 

[Supercow]

Apologies for my absence, i am disappointed to put it mildly:
Early last week it looked like i landed some contract work, but it ball fell apart. Lot's of hours for nothing…
Later that week i learned that in order to apply for a position with with the local government, you need to supply them with a transcription of your foreign education grade. I have been working in the IT industry for over 40 years, 25 years with a fortune 500 company, 17 years in the United States…
And they have ignored all that and tossed out more than 30 of my applications because i did not submit a translated and evaluated copy of my high-school certificate that i obtained over 40 years ago?!
So much wasted time…

Really sorry to hear about that

At some age one also gets very tired of jumping through hoops esp if the situation really feels like "if you don't want me, make it short and just say so".

 

[Luv Ducks]

There was a similar incident here last week's Monday night: As usual, one half of the flock ran off to the pond before the supper-bowl was served while the other half walked into the dux house for the night…
At about 10pm i heart ducks outside and found some of the pond-ducks sitting in front of the dux-house door. They were looking scared, so i opened the door and let them inside, when i noticed the rest of the pond-ducks running - really RUNNING - down from the pond towards safety. Wings flapping, ducks stumbling and rolling downhill, just trying to run away from something scary…
Let them inside the dux-house and locked them in, then grabbed the flashlight and my trusted machete and walked up to the pond to find
.
.
.
A ruffled up, numbed and scared Sunny Sunshine duck bobbing in the pond, swimming around in circles. That was another moment i wish i had a scoop-net, there was nothing i could do to help her but pointing the flash light on her and moving the circle of light towards the shallow end of the pond.
Finally her brain un-numbed, she looked at me, quacked and followed the circle of light to the edge of the pond, jumped out and ran towards me. She stayed close to my feet and walked down from the pond to the house with me. As soon as we reached the lightened area, she ran of towards the dux-house and demanded to be let in.

I have no clue what had happened, nor do i know if someduck died that night at the pond. My theory is that something tried to get Sunny but she was able to break free and flee to the pond where i found her…

Did they learn from that experience?

Of course not! - Tuesday evening half of the flock ran off to the pond before the supper bowl was served again…

I pray that they stay safe. Could you possibly have any large snapping turtles in your pond? That would scare them for sure as they can drown a duck and take feet and legs off.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Inside hopefully

Of course! - I really do like my extremities...