What in Ducky Heck is this!?

[DuckyDoodles]

And, on a somewhat related, yet still irrelevant note, did you guys know that there’s a registered phobia of being stared at by a duck or goose?

Anatidaephobia


I laughed. I mean I know PC says I should treat it legitimately but oh good lord

 

[DuckyDoodles]

No, they were F.A.T. Some of them were almost dragging on the ground they were so fat. This was a well traveled playground/park and it looked like the ducks got fed more than was good for them.

LoL low riders.

OG becomes a low rider in the evenings when she’s finishing up percolating her egg. I call it her egg basket. About 6-8 hours before she gives us her white butt nugget (egg) she has this little momma pouch that is close to the ground.

It tickles me greatly. Patty is a lot taller than OG so her egg basket doesn’t look as noticeable.

 

[biophiliac]

And, on a somewhat related, yet still irrelevant note, did you guys know that there’s a registered phobia of being stared at by a duck or goose?

Anatidaephobia


I laughed. I mean I know PC says I should treat it legitimately but oh good lord

Just the kind of trivia I enjoy!

 

[DuckyDoodles]

@Redhead Rae

Here’s my girl starting to make her egg basket for the evening. It gets lower as the evening progresses but I’ll lose lighting as sun is setting now.

 

[DuckyDoodles]

I’m so excited!

It’s not especially OG related but PATTY LEARNED HOW TO DUCK!

Here’s a video of her eating the fish out of the water.

Be still my beating heart.

 

[DuckyDoodles]

And now they nap off the fishy bellies

 

[biophiliac]

I’m so excited!

It’s not especially OG related but PATTY LEARNED HOW TO DUCK!

Here’s a video of her eating the fish out of the water.

Be still my beating heart.

I knew she could! Observational learning,

And you are enriching their lives!

 

[DuckyDoodles]

I knew she could! Observational learning,

And you are enriching their lives!

Certainly hope so; I’m doing this in the meantime until I can get them back outside and into the pond (from whence the fishies came). I do feel genuinely bad that they’re captive at the moment. I try to tell myself that it’s better this way than mass hatched meat bird farms or that foigois (sp?) type gig. But that’s also NOT the bar I want to compare myself to either.

So I just have to keep telling myself, they are loved, they are safe, they are cared for and despite current less than perfect arrangements, they have a good lookin future on the horizon.

But man... not gonna lie, my mom guilt transcends species and applies to the ducks too. So I have to chant this a lot.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I think their accommodations are very nice for now. Think of it as rehab.

 

[DuckyDoodles]

Advice being sought::

Alrighty guys; having a re-emergence of some confusion regarding safety of the girls come freedom day(s).

((This is a filler question until more updates on OG))

So I knew hawks/owls would be a predator to ducks but I was sortve thinking that the meat bird varieties were too big for them to swoop with so I was naively hoping they’d be okie dokie in the ponds come this spring when I let them out for freedom.

Past week or so I’ve noticed heavy Cooper’s Hawk activity on my property. Hubs also had an owl swoop at his head at midnight LOL.

Add to the mix coyotes, raccoons, possums, etc.

So I’m keenly aware that my rural setting is ripe with safety risks to ducks. And I have been doing a lot of research into my build on the coop. I’m pretty confident in the predator proof-ness of my coop and their run. But now I’m second guessing letting them out of coop/run to roam the ponds during the day.

Most of the aforementioned predators are only spotted at night (their nature) but raptor birds are present in the day.

I don’t want to deprive them of their ducky nature to swim on the ponds; especially since I have two glorious ponds for them (plus the acreage) to let them free range for a period during the day. But is it worth it??

Opinions?