shameless promotion of our duckie youtube videos

This is our youtube playlist of videos from Oct 2010 to present of our very very VERY loved pet duckies. (51 videos)

 We might just sit here and watch the 1 hour, 51 minutes history of our little flock
currently they are 2 years and 7 months old.

 


We don't expect YOU to sit through all of them
but it is wonderful for us to look back and remember
so many of the joys (and some of the struggles and sorrows).

:-)

From this ...

.
.
.
To this ...

and still growing ... in love ... 

duckies in the shade

Warm Weather

Today is a warm day in the low 80s here.  

Our tiny little flock is doing well.  Missy seems to be adjusted to being the only girlie duckie and the boys spring meanness is waning.  

GrMaDuck spent a midday working on the back patio and stopped to take a few picture with her phone camera.  

Our sweet feathered loves got salad treats and some time to forage and nap on the cool grasses. 

only four little ducks

Queenie, who was the friendliest and smartest of our pet ducks, died during the night last night. She wasn't sick. She died trying to lay an egg. Egg bound. It happened very very quick.

I spent all morning cleaning and disinfecting the duck house, pools, and aviary, which made me late to church.

My mind keeps singing, "five little ducks went out to play, over the hills and far away, GrMa Duck said quack quack quack, but only four little ducks came back." I know it isn't the same; Queenie passed with her flock family around her. But yesterday we had five duckies and now we are down to four. Loving and caring for such fragile creatures is not for the faint of heart.

One more things I want to say. It was sadly sweet to see our other duckies love her and comfort her in her last hours.

We do everything we can ... and sometimes that is not enough. Rest in peace Queenie, the humans will certainly miss you.

This was written by GrMaDuck Sam

nom nom nom

Phone Camera picture of our duckies munching on grasses - wish you could hear their quiet happy quacks

adjustments - spring has sprung

This is just a quick update ... We thought we had posted several times since early March but apparently the mobile up-link is not working well.

Spring make our boy duckies MEAN!  We didn't want to have to separate the flock for any length of time, but this spring have been forced to in order to protect them from themselves.  A semi permanent dividing fence has been added to the aviary and a pet gate to divide the inside of the duck house.  (Beau gets to sleep on the girls side for safety.  This seems to be helping matters and now there are a few days when we can keep the dividing gate open all day.  Overall giving separation time seems to be helping.

Our pet duckies an very glad to see spring.  They are LOVING the new spring grasses and we let them out in the big yard to forage as much as possible.  

A few pictures of our feathered loves are below.

Beau - weak, sore, & slow but BETTER!!

Such relief to see Beau up and moving this morning. His injuries are not as bad as we were worried they might be. He is waking better, balanced (mostly), & quacking about being separated.  However, he is  hanging close to Queenie and still showing many signs his neck hurts and that he is not feeling great but we are very encouraged.

He is tucked in under the warmth of the heat lamp inside the duck house. We think a few days of warm separation is in order. We are  hopeful that he will make a full recovery. 

Sent from GrMaDuck via iPhone 

BEAU: Just out of the duck house - before "bath" looking much better

From GrMaDuck
Sent from my iPhone

drake on drake abuse in our little flock

I know compared many other things the drake on drake abuse in our little flock is a small petty thing ... but Beau is not well he has clearly been abused by the other drakes during the day. Beau is raw very weak and not standing or walking right and breathing funny. He is with the girls, separated from the other boys, and I am hoping he draws some comfort from being with the girls who will be gentle with him. GrPaDuck suggested we keep him in the bathroom in the house but I, GrMaDuck, decided against it because he would be all alone. This drake aggression is disturbing and sad.

Beau is so weak I don't know if I will find him alive in the morning, although I don't see major injuries, his neck looks like it was injured his eye has been bitten so I don't know what injuries I can't see.
I gave him another dose of anti-inflammatory medication and placed him where he will have gentle company and hopefully that will give him comfort. There is nothing else I can do but pray and trust God with whatever tomorrow brings. I know they are just ducks, but I am their keeper.

Signed ~GrMaDuck
Sent from my iPhone

Added the picture taken of him several days ago.

my my my oh the duckie drama that spring brings

... so glad MamaDuck and GrMaDuck were both at the house this morning to sort a few duckie issues out TOGETHER.

Sometime during the night Beau got his head stuck in the dividing fence while being picked on by the other boys :-( He is okay but we had to cut the dividing fence to get him unstuck. We gave him a dose of anti-inflammatory duck medication because his neck is a little bit sore and swollen.

Frustrating thing is that all the duck books and references said that a 1.5"x1.5" fencing material should be safe for ducks and so we never guessed we would have such a  problem.  Well, now 1/2" hardware fabric is on the dividing fence, to ensure this doesn't happen again.  But what to do about the aggressive behavior ... trial and error and keeping a close eye on them is the strategy we now employ.  Really it is only a problem when the boy first "season in", or "season back in".  

No pictures we were to busy getting him unstuck, making sure he was all right, and making sure the flock was some what peaceful and safe before both human flock members headed to work. 

February Update

Not much to say other than it has been a calm happy winter for our duckies.  They have all been healthy and have had no social/flock conflicts.

However, with the days starting to get longer the boys have started to "season in".  This means that the drake competitions are getting underway.  We had hoped that maybe they would be a little more mellow this spring, but by the emerging boy duckie (drake) behavior it looks like it will be at least one more year before the boys "mellow".

This Saturday temps were in the lower 40s so it was a good time to fill BOTH pools and give them longer to forage.  They enjoyed both.  We even gave the girls a little bit of time to get a good bath in the "big" pool before the boys joined in and started fighting over the girls.
:-P

With the "good" digital camera we were able to capture a few good pictures (as well as a bunch of regular quality pictures).

Aren't our LOVES beautiful!

foraging behind the duck aviary (enclosure)

"GrMaDuck, open the door"

girlie duckies getting a boy free bath
Kouta and Beau enviously look in from the other side of the fence.

 

quack quack quack
our pretty duckies

preen preen preen
girlie duckies getting clean

Missy combing her feathers

splish splash Missy is taking a bath

pretty speckled Queenie

Kouta says, "Hey, that is enough, it is time for the boys to join in on the splashing fun."
Queenie just ignores him and enjoys every last minute in the "big" pool without the boys.

Queenie, getting every feather in it's proper place.

Finally the boys turn in the "big" pool!
Kouta and Darrick are still best buds
(except when they are competing to see who is the best drake)

Our beautiful Beau - with his head a very bright iridescent green