Toxic Plants ...reminders & more info ...

Thanks to another blogger and duck lover ... we were surprised or had forgotten about the ones below in bold (of course most of the time ducks will not eat something that is poisonous because of the taste but in my rural area we have to extra careful ... because most of the time is not ALL of the time)

You can see Shanti Perez / Augie March - King of Doodles post at the link below.
http://kingofdoodles.blogspot.com/2011/06/plants-toxic-and-safe-to-pet-ducks-and.html
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"birds [ducks] are at risk from laburnum seeds, potato sprouts, black nightshade, henbane, most irises, privet, rhubarb leaves, rhododendron, oleander, yew, castor bean, sweet pea, rapeseed, corn cockle, clematis, common St. John’s Wort, meadow buttercup, vetch, ragwort and some fungi. Blue-green algae is quickly fatal, so water containers should be kept clean, especially in hot weather and access to stagnant water should be prevented."
http://www.poultryclub.org/poultry/poisonous-plants-and-toxins/
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"Eggplant, Stem, leaves, sprouts (ripe fruits are OK) Solanine, atropine-like alkaloids Vomiting, diarrhea, irregular or rapid heart rate, difficulty swallowing, labored breathng, dilated pupils, no urine production, paralysis, seizures
Potatoes Stem, leaves, sprouts, green skins Solanine, atropine-like alkaloids Vomiting, diarrhea, irregular or rapid heart rate, difficulty swallowing, labored breathng, dilated pupils, no urine production, paralysis, seizures
Tomatoes , Stem, leaves, sprouts (ripe fruits are OK) Solanine, atropine-like alkaloids Vomiting, diarrhea, irregular or rapid heart rate, difficulty swallowing, labored breathng, dilated pupils, no urine production, paralysis, seizures
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=15+1912&aid=2236
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One Month Progress Report - Keelyn's Recovery

Three video clips documenting Keelyn's recovery progress

First clip:
Just out of the pool she is able to stand and preen etc. You can really see the nerve damage and weakness in her right leg (which had the worst break). It can hold some weight but has limited strength and control. We expect much of that to be permanent. Dispite all that she is making good progress and learning to compensate. If we can keep her from reinjury for another month or so, she should have a good chance at being independently mobile.


Second Clip:
You can see here that after a few minutes of standing, preening and snacking she starts to get sore and weak, at which point she uses her head and neck to balance/stabilize herself and shift her weight. She has a two water bowls in her small “play pen” area, a low bowl for easy sipping from a sitting position and a coffee cup deep enough for washing her face, but still reachable from a seated position. You see her washing her nose out toward the end of this clip.


Third clip:
The final clip for today makes us both happy and sad. We are pleased to see that when her she gets sore she will sit down and rest her legs. Continued rest with very little standing and walk/wobbling (for another month or so) is what she needs to let her leg bones finish healing. However, it saddens our hearts to see the extent of the nerve damage in her right leg. She is our little Keelyn; still flirty, feisty, and sweet; and although she will very likely never again run to chase bugs, she is making good progress and learning to compensate for her disability. We are hopeful that as she continues to heal she will learn to walk and be strong enough to spend time with the rest of our little flock unaccompanied by the human family/flock members.

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NOTE: Keelyn is recovering from two broken femurs, one is worse than the other. Today (June 23) is about one month after the acute injury, and about two weeks after reinjuring her left leg in an over zealous attempt to walk and follow other ducks when they walked away from her.

BEAU (June 23 2011)

Most of Beau's beautiful iridescent green feathers are being replaced with white. Our beautiful boy seems to be fading to "Pekin" (he is a bit jealous of our King Kouta) or going gray.  Actually this may be a light molt, with only his "under coat of feathers" showing now. 

GrMaDuck loves Beau's "toenails" :-) They look like they have toenail polish on them. 

GrMaDuck says, "Very pretty Beau!"

Freckles

Missy's "freckles" are so cute! We don't know if they show up here, but trust us this sweet bossy but submissive yet funny sweetie has a very pretty face. We love her freckles!
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Here is a better close up on Missy's "freckles"  <3

2011-06-17

2011-06-18

a visiting female mallard interupts our morning routine

We had a female mallard fly in to visit the duckies this morning.

Keelyn was doing her loud, "come over here everybody" quack while the other girls were preening from their first bath, and the boys were outside the aviary foraging. (Our normal morning routine while Keelyn is on the mend.) Beau tried twice to walk through the aviary fencing confussed and upset about something. It wasn't until then that I noticed her flying over. She circled then landed in the yard between the aviary and the garden. She seemed to be interested in pool and food.

It was so funny; as soon as this young female landed she started walking over caustiously. Darrick was the only on willing to go out and "greet" her. He was so excited to see this other girlie duckie. However, Darrick is not very good at flirting and our visitor was not impressed. I guess she doesn't appreciate being chased. Darrick cracked me up. He ran over to her, chased her, gave up, came back over and bragged at bit to the other boys, then did that again a few times.

Our visting female came over a foraged a bit with the boys where the pools had over flowed outside the aviary. She seemed to be looking for a way to get to the pool, but settled for a little digging around for goodies in the dirt with the boys (not too close mind you).

Then Darrick tried the run around and chase her yet another time. She had enough of that and fly away.

It was a very enjoyable thing to watch.

I personally have concerns about the wild ducks getting used to sharing with our pet ducks. But if Darrick continues "greet" all vistors by running about wildly chasing them, we may have no reason to be concerned.

movie from last Sat 6/6/11

This is a "movie" from last Saturday June 6.
MamaDuck dialed in to webchat and GrMaDuck and our six pet duckies all spent the morning together.

2011-06-11 cooling off

Our duckies (Missy, Beau, Kouta, Darrick cooling off with a drink and a dip in the pool)

Keelyn 2011-06-11

Keelyn thru the "bars" of her rest and recover area

Queenie (2) 2011-06-11

Queenie keeping cool (2)

Queenie 2011-06-11

Queenie keeping cool

Duckie 2011-06-12

Our Duckies (one view of the new Keelyn area)

GrMaDuck's Saturday Morning Report

GrMaDuck here ...
I spent all morning in the aviary, as is typical for a Saturday. I moved and rearranged Keelyn's "playpen" out from the center of the aviary. I used the flower border fencing we have been using but split it up into three smaller areas. (We will post pictures later.)  The boredom and separation really gets to her.  I, GrMaDuck, hope that having a few different SMALL areas to be in will discourage attempts to walk (we need those legs to heal) but will also help with the boredom and maybe the flock will spend a bit more time with her.  The primary spot is near the human chairs, where the rest of the flock likes to nap in the afternoon, on the side of the aviary that gets the most shade. I am hoping this will help keep her cool on these very hot days.

I love to be out with the flock, even when I am sweating while cleaning out pools, carriers, house, etc.  They were such a happy flock this morning.  The boys foraged outside while the girls got there morning swim and bath (pretty routine for us these days) and both girls and boys seem to enjoy the longer special time.  Our very vocal Missy (MissAdventure), was talkative and happy.  Lots of loud happy slightly bossy quacks this morning, along with my favorite, her happy song.  All the ducks have a happy song, but Missy sings hers is the loudest.  When the boys came back in the aviary they too started singing their happy song... clean pools, grass, floating duck food, everyone all together, pen raked clean, and no fighting over girls, yep.. the boys were happy and they were singing their deep boy coo coo happy songs.  I LOVE IT!

My only worry this morning, is Queenie, she is VERY heavy with egg(s) again.  She is showing all the classic signs of being egg bound again.  (pray saints pray)  If she doesn't lay by Monday, I am afraid we are off to another expensive vet visit.

I, GrMaDuck, am happy to report that when Keelyn is in the water we are starting to see her move her left leg much more again.  Now if we can just keep her happy and not trying to walk on it.  She will endure great pain to try and walk to get close to the flock. 

That is all for now.

Have a duckie weekend!
:>

Back in the box

We had been not been forcing Keelyn to stay inside the pet carrier all day (when see wasn't in the pool or tub) for two reasons.
First, she hated it. She naturally does not want to be separated from the flock at all. The carrier creates a significant separation, even when set out among the flock in the avairy. She was feeling better and stronger and it was making her really upset to be in it.
Secondly, the weather has been very hot and humid. The carrier with limited air flow becomes an like oven in the VA heat, even in the shade.
So for the last several days she has just been in her "playpen" area. She was doing and feeling better but tried to do too much "walking" (hobbling) and reinjuried her left leg. So with cooler temps and Keelyn wanting to lean on something to help deal with the pain in her leg, she is back in the box. Today she is happy to have a soft pile of wood chips under her and a wall to lean against.
Thanking God for cooler weather.

GrMaDuck was greeted by these lovelies at work this morning. Joy !