Thursday, January 5, 2012

Tonight ...

Our duckies in much need of a bath. Another night with water and treats inside the duck house at bedtime and the heat lamp on. 
Our spazy Missy is shown in the top picture here. She is looking like one big hot mess. She is on antibiotics for an infection in her foot which is showing slow improvement.  She is the girlie duckie that the boys like best and also spends the least amount of time washing up and preening. We wonder if this is a female Pekin trait, as Bianca the female Pekin we had before was the same way, although Bianca didn't have multiple loves climbing all over her making her feathers even messier.
Keelyn sleeps in the pet carrier, but we have improvised a garden gate front so that she can share treats and socialize a bit. She is shown way in the back because that is where we put her to bed. By morning she will have moved all the way to the front. Her legs are not doing well at all, which is causing increased concern for us. She is on pain/inflamation meds twice a day and another medication. We just trying to do our best for her, but not sure what the future holds.
Beditime treats in a water dish inside the duck house.
Our Kouta is a big sweet love of a Pekin (on the right above). He will calmly walk right up to us and even though he does not like to be picked up or petted, he does loves to talk with us.  But when he is stressed (as in the case of very cold nights, and two of his girls having to take medication) he gets very grumpy with the flock and will peck the girls and chase the boys. We take this to be dominate competive behavior.
QUEENIE

Darrick and Queenie our Cayugas are the calmest of our tiny flock. What sweeties.
Beau in the front looking at me with great suspicion.

The weather has been very cold (for our area of the country). The teens and twenties with 15-35 m/hr winds is considered very cold around these parts. We don't have large heated water containers nor large heated barns. It is just not financially practical for six pet ducks in the mid-Atlantic region of the US. So when it gets this cold the duckie pools get emptied and the really warm heat lamp goes on and stays on in their 4x8 duck house.  The weatherman is promising warmer weather for Saturday so I am sure we will have VERY VERY VERY happy duckies this weekend... if the weatherman is right.

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