Today our duckies are 2 years old. Today is their hatch day!

Two years ago today our duckies were hatched and two days later they arrived from Metzer Farms via US Post Office. Our duckies were hatched on Tuesday October 12, 2010 and delivered to the local post office near Gonzales, CA for mailing that same day.  They arrived Thursday October 14, 2010.  Below is the first picture taken of them while still at the Post Office in Moseley, VA.

Here is a link to a youtube video of our duckies first week with us.

They're Here!  This is a link to our blog post from their arrival at our home.  You can see pictures of them on their first day with us on this post.

http://irishmamaduck.blogspot.com/2010/10/theyre-here.html

Happy Hatch Day to our feathered family members.  The pictures below were taken with a phone yesterday and are not good quality but you can see all of them.  We lost Keelyn due to illness and injury, but all the rest of our five duckies are happy and healthy.

Happy Quacks!!

Lots of pictures and considerations...

We are having to consider some hard things related to our little flock. Both of Keelyn's femurs are broken (due mainly to low calcium levels - she has experienced no major trauma). But surgery to pin them is not likely an option because of the low calcium (her bones are simply too weak.) So we are left with very difficult decisions...

put her to sleep OR try and rehab her ourselves OR find a rescue center that can rehab her

After doing some research, MamaDuck found out that those sanctuaries/rehab centers that even take pet ducks, are either so full of rescues that they can’t take any and/or they don’t take lame ducks. There is also the factor of, if we surrender Keelyn to a rehab center, we won’t get her back.


Things to consider
- GrmaDuck usually work 45-55 hours a week, which means that it is a daily challenge for her to make the time to care for and socialize with our little flock, but she manages and it is a delight. BUT adding rehab, will (if we do this right so that we can better manage her pain and increase her potential of a decent outcome) require more frequent care and more time with her and the flock.
- Only GrmaDuck and MamaDuck can work with Keelyn. We don't have anyone else that is comfortable with this. We do have a couple of people who can duck sit healthy ducks, but not injured or sick ducks.
- MamaDuck now lives 25 min away, and starts full-time work in a couple of months. She will always be around and be MamaDuck of the flock, just not every day.
- Happy or not, Keelyn is in pain.
- We wonder if she will ever be able to run and chase bugs again (which was her FAVORITE thing to do)
- We love her so very much. We wish we had a sign that their calcium was so low, but the eggs were fine, everyone was happy, we just couldn't have known before now. Her broken legs are breaking our hearts.
- We don't want to put her down. We selfishly want to keep her with us for all of her life.
- We are trying to be realistic. We are trying to think about what is best overall.
- We aren’t sure that we have the time or energy or money resources to give her the best rehab possible.
- It is more than, is Keelyn capable of being happy. It is, can we keep her happy, and manage her pain level well for months, and likely for years?



As of now, we are finding ways to keep her happy and as comfortable as possible. We even figured out how to keep her immobile while also with the rest of the flock in the aviary. Other than when she is trying to move, she doesn’t seem to be in great amounts of pain. We know that she has to be hurting; you can’t break both your femurs like that and not be in pain. But we are managing her meds to keep her comfortable and using water therapy as often as we can to relieve the pressure and weight off her legs. We have already started adding vitamins to their water which has calcium plus D (Vitamin D helps the body actually absorb the calcium) to help with her bones, and to prevent future issues with the other ducks.

Keelyn is and always has been very energetic, it is the reason we picked her name, Keelyn means "lively", this means that she is already trying to be adventurous and move more than we would like her to. This can create more problems as she is trying to heal.

If we continue down this road of rehab, it is going to be a very long, long hard road. We know that she will never be the same, and will most likely always be mostly lame. This is harder than we can put into words.

FOLLOW UP NOTE ADDED JUNE 2011: We decided "rehab" her ourselves. It has been a BIG challenge and has impacted every area of our life with the frequent time commitment required, but we are seeing progress and are hopeful that despite some permanent nerve damage in one leg she will walk again (she will likely never run again but walking is looking probable). Of course we will forever supplement their diet to counter the effects of the minerals in our ground and water that limit calcium absorption.

Now, for some pictures.

Family breakfast around Keelyn

Tub (Water therapy) time...Darrick sneaking some of Keelyn's treats :P

Kouta - "My Love!...My Darling!"
Keelyn - "Babe, you ate my treats...you get no love right now."
:P

Time to dry off and preen in the sun on the towel.

"Gotta....get...comfy..."
This is the only way she can move around right now, she pushes herself up to get her legs comfortable.

"I don't like this...but since you're holding my bill, I'll tolerate it."
We have to roll her over to dry her belly off since she can't reach that one spot.

You can see, her right leg (the older less severe break) she can sort of move if it doesn't have weight on it.  But her left leg (the more recent, and worse break) has nerve damage, she can move her foot, but not her leg.

"I'm tired Mama, hold my head for me"  <3

"Ahh...Back in the aviary with everybody, in my new set up, so I can see and talk to everyone, but I can still rest, and not worry about those silly boys getting too close."

~MamaDuck and GrmaDuck

TWO broken legs

Keelyn has two broken legs up near the knees probably due to low calcium not trauma. without surgery this will be a long slow recovery. we need to add calcium and vitamins to the girls diet.

Actually it is her femurs that are broken.  One of the breaks is at nearly a right angle causing nerve impairment with possible permanent nerve damage.

*tears*

My poor baby girl Keelyn...

Keelyn's been having a rough, rough time lately.  Her bumble foot came back, and within a day she had horribly reinjured her eye.  The boys have been getting very excited with it being spring (and it's their first mating season, so they are extra agressive and rough when mating), and Kouta tried to mount her backwards and scratched her eyelid right open...*sigh*  MamaDuck has been one big worry wart the past week or so.

We got her on another round of Baytril (antibiotics) and Metacam (anti-inflamatory) for her infection, and we also had been trying to keep her eye clean and sanitized with OTC eye ointment.  However, despite being on an antibiotic and such, her eye and the side of her face was swelling and was causing her great irritation and discomfort.
So this morning we emailed this picture to our Vet and explained the situation, and then called as soon as they opened and left a voice mail.  (We are so blessed to have such a caring and knowledgable Vet.)














He called back and went ahead and got us a perscription ready for some medicated eye ointment.

Got home and immediately put it on her eye, and I am soooo sooo sooo glad to say that she's actually able to keep her eye open, and it's not foaming.  We still need to keep up with the Baytril, Metacam, and the eye ointment multiple times a day (for atleast 10 more days, possible another round of Baytril after that...), but I'm just glad we got something that is working and is actually helping.

If you have ducks, it is so important to find a Vet who treats waterfowl (not just exotic birds like parrots or such), most of the time  you have to travel a while to get to one, or if you find one they are very expensive.  We feel very blessed that we found one very close that is at normal Vetrinarian rates.

The flock got a nice treat and spent almost all day outside in the yard today.  GrMa Duck had to do some "work from home" work, so she brought it out on the deck to keep an eye on everyone.  MamaDuck also spent some time with them out in the yard.  Only once did I have to chase them out of the front yard (they are getting a bit too curious and adventurous for my liking lately).  Although it provided a huge amount of entertainment when I hearded them back around the azelea bushes toward the steps (pictured in earlier posts) and every single one of them (except Queenie) took a running start and flew about 6 feet over the ledge of the brick wall next to the steps to land on the ground below.  Darrick got a bit startled when big ol' Kouta landed very gracefully right on top of him! Tehehe.  I so wish I had the camera out!

Well, coming to a close of a day starting out stressfull and worriesome, only to become relaxing and happy.  Going to be giving Keelyn her meds again soon before it starts getting dark.

~MamaDuck

Pictures from Saturday Nov 13, 2010

first published video

This is a video of our baby duckies' first week with us.
They are so tiny in these videos.

They're Here!!!

After getting stuck in the shipping process, they finally arrived this morning, and I went to pick them up at about 9am.

At the Post Office, I could hear them chirping from down the hall :)

We opened up the box to make sure they're ok

Getting in the car to go home.

At first they didn't want to do anything but sit under the heat lamp (it was cold in the post office and outside) but I dipped each one of their beaks in the water to get them to at least get a sip, and within a min. all of them were drinking and eating.

We let Pepper (our cat) in to see them. At first she had a look of distain on her face.  But after a min she just seemed curious, and kept trying to love on me, to make sure that she's still loved. (Of course, she's still the princess of the house :P)

We had them sexed, so they have colored bands on to identify them.

This is the male cayuga, he seems pretty chill.  Of course, when GrandpaDuck held him, he kept trying to climb up his shoulders. :P

This is the female cayuga.  She's also pretty calm, but more skiddish than the male.

(couldn't figure out how to rotate...sorry)  This is the male welsh harlequin, both of the WHs seem more skiddish than the others.

This is the female WH, she's a bit of a spaz, this is the best picure I could get of her cause she's constantly running around and freaking out.  I'm gonna have to spend alot of time holding her, in hopes that she won't be so skiddish with us.

This is the male pekin, he's not too skiddish, but not as calm as the male cayuga.  He seems to really like being cuddled.

This is the female pekin, she's more skiddish than the male, but not as skiddish as the female WH.  She also enjoys being held close.

We are going to have to come up with some names for them, they definitely have their own personalities.  As I sit here typing they have finally decided its time for a nap.   They had a long journey, and they haven't laid down yet to rest.  I am just so happy and thankful they are all healthy and hearty and seem like they're in good shape.

More to come later.

-One ecstatic MamaDuck :)

ANTICIPAAAATION....

is makin' me wait.

Getting very very excited. We found out that since Monday was Columbus day (a postal holiday) that they did not hatch or ship untill today (tuesday). We thought that this was going to delay them another day, but hopefully that won't be the case.  According to the USPS' Expedited shipping guaranteed arrival date/time they should arrive before 3p tomorrow Wed. the 13th.  :D  We are hoping and praying that this is true and they don't get stuck another day in the shipping process.
I will be putting fresh batteries in the camera tomorrow, so be prepared for LOTS of pictures :D

-MamaDuck

In the words of GrandmaDuck "This is like emotional labor." :)

The babies are hatching today!!! :D

Happy Birthday Duckies!!!  <3

The hatchery controls when they hatch through the temperature, so they are hatching today, and will be shipped this afternoon.

Gr-MaDuck and I (MamaDuck) have been praying that they are strong and healthy and are protected through the whole shipping process, that every person to handle them would be kind and loving.  Also that they would have their own unique and identifying personalities, and bond well with all three of us (Gr-DaddyDuck, Gr-MaDuck, and MamaDuck).

We got alot of work done this weekend, but we've still got more work to do.  We have family coming this weekend for our annual Pumpkin Day, and we also are preparing for that, I'm sure the kids are going to love seeing the babies so small and fluffy. :)

Stay tuned for more updates and photos. :)

-MamaDuck

What our ducks will look like...

Since our babies will be arriving on the 13th of October, I (MamaDuck) thought I would share what they are going to look like.  We will be getting a pair of male and female for 3 different breeds.  Pekin, Cayuga, and Welsh Harlequins.

This is the baby cayugaThis is a full grown cayuga

(Interesting tidbit about cayugas, as they age thier feathers begin to go white, like people go gray...by the time they are 8 years old they are completely gray/white)

This is a baby Welsh Harlequin

These are full grown Welsh Harlequins

              (Female on left, male on right)  (Welsh Harlequins are fantasic layers, and the females actually have very stong mothering instincts, so we will see how she reacts when we start taking her eggs)

These are baby Pekins

(This was Alex and Bianca, when they were only a couple days old)

These are full grown Pekins

(These are also Alex and Bianca at about 1 1/2 years old)

(Pekins-like alot of ducks-are very sociable and affectionate, not in the sit in your lap kind of way, but they love for you to come and sit on the ground next to them and just talk or listen to them talk, they just love attention. (:  )

 Just thought some people would want to know what they are going to look like.  We will definitely be posting lots of pictures of OUR new babies when they actually arrive. (9 days!!!)

I got the first 4 images from http://www.metzerfarms.com/DuckWelcome.cfm?CustID=147879.  The last 2 are our own.


--MamaDuck

duck aviary - part 1

MamaDuck and Gr-DaddyDuck got all the posts and headers in the ground for the duck aviary. They did this all on Saturday.  (Well Gr-DaddyDuck dug a few holes and painted the posts with roofing tar the day before.)  We are so grateful to God for the 4+ days of steady rain that softened the ground enough that we could dig holes without renting an auger. Gr-MaDuck's only contribution for this phase: taking pictures and pulled staples out of the top of the posts.

We choose an oval shape because we thought it would look more natural in our backyard.  This is a natural not manicured yard which slopes and is surrounded by woods.  I (Gr-MaDuck) thinks it looks pretty good.
It is approximately 42 ft x 30 ft (~1050 sq ft)

Next two phases: 

Build and hang the gate

(gate and header posts already in the ground),

then attach the wire mesh

1/2" inch galvanized hardware cloth on the bottom (skirted)

and chicken wire on the top.