a short update with lots of pictures

Keelyn: she is doing much better after 2 weeks on the antibiotics. We think the infection is gone.   She hasn't shown any signs of her bumble foot for several days. 
The boys: We guess it will be awhile before things settle down with less competition. Things are improving and we are keeping close eye on them. Letting things take their course mostly but not allowing injury or repeated abuse that causes depression. Missy and Beau for the most part are a couple, and so are Kouta and Keelyn, although none of then are monogamous.(these are ducks after all) :-)

and now for lots and lots of  pictures
You see how we have thing set up for our duckies in our backyard and how close to the woods (40+ acres of woods) we are and why it is so important to have the predator proof duck aviary that we have.  You can also see that there is no vegetation (well almost none) left in the enclosure.  We are still trying to figure out how to successfully grow ground cover in there without it immediately being eaten all the way.  But they do get to forage in the yard under while we keep a close watch over them.  We have let the grass go to seed for them in the yard and they are loving it.  We currently have the little pool out in the yard too.  Okay enough yapping ... now to see our beautiful feather family members...

pet ducks and ducklings info and links

BE WISE and THINK FIRST before getting ducks as pets. They are extremely emotional flock animals and are very messy and require lots of attention. Years ago when GrMaDuck said yes to getting two pet ducklings we had NO IDEA what we were getting into!! In Virginia it is illegal to buy just one duckling. (They can get very loney and fail to thrive without love and attention.) Having a minimum of two is good because they will keep each other company, which is especially helpful when they become adults. (at about 16-20 weeks of age). Having pet ducks is A LOT of work. Ducks are very social and need LOTS attention. We quickly did lots of research and we poured our hearts into our adorable feathered family members. Below is the compliation of helpful and/or interesting links that we have complied.

http://mrflapper.com/blog/want­-a-pet-duck/
(click on "Want A Pet Duck?" things to think about BEFORE you get ducks)

http://www.metzerfarms.com
http://www.liveducks.com/easter.html
http://www.liveducks.com/care.html
http://backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=38045
http://www.minkhollow.ca/HatchingProgram/Ducks-Incubation/As-Pets.html#care
http://www.thegoosesmother.com/id15.html
http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/livestocksystems/DI1189.html
http://web1.msue.msu.edu/imp/modpo/e1260001.html
http://www.newagrarian.com/homestead/ducks/index.html

A book many duck owners recommend (and so do we) is
Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks: Breeds, Care, Health by Dave Holderread

I know this seems like LINK OVERLOAD... but I thought I would pass on info that took us soooooo llloooooong to gather.

Keelyn's Bumble Foot

Things went well on the adventure to the vet.

Keelyn needs to be on antibiotics for 2 weeks

and an anti-inflamatory for several days.

at the vet's office - mostly calm but nervous

was so nervous, she was panting so I had brought the ducks' favorite cup

with me and gave her some water to calm her down

she got a bit too excited though and wanted to take a bath in the cup... :P

all done and back in the car



After we got back home, I needed to keep her somewhere
while I rearranged the pen situation for her so I put her in the bathroom
...but she didn't want to come out of the carrier.

 

Got her out, and she went straight back in... :P

Out in the yard, we got the old pen back,
right next to the current one so they can be close.
She needs to be on softer cleaner ground and in a more
confined space to keep her calmer and walking less.
So she gets her own space for a while

Talkin' to the others, so confused as to why she can't go in the pen with them

you can see how much more grass
there is in the temporary pen
(our old pen) this will be softer for
Keelyn's foot

We knew she would not emotionally be able to handle being so isolated,
so after she took a few min. to herself, I brought Missy
 in since she's had a rough time lately too and to keep Keelyn company

settling down and having some water

happy ducks

We were able to get my girl to swallow her pill,

took a few tries, but it didn't take too long.

We are glad to see some of the swelling go down on Keelyn's foot.

She's not happy with being separated though

 (even with Missy's company),

so we are periodically giving everyone a field trips

 in the yard for some socializing.

Our little Keelyn waiting at the Vet's office

Our little Keelyn waiting at the Vet's office

worries and God's grace

Poor Keelyn she has fought a couple of eye infections already and now it appears she has bumble foot. *sigh* Our wonderful duck aviary is all dirt (and mud when it rains) we really need to get some ground cover planted. Poor little thing (she is our littlest) she started limping a day or two ago and now she is getting the black callouses on her foot. We are trying to give them as much time outside the aviary to munch on grass and to give them a softer surface to walk on, but we live where there are fox and coyote so they can only be out under our careful watch.

MamaDuck was checking on Keelyn much more often yesterday because she barely wants to walk now. MamaDuck said a prayer and asked God to take away the infection and if He didn't do that to give us favor finding a vet who knew how to take care of ducks (not an easy feat even in a rural area). She went inside and with one phone call was referred to a "bird specialist". Bird specialist are often specialist in pet song birds and the like, but by goodness, grace, and favor of God this is a vet who treats chickens and ducks. It gets better. His office is only about 20 min.s from us and their office visit rates are very reasonable. We clearly see this as God answering MamaDuck's prayer.

We know that God cares deeply for the animals and that He charges us with the care of animals. GrMaDuck thinks this answer to prayer is God showing His love and approval of our duckies and our love and care for our duckies.

Keelyn will be going on an adventure today with MamaDuck. Please keep us her and us in your prayers, as bumble foot is best treated with oral antibiotics.

Missy Update: She is getting along better with the boys. But we still are having to protect her. GrMaDuck thinks that she is getting used to her new place in the flock (not #1 or #2 anymore). The feathers that were so aggressively plucked out and now growing back in. She looks like a wild mess right now, but is happy and preening often to get oiled back up. She is also moving out of her depression and socializing a bit more. We are grateful that she knows she is special to MamaDuck and GrMaDuck. She is funny adventurous duck and we are very glad to see her happiness coming back.

an update

We have had overcome a couple of flock issues.

Missy, our female Pekin, who used to be number one in the pecking order, was getting over breed and abused by the boys, in particular Beau.  Her feathers were being broken and plucked out more than just the normal breeding behavior.  She was too afraid to get in the pool because of this, and in the process got "wet feather".  MamaDuck brought her inside last week and gave her a special warm bath and some extra love.  MamaDuck also did a "duck charge" (wings out, head forward, run forward toward the offender) saying no loudly and firmly, when Missy was being abused.   MamaDuck only needed to do this a few times and the flock seems to be getting back into balance.  Also her feathers are getting better too, since she has been given extra time to get clean away from the flock and outside of the muddy aviary.  

Missy getting her warm special bath and loving it!

This issue reinforces how important it is for the human duck parents/guardians to stay a loving protective and yet firm and in control part of the flock.  We have worked very hard to keep MamaDuck #1 and GrMaDuck #2 in the flock.  Because of this relationship we believe that the power issue could have gotten way out of hand.  Please note that we didn't intervene in the pecking order under us too much.  We know this is something that they need to work out.  Missy still remains at the bottom of the pecking order now, but she the relationships are better and she seems less depressed and more a happy part of the flock.

The other issue we have is that Keelyn got "sticky eye" again, and once again scratched her eye until bloody, which quickly got infected.  So we were back to washing out her eye and putting the eye ointment in it again.  Keelyn's eye is not 100% back to health yet, but is looking good.  GrMaDuck suspects this may be a reoccuring issue for her. 

GrMaDuck took them on a field trip out of the pen today. 

Below are a few pictures.

yummy yummy greens



ducks in a row

Here are a couple of phone quality videos clips

of our duckies field trip.

The first one is trying to catch them walking in a row.

 

Spring is coming and the duckies are getting to enjoy their pool.

The little pool is out and stays out.  We have propped it up to be mostly flat and they have no problem getting in and out, but only about three ducks fit in it at a time, so a larger pool is on the shopping list. Eventually, we hope to put in an in-ground pond type pool with drain.  But they are happy with what they have now.

You can really tell the boys from the girls now.  Our boys all have beautiful curly tail feathers, and of course have the prettiest coloring, although our female Welsh Harlequin is extremely beautiful.



You can see Keelyn's purple feathers in this shot.

digging for bugs - YUM quack quack

Keelyn (Welsh Harlequin duck hen) and
Queenie (Cayuga duck hen)

bath time 
SPLASH SPLASH preen preen

Our girls have started laying, so we have switched their feed to Layena Sunfresh Crumble.  Of course we continue to supplement with alfalfa (from mini-bales) which they still love (the leaves mostly, the stems are a bit dry and tough making it harder to eat, and we think probably less tasty), and occasional greens.  They are good forgers, and they love it when we get a nice steady gentle rain because all the worms make their way out of the ground.  In fact they have done so well with foraging for bugs that Kouta (our big Pekin Drake {white boy duck}) has developed a bit of an Angel Wing from too much protein in his diet (Layena is higher protein, because laying ducks need extra protein).  We are really trying to give them more "greens" lately so that we can give our duckies a good nutritional balanced diet. 

The aviary's floor is now almost entirely dirt.  Between the snow and our good foragers there isn't anything left.  Ducks will eat almost everything (including digging up the roots and eating them).  They can quickly turn a beautiful green pen or run back into dirt/mud pit.  We are hoping to plant some Day Lilies near the pool area, and we also plan to plant Camomile in the aviary, as well as ground ivy and silverweed for low ground coverage.   These plants are not harmful to the duckies and are considered hardy and indestructible and therefore recommended for waterfowl pens/enclosures.  The full recommended list is at the end of this post.

Our duckies continue to grow and give us joy.  We just recently put a couple of chairs in the aviary.  Now that it is warm it is a relaxing joyful place to sit and rest. 

More to come...

Hardy Plants Recommended for Waterfowl Enclosures:
In their pen: ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea), silverweed (Potentilla anserina), camomile species (Matricaria), large leafed butterbur (Petasites).
On pond edge: day lilies (Hemercallis), yellow iris (Iris pseudacorus), tall perennial grass euialia (miscanthus).
For nests: stinging nettle, butterur and smartweed
Protection from wind and sun: Low growing conifers, Chinese Juniper, Dwarf Pine

Our six pet duckies - a bucket of water 2

Another 30 sec video of our six pet duckies washing faces in a warm bucket of water. They really love water and to wash their faces. Beau (in the back) was pouting because I had picked him up when he did not feel like being petted. the ducks arw getting a bit tempermental as they approach breeding maturity.

our six pet duckies play and preen 01-30-2011

Another look at our six pet duckies as they finish up washing thier faces in a warm bucket of water at "bedtime". The end of video has a really good shot of our Cayugas Queenie and Darrick (our black ducks). They have a green and purple sheen to their feathers.

duckies 01-30-2011

Keelynn (in front - duck hen Welsh Harlequin) with Darrick (Cayuga drake - black) and Missy (white Pekin duck hen).

Kouta

Kouta, our biggest boy... our Pekin drake. He is a very big duck.

Beau

Beau, our beautiful Welsh Harlequin drake.

Our Duckies have been outside for a couple of months now. They are doing well. We have had several snow falls and they have handled it fine.  Our duck avairy is about 90% finished and the duck house is about 95% done. Both are functional and provide a safe place for our duckies to roam and play.

In the spring we will re-do the avairy netting supports (it was partially collaped from the snow) and the roof of the house is only temporaryly attached but stays on and protects the house. This is another project for the spring.

We put them into the duck house every night, for protection from the weather and also to get them in the habit being put up by us, in case of any other dangers.

Two of our boys are the best of buddies, our large sweet pekin drake (Kouta) and our runt the small cayuga (Darrick). These two are almost always together. Darrick's favorite food is alfalfa leaves. His mate Queenie, the other black duck (a cayuga) has one white feather. This is funny because the cayugas' feathers turn white as they age, but it's not supposed to happen untill they are atleast 2 years old. Our Welsh Harlequin are sweet and quiet and beautiful and very shy. They do love us and will occationally still eat out of our hands. Beau and Keelyn both were less affectionate/"touchy" than the others, but they are both very sweet and love to be talked to. Miss Adventure (Missy) is our bossy loud mouth duck, who has most definately established herself as #1 in the pecking order.

One of my favorite things is being welcomed by them in the morning. They recognize us and each other mostly by sound so the morning welcome is a joy. They quack loudly and we talk back to them. They are also much much more social in the mornings and crave attention when they first are let out of their house. If we are in a big rush, they get upset if we just let them out and give them fresh water and food and just go. They really much prefer to have us stay and sit and talk with them while they run and pretend to fly and streatch. They will come up to us and talk and sweetly gently preen us as well.

Below are some pictures of when we put them up for the night. Tonight we have cardboard on the floor to protect it from the food and water they fling around with cedar chips on the other side. Usually we have the house full of cedar chips filling the whole thing. They prefer that is more comfortable and they like to "forage" in them at night. We have a heat lamp in the house that in the winter is on every night. And it keeps it warm.

Morning Treat Our Duckies

Morning Treat Our Duckies

washing faces

It has been awhile since we have given you an update.
The duckies are doing very well...weathering the winter weather here. 
They love their duck house and avairy.
We have not installed a pool or pond right now because of the cold weather.

Here are a few pictures from this morning 12/29/2010

Queenie with a dirty bill wanting - curious about the camera



Missy and Kouta (white)