Drains for the pools

We suppose that all pet duck owners (slaves), will at some point succumb to installing drains or pumps for the duckies pools.  Well after a little over 5 years of scooping and dumping we are finally going to try the drains.

This our first attempt.  We are using garden hose connectors and 3/4" nuts.  

We hope this works but we do have some concerns about the narrow internal diameter and all the mess (not just poo, but rocks, and leaves, etc).  But we shall see. 

It got too dark to show it set up outside tonight so we will post again tomorrow to let you know how it goes. 

Duckies Greet GrMaDuck in the morning

Our duckies are making the transition to one flock slowly but steadily. 

One thing they all do together is wait in the mornings for their fresh water, food, and treats.  

Sweetness in the morning 

Darrick and his harem

Darrick is so sweet with our new girls! He is very taken with them and his smaller size and mostly gentle ways have gained him acceptance with the quacky girly crew.

new quacky pekin girlie duckies

We just added six new quacky pekin girlie duckies to our family.  They are a sweet bright bonded group and look and sound to be Easter Duckies (approx 4 months old - which is 99% fully grown)  They are loud when they want to be, which we love and is 100% acceptable where we live; but they also still have some of their squeaky sounds left.  Our boys are overly excited about them.  Missy, female pekin, is still somewhat neutral about the whole thing.  We hope within a week or so, the two groups will be merged into one little flock of pet duckies.  No names for the new girls yet ... it's too soon.

bright beautiful pekin girlie duckies

the new girlies having a discussion about those annoying
boys who don't seem to want to leave them alone

they are still separating into two little flocks
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we expect with a little time they will become
ONE little flock of pet duckies

We adopted the girls from Carolina Waterfowl Rescue 

FROM THEIR WEBSITE: Carolina Waterfowl Rescue (CWR) is non profit 501 (c)3  wildlife rescue organization located in Charlotte, NC. CWR is run by federally-licensed migratory bird rehabilitators specializing in waterfowl. We take in over 1000 birds a year covering close to 40 different wild bird species.  CWR is an all-volunteer group that donates their time, money and expertise to helping North Carolina’s birds in need. They also accept domestic or exotic ducks for placement, do nuisance referrals, and offer bird, duck and goose rescue assistance. Carolina Waterfowl Rescue ~ PO Box 1484 ~ Indian Trail, NC 28079

We are grateful to Carolina Waterfowl for allowing these sweet beauties to join our family.

They are home

Things went pretty well getting the new girlie duckies here. As I was carrying them into the aviary there ended up being lots of chasing as the last two made a run for it... so right now I am "mean scary lady" to them. Missy sat inside the aviary watching the young ones make a loud spazy fuss about being touched and separated even briefly from each other. she looked like the lady chaperone watching a bunch of teen girls. funny!! The boys ran around and around outside the aviary. They very much want to meet these girls.
A little bit later #1 & #2 (from the new group) challenged Missy (she is on the same side as the girls) Missy sort of looked them like she didn't care - "yeah so what you can keep your spot in pecking order- I don't have the energy for such foolishness" is what it looked like she was thinking.

Missy was excited when she had her first swim with the new girls but now she is hanging back to give them some time & space

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Missy and Beau want to know why they have been separated - but my priority was to get Missy integrated first (if possible)
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Pretty little ladies

Picking up our new girls

Thank you Carolina Waterfowl Rescue for our sweet six pack of loud sweet energetic girlie duckies.

New quacky girlie duckies (part 3 of 3)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqGbxPe5gOU

New quacky girlie duckies  (part 3 of 3) relationship & pecking order negations begin btw Missy our 3yr old Pekin and the new bonded group of young Pekin girlie duckies ... All is going well ... We will give the girls a night to get settled then let them mingle with the boys tomorrow 

Sent from my iPhone

Morning Treats and Breakfast

GrMaDuck is really enjoys morning time with our duckies.  A few treats and everyone gathers around.  

Followed by fresh water in the pools and buckets and duck food in dishes. 

Today she took a bunch of pictures looking around the aviary while she enjoyed the morning chores (its not too hot and not too buggy this morning).

Beau is always changing his coloring.  She tried to capture a few shots of how white and speckled his head is right now.

You can see the temporary dividing fences are still up, but thankfully there has not been a need lately to separate so the inside dividing gate has stayed open.

thinking about adopting more (written 6/22/13)

GrmaDuck saw this video




We have been thinking about getting more females to join our teeny tiny little flock, and this video was the straw that sent GrMaDuck over the edge to look into adoption.  We still have concerns about adding and adopting, because we know it will be extra work, and a lot of extra time required, especially during the transition.   But our ratio is still backwards, and while the boys are calm, and Missy is happy, maybe this would be a good time to introduce new feather friends.... maybe .. Still we don't know if we will qualify, and still not 100% sure if our hearts (especially GrMaDuck's is ready to take on the emotional connection to 4-6 more duckies), but are we sure enough to apply and look into it.  In the long run, the boys and Missy should be happier with more girls than boys.

Readers, don't be surprised if this doesn't happen.  There are many many things to take into consideration
we'll see
...

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On a side note, Missy is still singing her happy song and this make us VERY happy that she is happy.

more pictures later

Helpful Links

Our ducks are PETS.  As humans and as owners we feel a strong responsibility to do everything in our power to give them the best care and protection.  Our ducks are also domestic breeds so we take into consideration the weaknesses that have been bred into them.  Our love for our ducks as PETS, makes our hearts more vulnerable to heartache when it comes to injury and death, than if they were livestock.  We are not vegans, nor do we feel that animals have more rights than their humans, as some of our ducky friends (who do an amazing job of caring for their animals/ducks/etc) are .  We are loving caring humans, and as the people who CHOSE to have pet ducks, we take the responsibility for them to have happy, healthy lives very seriously.  Ducks are fragile creatures.  Ducks are EXTREMELY social creatures and flock dynamics affect everything including their health.  Ducks, especially domestic ducks, are extremely vulnerable to preditors, injury, and can be easily frightened.

We believe the more you know about caring for them the better.  We are sharing the links we found to be most helpful below.  (yes they are also in the sidebar as well)

Please add these links to you "library" of information to refer to.

Want a pet duck?  REALLY?!?!?!
http://www.liveducks.com/easterducks.html

Want a a pet duck?  READ THIS FIRST all the way to the end!!
http://ducksandclucks.com/blog/2013/06/14/want-a-pet-duck/

See if ducks are right for you.
http://katihoza.home.comcast.net/~katihoza/

Articles About Waterfowl: Care and Feeding of Ducks and Geese from Majestic Waterfowl Sanctuary
http://www.majesticwaterfowl.org/articles.htm#artresp

Duck Care Tips from Duck Rescue Network
http://duckrescuenetwork.org/duck_care.html

DUCKS as pets Frequently Asked Questions
http://katihoza.home.comcast.net/~katihoza/faq/index.html

LiveDucks lots of complied information (click on "care and health" in the side bar)
http://www.liveducks.com/index.html

PLANTS AND PENS article by British Waterfowl Association
http://www.waterfowl.org.uk/docs/plants_and_pens.pdf

TOXIC PLANTS index - poultry help
http://www.poultryhelp.com/toxicplants.html

Siesta Time

Kouta falling asleep while getting a drink of water.
Missy thought it was a good idea too - she is singing her quiet happy song (which we rarely hear any more)

They are cracking me up!! Now Beau has joined the siesta by the water dish party

and finally Darrick joins them - Funny funny Duckies!

Duckie Update

Our pet duckies are doing well. The boys for the most part, are over their spring meanness

Missy seems to miss Queenie the most, now that she is the only girlie ducky . She is making the adjustment well, and is pretending to nest . Missy has laying issues, so she doesn't really lay eggs, but she likes to pretend.

We have left the dividing fences up so that we can give Missy some time in the pool unbothered by the whole gang, I mean the whole flock. However she is not fond of being by herself and because Beau is her very best love, most of the time when we separate, Beau and Missy stay together. Kouta and Darrick are still best buddies - it is so cute - so when we do separate they are very content to have time just the two of them. To us it's one of the sweetest things to see their friendship their brotherhood remain so sweet and faithful. 

Just a review of who is who:

Kouta ,male Pekin, he is King and definitely number one in pecking order, he is the biggest white duck

Darrick, he is our male Cayuga, our little, well comparatively speaking that is, all-black duck.

Beau is the duck that looks very similar to a mallard except he is a Welsh Harlequin. He is always competing with Darrick for the number two position. Unfortunately most of the time Beau loses that fight because of Darrick's close friendship with Kouta. 

Missy , messy Missy, is our only female duck. She is the other big white duck, although not quite as big as Kouta. Pekins are sweet personable ducks but their very

 large size makes them clumsy. She is frequently being chased around by the boys, and sometimes will trip. She repeatedly sprains her knee , actually I think it's her ankle. It is mild and usually a day of rest makes it all better. But she worries us with her clumsiness, we are afraid she might really hurt herself one of these days.

We will say it again and again -  it is not for the faint of heart to love and care for such fragile creatures especially as pets. 

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