duck pool drains & LOTS of duckie pictures

The pool drains are working ... sort of ... They do drain, but being the size of a garden hose and full of dirt and other messy things they drain slowly. Which means a new morning and evening routine, but they are definitely helping reduce the amount of water and soggy mud around the pools and saving our backs.

close up of the drain valve & hose for our above ground pool (open)

We have for several years used a double layer of "kiddie" pools for our duckies.  Using two pools nested together helps prevent holes and cracks.  We replace the kiddie pools maybe once every year to two years.  We used "WaterWeld" a specialized epoxy putty to seal the drain holes inside and outside of the pools.  (In the picture above it is the white stuff around the joint).  This allows us to move the pools to dump out dirt etc with the drain hoses still attached and not have to worry about the integrity of a water tight seal around the joint.

You can see the ground still gets wet when washing the pool
and duckies splashing but this is far less water than before.

The hose filling the pool is in front
The drain hose is toward the back and left.

"sunken" duckie pool - the drain is low and at the very back
the hose you see in front is the drain hose from the above
ground pool.  Both hose drains are buried and run between
skirted hardware fabric to keep predators and snakes out

close up of the sunken pool's drain valve

both pools - here we are filling the sunken pool and you
can see the drain hose from the above ground pool
we have dividing fences with a internal gate for those times
when we need to separate such as when boy duckies
are being seasonally aggressive or if/when a certain
duckie needs R&R time due to injury illness
but is still well enough to be outside.

Due to all the rain and storms we have had this summer our sunken pool fills with dirt and mud much quicker than the above ground pool and it much harder to do the "deep" clean.  We may raise this pool at some later date.

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And now for lots of pictures of our adorable duckies!

Missy complaining that she doesn't get to forage
(her arthritis/tendonitis has flared up and she is on R&R)

beautiful white ladies

Darrick, drake extraordinaire, loved by the little ladies 

Beau's head feathers are always in varying shades

This little lady says, "you are an okay food and water human,
but I don't know if I trust you all the way yet."

"More pictures?  Sure we will pose for you"

The prettiest boy, needs to work hard to stay pretty.
Preen Preen Preen

Missy chillin out in one of her favorite nap spots under the chair.

It's nap time for the little girls too.

Our Missy's feathers are looking so shiny and white now
that she has 8 more girl friends to share the attention of the boys.

Fluffy bottom (Missy)

10 pet duckies and one human "duckie" bond servant

ONE flock

Yesterday morning GraMaDuck enjoyed hanging out with our duckies.  We are very encouraged to see that they have finally integrated to be ONE flock instead of two mini-flocks.  This is very important for their health because ducks are extremely social and their social condition has significant effect on their physical well being.


GraMaDuck loves our feathered loves so much!  It is a delight to watch these cute funny personalities everyday.  She is also thankful that we built the aviary with a clear view from all of the back windows of our home, so whether we are outside or inside, we can see and talk with our feather loves.

Here are a few pictures taken with the phone camera - all the white feathers can really mess with the light meter :-)

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
~ ~ ~
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

Kouta # 1 duckie

Kouta

digging for bugs

on his "throne"

Kouta is King of our tiny flock.

The older he gets (he is not yet two years old) the bossier he gets. I guess when you are at the top of the pecking order you have to work to stay there.

General he is a calm sweet boy.  He loves peas for treats but not as much as Missy.

He is a very large male (drake) Pekin. 

There is something endearing about Pekin personalities.  They can be quite expressive with head tilts and body posture.

~GrMaDuck~
sent from my iPhone
Kouta is our good King (even though he is bossy and competitive).

#1 and #2 ... pecking order

Kouta (Pekin drake (white) ) remains #1

Beau (welsh harelquin drake) - has fought his way to #2


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sent from my iPhone
~GrMaDuck~

Kouta, Pekin drake

This is Kouta our Pekin drake. He is HUGE and sweet.

He is King of the Flock and his throne is the pool.

He is gentle though a bit clumsy but no longer

likes the human cuddles.  His size might have

something to do about that.  He is calm and, as fits

his title of "King Kouta", can be a bit aloof. 

He is #1 in the pecking order.