adjustments - spring has sprung

This is just a quick update ... We thought we had posted several times since early March but apparently the mobile up-link is not working well.

Spring make our boy duckies MEAN!  We didn't want to have to separate the flock for any length of time, but this spring have been forced to in order to protect them from themselves.  A semi permanent dividing fence has been added to the aviary and a pet gate to divide the inside of the duck house.  (Beau gets to sleep on the girls side for safety.  This seems to be helping matters and now there are a few days when we can keep the dividing gate open all day.  Overall giving separation time seems to be helping.

Our pet duckies an very glad to see spring.  They are LOVING the new spring grasses and we let them out in the big yard to forage as much as possible.  

A few pictures of our feathered loves are below.

Beau - weak, sore, & slow but BETTER!!

Such relief to see Beau up and moving this morning. His injuries are not as bad as we were worried they might be. He is waking better, balanced (mostly), & quacking about being separated.  However, he is  hanging close to Queenie and still showing many signs his neck hurts and that he is not feeling great but we are very encouraged.

He is tucked in under the warmth of the heat lamp inside the duck house. We think a few days of warm separation is in order. We are  hopeful that he will make a full recovery. 

Sent from GrMaDuck via iPhone 

BEAU: Just out of the duck house - before "bath" looking much better

From GrMaDuck
Sent from my iPhone

drake on drake abuse in our little flock

I know compared many other things the drake on drake abuse in our little flock is a small petty thing ... but Beau is not well he has clearly been abused by the other drakes during the day. Beau is raw very weak and not standing or walking right and breathing funny. He is with the girls, separated from the other boys, and I am hoping he draws some comfort from being with the girls who will be gentle with him. GrPaDuck suggested we keep him in the bathroom in the house but I, GrMaDuck, decided against it because he would be all alone. This drake aggression is disturbing and sad.

Beau is so weak I don't know if I will find him alive in the morning, although I don't see major injuries, his neck looks like it was injured his eye has been bitten so I don't know what injuries I can't see.
I gave him another dose of anti-inflammatory medication and placed him where he will have gentle company and hopefully that will give him comfort. There is nothing else I can do but pray and trust God with whatever tomorrow brings. I know they are just ducks, but I am their keeper.

Signed ~GrMaDuck
Sent from my iPhone

Added the picture taken of him several days ago.

my my my oh the duckie drama that spring brings

... so glad MamaDuck and GrMaDuck were both at the house this morning to sort a few duckie issues out TOGETHER.

Sometime during the night Beau got his head stuck in the dividing fence while being picked on by the other boys :-( He is okay but we had to cut the dividing fence to get him unstuck. We gave him a dose of anti-inflammatory duck medication because his neck is a little bit sore and swollen.

Frustrating thing is that all the duck books and references said that a 1.5"x1.5" fencing material should be safe for ducks and so we never guessed we would have such a  problem.  Well, now 1/2" hardware fabric is on the dividing fence, to ensure this doesn't happen again.  But what to do about the aggressive behavior ... trial and error and keeping a close eye on them is the strategy we now employ.  Really it is only a problem when the boy first "season in", or "season back in".  

No pictures we were to busy getting him unstuck, making sure he was all right, and making sure the flock was some what peaceful and safe before both human flock members headed to work. 

February Update

Not much to say other than it has been a calm happy winter for our duckies.  They have all been healthy and have had no social/flock conflicts.

However, with the days starting to get longer the boys have started to "season in".  This means that the drake competitions are getting underway.  We had hoped that maybe they would be a little more mellow this spring, but by the emerging boy duckie (drake) behavior it looks like it will be at least one more year before the boys "mellow".

This Saturday temps were in the lower 40s so it was a good time to fill BOTH pools and give them longer to forage.  They enjoyed both.  We even gave the girls a little bit of time to get a good bath in the "big" pool before the boys joined in and started fighting over the girls.
:-P

With the "good" digital camera we were able to capture a few good pictures (as well as a bunch of regular quality pictures).

Aren't our LOVES beautiful!

foraging behind the duck aviary (enclosure)

"GrMaDuck, open the door"

girlie duckies getting a boy free bath
Kouta and Beau enviously look in from the other side of the fence.

 

quack quack quack
our pretty duckies

preen preen preen
girlie duckies getting clean

Missy combing her feathers

splish splash Missy is taking a bath

pretty speckled Queenie

Kouta says, "Hey, that is enough, it is time for the boys to join in on the splashing fun."
Queenie just ignores him and enjoys every last minute in the "big" pool without the boys.

Queenie, getting every feather in it's proper place.

Finally the boys turn in the "big" pool!
Kouta and Darrick are still best buds
(except when they are competing to see who is the best drake)

Our beautiful Beau - with his head a very bright iridescent green

Keeping warm AKA refusing to go out in the snow

Our duckies are so funny they really really do not like the snow in top of temps that keep the pools frozen.

They pretty much refuse to come out of their house. I guess you can't blame them.

Cold

Our duckies snuggling  in their house, after burnt out heat lamp was replaced and frozen water buckets replaced with lukewarm clean water placed under the heatlamp and a warm fresh layer if chips laid in their house and towel hung over the top of the door to help keep heat in.  This cold is unpleasant for them, but we are doing what we can to keep them warm healthy and safe. 

Sam(antha) Toney

Sent from my iPhone

A nice lukewarm bath after the snow

Just a few pictures of our happy duckies.

They are very happy to have fresh water in the little pool. It has been cold and it snowed (which the duckies hated), so they have only had clean buckets of water to wash faces and drink for about two days.

It is funny to see all four of them try and fit in the little pool.
:-)

IDEA - recycled window shelter

We got this idea from GreenBuildTV

We want to build something like this but with open doorway and wider and with a lower height as a warm house for our duckies for during the cold winter months.  The sun would keep it warm, they could see out which they like, We could put the food and a water bucket and pine flakes in it to be comfy. It would probably take me a couple of weekend trips to salvage yards, and 1-2 Saturdays to assemble. 

... must find that precious resource ... time ... 

It is probably a silly extravagant thing to do ... but it would be so much fun and we think after the duckies get over the "we are afraid of everything new" issue, that they would love and appreciate it, especially placed it near their pool(s).

This blog (2slicksgoodtimes Window Greenhouse post )shows several versions of how it could be made.  We like the windows all the way to the ground version for our duckies in the winter.

 

Still happy and healthy

Our sweet happy pet duckies

Our duckies enjoying running water and clean pools

Today was the first warm day in awhile. It follows two stressful days for our duckies. Two days ago a red tailed hawk tried to attack/ hunt them. The hawk was on the outside of the aviary on the back side. He/she was watching and attacking from the dogwood tree back there. The hawk tried several times to get through the fence. The duckies were safe inside and the hawk didn't even harm the fence. GrPaDuck went outside and shooed the hawk away. We are thankful for our predictor proof enclosure, but it was disturbing to us and extremely frightening to the duckies. The duckies all ran fast and jumped into there pool. During all the panicked running and jumping pretending to fly, Kouta our male pekin, slightly sprained his knee.

It was so sweet to see his best bud Darrick refuse to leave his side. Kouta was smart enough to stay in the big pool which took the weight off of his leg. Unfortunately, the big pool was a day away from being cleaned and no longer has a contact slow flow of water into it. By the end of the day, with Kouta not leaving the pool and Darrick faithfully at his side the pool was really yucky and Kouta's feathers were getting yucky.

So the next day, yesterday, Kouta and Beau spent the day in mandatory rest all day. We separated them to half of the "duck house" (with food and water of course) so Kouta would rest his leg. We didn't want him walking much and definitely didn't want him climbing in and out of the pool.

The day of rest seemed to have done its job. This morning Kouta is not limping.

So with warm weather, all the pools cleaned and the humans flock members letting the hose water run, the duckies had a wonderful morning.