A Sad Day

Today is a sad day for me.  Yesterday I took the girls to a new home.  I hated to give them away, but since spring hit this year Ariel had gotten EXTREMELY hormonal and quacked EXTREMELY LOUDLY anytime I, my husband or any of our neighbors walked outside.  I could not get her to shut up.  She would quack continuously until we or the other people went back inside.  My neighbors are really nice people and did not complain directly, but comments they made let me know it was really bothering them.  Nobody wants to go out to enjoy the nice weather if they will be berated by a crazy mallard!  I wouldn't want them to be such a nuisance to me.  I didn't want to be the annoying, "never gets a clue when you're being nice but trying to tell them something" sort of neighbor.  I'm just not that selfish.

Luckily, I was able to find them a good home with a very nice lady who lives near me.  She said I can come visit them anytime, and I think I will take her up on the offer.  I already miss them terribly and it was very sad for me to not be greeted by them this morning.  It will take me a while to be able to sleep in on the weekend.  I'm programed to get up the same time each morning to let them out of their night pen, otherwise they would start quacking loudly and disturb everyone.  They did that since the beginning, even before the hormones kicked in, so I learned to get up before they got started.  I never thought I'd miss that, but this morning I got up at their usual wake-up time, walked out into my yard, and felt so empty.

I think they will be happy in their new home.  They will be with many other ducks, geese and chickens.  I think the variety will keep them from getting as board as they were with me.  They will probably miss their yard though.  They will be kept in a large pen with other ducks most of the time, and let out into the yard occasionally.  They won't like that but they will get used to it I'm sure.  Ducks are social creatures, so they will probably enjoy the chats more than they will miss the grass.    They do have two kiddie pools in their pen, which Ariel immediately discovered.  That will make them happy!

This will probably be the last post on this blog except for an occasional update.  A final word of caution to anyone considering ducks as pets who live close to other people:  don't get Mallards.  They are really noisy.  If any quacking will pose a problem with your neighbors, then get Muscovy Ducks (they don't quack) or a different pet all together.  Your neighbors may not be able to make you get rid of your noisy fowl, but they won't appreciate it and you wouldn't want them to do that to you.  Be reasonable and be nice.  Its our human relationships that are most important.  Never get so carried away that you forget that.



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Nadine the Rescued Goat

I decided to call the goat Nadine.  It suits her.  After my original post, My husband and I were able to catch Nadine and put her in the Duck's night pen to keep her warm through the night, as it was predicted to get bitterly cold.  The ducks are staying in the garage until the weather goes above 30 degrees again.  They are board and upset with me, but there isn't anything I can do to make them happy. 

I am now in the process of trying to find someone to take Nadine off my hands.  I do not have the facilities or the money to keep her.  Hopefully, I can get in touch with the farmer who first stopped by.  One of my neighbors must have his number.  Right now she is in our sub-basement out of the cold, but she is not happy.  Wish me luck!

The Curious Incident of the Stray Goat

Yesterday, I spotted some curious droppings around the garage of a sort I'd not seen since I was a kid.  I told my husband they looked like goat droppings, but they must be from the deer that come out to the field across the street.  They had come to eat some discarded oats and corn left over from the dumping of my ducks water buckets (sometimes I think more goes into the bucket than into them!).  It really didn't make much sense either way, but we decided to stop dumping the water buckets outside the garage to avoid more droppings.

Then this morning I got up to feed the ducks and discovered a nanny goat on my patio.  She was shy, but looked very hungry so I gave her the left over duck feed I was about to dump and then gave her about 3 cups of rolled oats and a bucket of water.  Thinking to bring her inside the fence until I could locate her owner, I went inside to get a rope, only to discover I had none.  I went back outside and she was gone.  I thought perhaps she had headed back to the farm up the street where I thought she probably had come from to begin with.

Later this afternoon, there was a knock at the door.  A man was standing on my porch and he asked if I was the one who called about the goat.  I said I had not called about a goat, but that I had seen one this morning.  He then pointed around the corner of the house and asked, "Is that goat yours?".  I turned in the direction he was pointing and saw the nanny goat pretty as you please staring at me from within my fence.  I started laughing and told him it wasn't my goat, but that was the one I had fed that morning.  She must have climbed my fence when I was looking for a rope and went to the backyard where I didn't see her.  He said someone had called him thinking he had lost one of his goats, but he said it wasn't his.  He said the other goat owners he knew of weren't missing one either, and they didn't know where this one had come from but it had been roaming around the valley for some time.  He offered to come back with his truck and a pen and to take her in until he could find the owner.

After he left, we gave her some more oats and I snapped some photos.  She seemed content in our yard, but the ducks were not happy.  They saw her eating out of their bowls and drinking their water and it upset them greatly.  The goat seemed indifferent to them and to us.  She finished the oats and then proceeded to jump our fence and run up the road.  That is how we discovered the place she was getting inside.  There is a low spot in the fence by the patio that she was climbing up on the brick then jumping over into a small flower bed then down to the patio.  I tried to catch up with her but she went into a neighbor's back yard and headed for the woods.  We stopped our pursuit in hopes she would come out if left alone.  The farmer returned with two friends in his truck.  We told him of her escape and where we last saw her.  He was confident they could catch her and we believed him.  We went about our day thinking all was well.

After checking the weather report, we realized we needed to get the duck's pen in the garage ready for them to spend the night inside.  When we went out to start our work, we discovered the nanny was back in our yard searching for her food.  I filled the bottom of a three gallon tub with oats and placed it on our front porch for her.  She ate some and then jumped the fence again, this time laying down to chew her cud on the patio.  We planned to herd her into the fence this evening and then to block up the part she was jumping over, but when we went outside, she was gone.  It is getting bitterly cold, so she probably went to find shelter.  If she returns tomorrow, as I am sure she will, perhaps we can block her in until we can find a place to take her.  I'll post an update when I get more news!

First Snow!

Friday afternoon we got the worst snowstorm we have had in over 10 years! I almost didn't make it home from work. My husband was at home and he said the girls were bewildered by the snow and begged to be let inside. He herded them into their carrier and put them in the pen we had made for them in the garage in case really bad weather came in. They seemed quite comfortable there, and grateful for deliverance from the evil snow. Today the sun finally came out and I put them outside to explore since there were areas along the fence and around the house where the snow had melted. At first they didn't want to touch the snow, but soon discovered that their webbed feet were just like snow shoes. As long as they didn't stand in one place too long, they could walk on top of the snow with ease. They started exploring and I got out my camera. Check out these cuties!

What is this stuff?

Small ducks in a big white world :)

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Mystery of the Missing Eggs: The Saga Continues

Friday I took another look at Juno's x-rays and saw something I had missed before; an egg. This alarmed me greatly because Juno had not lain an egg for a couple of days before the x-ray was taken and not since, at least not that I had found. Her eggs are distinctively different from Ariel's and I can easily tell them apart. I had been finding Ariel's egg every morning in the nest box, but Juno usually tries to hide her eggs from me by laying them in the yard later in the morning.

We did yard work the day after the x-ray and failed to find her stash. I took her in again today for a repeat x-ray to determine if she was indeed egg bound, but there was no egg present! This heightens the mystery! Where are the missing eggs (or egg if that one was her last one of the season)? I will search again tomorrow, but there is no conceivable place I can think of that I have not already checked.

My only thought is perhaps she is burying them cleverly deep in the nest box. I will clean it out tomorrow and that should determine if this is indeed where she has been hiding them under my nose the whole time! I am relieved to know she isn't bound up though. She had me worried sick.

Vacation/ Mysterious Limp/ Missing Eggs!!

I just returned from vacation a little over a week ago. While I was gone, the girls stayed in a dog kennel. They did very well, and continued to lay eggs while I was away. When I got them back, I noticed Juno had a noticeable limp and I became concerned.

The kennel manager didn't notice it while she was boarding, and I didn't notice it while she was there either. It was much colder and the grass was tall when I brought her home, so I thought perhaps she had pulled something. I took her to her vet Monday and she did some x-rays which showed nothing broken or out of place, but there was an area that was fuzzy that might have indicated inflammation in that leg. Nothing conclusive though. She prescribed her a liquid NSAID and told me to watch her closely.

She is still limping, but we mowed the grass Tuesday and that seemed to make it easier for her to walk around. I tried giving her the medicine, but she spits it out as soon as she tastes it, no matter what I hide it in. I tried some feline pill pockets today and that worked better than anything so far. She managed to consume about half her dose. That's better than nothing I guess. I'll see if she shows any improvement tomorrow.

Ariel has continued to lay an egg every day since coming home, but Juno's eggs have disappeared! She lay one every day for a few days, then I couldn't find them anymore. I checked all the usual hiding places, but they are nowhere to be found. I'm beginning to wonder if she has stopped laying. I don't know what to do if that is the case. I can't very well separate them at meal times. I'll search again this weekend to make sure they aren't well buried in their nest.

Some Kind of Wonderful

I absolutely love my stall mat! I was nervous because of the expense, but it was well worth the money ($37.99 at tractor supply). It is so easy to clean its almost fun! I've heard of some people using the play mats that fit together like puzzle pieces that you get at wal-mart and Toys R Us, but The material isn't as tough so they won't last as long. They also are not rubber and look porous to me which would make them virtual sponges for bacteria and germs, not to mention liquid waste and odor. I'm all for saving money, but not cutting corners. I'd rather spend the extra and get something that will be more sanitary and probably last the duration of their lifetime and beyond.

I think the ducks are a lot happier. I never realized before how much poop I was missing when they were on straw. The larger more solid parts at the surface were so few, I now know I was missing the bulk of the waste. I feel really bad! I should have been changing all their straw every day. I had no idea. Well, on the bright side, they are in a much cleaner and healthier environment now. Interesting thing though, they have not pooped at all in their doghouse since the change. They still lay their eggs in it, but no poop. I guess the run was so nasty before that they ran out of room, but now that it is clean all the time, they use it instead of their house, and they concentrate the poop by the door too. They are really smart.

Today I plan on doing garden cleanup and filling in the pond. I'll probably advertise it in the paper along with the pump and filter box. It would make a great goldfish and/or ornamental pond for someone. Its just not big enough for the ducks. It gets nasty within days, even with the rainwater inflow and filter. Ducks are truly dirty creatures. The mortar mixer is great. I wish I had gotten one of them instead from the beginning. My advice to anyone who doesn't have a natural pond already would be to forget the pond idea. Unless you can afford to empty and refill it at least every weekend (no, I am not exaggerating) and don't mind the cleanup, man-made ponds are just not practical.

The ducks do perfectly well with dunking buckets and bathing pans. They are much easier to keep sanitary, and much cheaper to keep filled. I use Fortex rubber & Fortiflex rubber blend 2 gallon buckets for their dunking/drinking needs and a 3 gallon, 4 inch deep Fortex rubber pan for their bathing water. I rinse and refill these every morning, and brush scrub them out with dish soap every few days. I offer the mortar mixer only on very hot days so they can cool off. I try to keep water easily accessible to them all the time. I put one dunking bucket in the front yard next to their feed pans, and one in the backyard next to the garden. I put their bathing pan in the backyard also, on the other end of the garden. This setup works great for me, and they have clean water when they need it.

Being free of the pond is very liberating! If you learn from my experience, then all my mistakes will have been worth it. Here's to happier, healthier ducks and happier keepers everywhere!