Tag: backyard ducks

Betty, Luna, and New Friends

~ Crystal Sands ~ 1 Comment

Betty and Luna are not the new friends. Luna is on Day 7 in the house, and Betty is very curious. Luna is very cautious.

I think it was the third day Luna was in the house that Betty grew brave enough to investigate the duck. Betty did not like the quacking and seemed to just stay away from Luna at first. I thought this was fortunate because I was worried about Betty deciding to pounce. But, on that third day, I guess curiosity got the best of her–plus, Luna was quiet.

I was working on my laptop at the kitchen table, very near Luna, and she let out the loudest quack I have ever heard. It echoed! I jumped and saw Betty scrambling, terrified. She flew through the kitty door and down into our basement.

About 15 minutes later, I heard the kitty door open, and in slow motion, Betty made her way through the door. With her paws stretched, she walked back by the duck–ever so slowly. It was like she was afraid to take a step near the monster. I laughed at poor Betty’s fear. I asked her if she was okay, and she glared at me, just glared. How dare I bring this monster into our house? It was the cutest thing, but poor Betty didn’t think any of it was cute.

Betty is getting curiouser and curiouser.

After another day or two, Betty got brave again though, and this time, Luna didn’t scream at her. This has led to some bravery on Betty’s part, which has led to some stress on my part.

Thankfully, Luna has made a friend. It’s our teenage son, and I am surprised. At first, he complained when we lost the guest bathroom to another duck. That kid is going to have some stories when he grows up.

I noticed he kept asking questions about her though, and by the end of the first day, he was asking about petting her. I told him he could see what she did. If she seemed too nervous, maybe not. I explained the nature of Indian Runner ducks. I thought she might be nervous about someone who is essentially a stranger, but then I remembered he was very involved in the raising of our ducks when they were babies. They loved him, and he spent a lot of time with them.

Maybe she remembers him or maybe it’s just that these two connect, but I am shocked by how much this duck loves our son in just a week. The first time he leaned into pet her, she raised her bill up and touched him, and they have been fast friends ever since.

I noticed Luna, who is getting frustrated with her hurt leg, was starting to complain more during the day. This, coupled with Betty’s fascination with her, made me wonder if I was going to have to think of another solution for Luna during the day, but the best solution arose. Luna loves our son so much that she is content just hanging out in his room and being near him.

She’s safe from Betty’s curiosity and seems to be in heaven hearing our son’s voice. Interestingly, when he’s been outside and comes in the house while she is having a tub soak, she hears his voice and starts quacking. This is all fascinating stuff. As an animal person, I hoped both my children would be animal people. It’s great when they are. Animals make us better humans. Luna can teach him things I can’t.

I hope they stay good friends.

The House Guest

~ Crystal Sands ~ 5 Comments

This is Luna. She is going to be staying with us a bit. Bairre was playing with Boudica this morning and accidentally ran over her. It’s devastating because Luna’s leg is hurt pretty badly, and I was very, very upset this morning–upset at Bairre (only in my mind, as I would never blame him because he’s a puppy, and this was our responsibility), Ron, and the universe. In the end, I could only stay a little bit mad at Ron and that wasn’t for long. I mean, this stuff just happens sometimes.

Ron was outside with the dogs and ducks when Bairre ran over the duck, and he had turned his back on Bairre. That was the mistake it seems. He said he should have kept Bairre and Boudica away from the ducks better. It’s risky when they play near the ducks, and we try to stay on top of it when they play. Ron just turned away for a bit, and he said it was then he heard the commotion. He turned around in time to see Bairre running by and little Luna lying on the ground unable to get up.

I was in the house when Ron came to the door and told me to get ready to nurse a duck. His face looked so pale. I could tell he was devastated. I am just so thankful it wasn’t her wing. Still, her leg injury is pretty bad.

I don’t think she has internal injuries because she seems to be doing okay and in good spirits otherwise; plus, she ate peas, homemade bread, and her food today. This morning, I was devastated that she was going to be devastated to be stuck in the house without her people for months, but the first day went swimmingly.

She had tub time for many hours to soak her leg, and then, while I baked cookies and then cooked dinner, I put her in a clear bin with straw and set her on the table in the dining room, so she could see me while I cooked. We talked. Okay, I talked, and she listened. And we both listened to the Bach cello suites. She was very curious about everything I did and just watched me the whole time. She literally never took her eyes off of me and just seemed to enjoy taking everything in. Plus, it’s warm in the house. Plus, there’s the Bach.

Over the years of having ducks and periodically having to have a duck in the house for treatment of injury of some kind, we have learned that ducks really love cello. In fact, it was in 2019 that little Ana Sophia broke her leg and had to be in the house with us for a couple of months. In was during that time that we saw Ana Sophia fall in love with the cello.

It would calm her when we played cello music, and when my son played his cello, as soon as she could walk, she would come from whatever she was doing in the house and sit right under his feet and listen to him play for his whole practice, which was like an hour. She just loved it. It was wild to witness. At that time, I didn’t know everything I know now, and I was amazed by all of it. Now, I know to play Bach.

Tonight, at dinner, I said to Ron, “Luna had better be okay. I’m in love with her.”

“You love all of them, right?” he said.

“I love her more now. I need her to be okay.”

Please send good vibes for Luna. I don’t believe she has internal injuries, but I will feel better in the morning.

Lucky Number Seven

~ Crystal Sands ~ Leave a comment

We really didn’t want to get another duck, but we now have another duck. I wrote a month or so ago about our ducks going wild. Well, they really, really went wild. They were literally quacking at epic levels at the cars driving by. It got to be so much that we were worried our neighbors were going to complain. Those ducks just never stopped quacking, and female ducks have very, very big quacks.

He is pretty scared of me but making really good progress adjusting to the flock. He also seems pretty chill overall for an Indian Runner duck–at least so far. I’m hopeful.

I decided to ask other duck owners in a Maine duck forum on Facebook for advice. I told the story about our girls, and everyone said “You need a boy.” It turns out that, without a male, a flock of females will resort to quacking for protecting themselves from threats, and as high-strung ducks, a flock of Indian Runner ducks perceive pretty much everything as a threat. Bairre couldn’t go outside at all without chaos ensuing, and he hadn’t chased a duck since he was a baby. Still, the ducks have long memories, it seems.

We were very worried about getting another boy because of Anna Maria, but a young boy is fast. This seemed like our best chance because the girls were so loud, so very loud. So I started a search to find a very young male duck. I didn’t have much luck at first, so I decided to post to the duck forum on Facebook that I was in search of a male duck less than one year old. The responses started rolling in! I decided to just go with the very first response to see if we could make a plan.

It turns out this little boy was one of four boys from this year’s hatch, and goodness knows you cannot have four male ducks, unless you have only male ducks. And, even then, I would be hesitant. Anyway, this woman was so happy to find this little duck a home that she drove him to me.

He’s a gorgeous boy. He’s seven months old. The woman told me he was gray, and he is. However, he’s so unique. He looks like he’s part Mallard. I researched and found out that the gray runner ducks are called Mallard Gray runners and that they are a pretty rare Runner duck in general.

Here, he’s napping with the ladies. You can see Anna Maria on the left. After just three days with him here, the flock is already calmer.

He’s so beautiful that Ron said he was tempted to hatch duck babies next year, but I said we aren’t making any more ducks until we one day live where there are no neighbors at all. He agreed, and I have to say, though I love these beautiful birds, I don’t think I want ducks for the rest of my life. I think all of my worry over keeping Anna Maria safe has just worn me out. Chickens? Yes. Ducks? I’m not so sure.

For now, however, we have a beautiful boy who has landed in a really good situation for a duck. Lots of space. His own ladies. Two Great Pyrenees for protection. Plus, peas every night at bedtime. He’s a very lucky boy, at least he has many fortunate years ahead of him, and maybe he won’t have the same kind of struggles in his older age that Antonio did. I’m going to just hope so.

And we have to think of a name. Right now, I’m leaning toward Seven.

Sitting Duck

~ Crystal Sands ~ 1 Comment

Well, I just about had a heart attack. Anna Maria was put up in her bathroom nest for the night, and I went outside to give the rest of the ducks their nightly peas. I could only find five ducks! There should be six. There are always six. Every now and then, someone will be slow, but those ducks usually meet me at the porch because they LOVE bedtime peas.

I called and called and called. No duck.

I looked everywhere, but it was getting dark, making it difficult to see much of anything. I went inside to get the flashlight and told Ron what was going on. He had just come in from putting up the chickens and picking up all the food on the property, so I figured he surely would have heard any kind of commotion. He had heard nothing. Still, I could not find that duck.

I took the flashlight outside and looked all over the back area where the ducks live. It’s about half an acre and very sturdily fenced, so I didn’t think anything could get in. There are always the owls, but I saw no signs of an attack.

Finally, I asked Ron to come back outside to help.

“Can an owl carry off a duck?” I asked.

“There would be feathers at least,” he said.

Then, I saw where Ron was heading, and I was hopeful. We have a burn area surrounded by rocks, and it’s full of branches right now. I crawled down and shined the flashlight and there she was! Just sitting there, still as could be. In a little nest she made perfectly amongst the branches.

“She’s trying to go broody,” I said.

When I got her out, I could see she was sitting on a stash of six eggs. She must have decided to go broody just today, as I have seen her every other night without fail. She is tucked into the duck house every night after peas.

Still, just to be safe, I candled all of the eggs. Nothing. Because ducks live so long in the right conditions, we do not plan to get more ducks. It was tempting to think about little ducklings running around though. Tempting indeed. I love baby chicks, but baby ducks melt my heart.

Of course, I am mainly just so glad she’s okay.

An Owl Story

~ Crystal Sands ~ Leave a comment

Just the other day, my son and I were having a conversation about animals, and he asked me what my favorite animal was. I explained that I could not choose–dogs, cats, chickens, donkeys, elephants, squirrels, Eastern Phoebes…How can one choose a favorite animals?

“My favorite is the owl,” he said.

“Oh, that’s a cool favorite,” and I added that owls, though magnificent, are scary to me because I am a chicken and duck mama. I told him about the video I saw of what an owl does to a duck and that I was kind of scarred for life from it.

He understood, but we both agreed that an owl has to eat too and that they are, indeed, magnificent animals.

Two nights later, I would have a close encounter with an owl that I just have to write about.

It started with a perfect storm of circumstances, as these stories always seem to do. I was really hungry, and it was late. I decided to go ahead and eat dinner quickly before putting up the ducks, which now includes an Anna Maria rodeo because she doesn’t like sleeping in the bathroom.

Of course, there is no choice, so I rodeo every night. She complains and fights me. I tell her this is for her own good. She doesn’t believe me. I give her peas, put her in her nest. That’s what we do every night now. Then, I work to get the rest of the ducks put up. They love to party late during the summer, so it’s all a bit of a chore.

Anyway, it was getting pretty dark by the time I finished dinner. On top of this, Bairre was in a mood because he didn’t get to have for dinner what we had for dinner, so he was doing his “thing” when he’s being difficult and doesn’t touch the ducks because he’s not supposed to but gets really close to them to make them upset. The ducks are just fine when Boudica is near them, but Bairre cannot yet be trusted. I don’t blame them. He’s such a puppy still, and his track record is sketchy.

I managed, despite Bairre causing his chaos, to get Anna Maria caught and put up. By the time I headed back outside, the ducks were acting really strange. I thought maybe it was just Bairre, but it seems a little extra. I was making my way around to the corner to go see what was going on when I heard the owl–and it was in the tree right above my head!

I was panicked. It made some sounds that did not sound good for my ducks. For a second, I just froze, trying to calculate how quickly I might be able to get to the ducks. Thanks to Bairre, they were out in the middle of the yard. Usually, when it gets even close to dark, they will stay under the deck or near the house. But they were out there in the wide open, and an owl was on it.

I began hollering for Ron or our son for help, but I was pretty sure they weren’t coming. Ron was in the basement, and our son, who was outside, was wearing his AirPods. He always has those things in his ears. He listens to music every second he’s awake if he can, and it gets a little old when I’m trying to get his attention and have to hunt him down. Anyway, I was cursing those AirPods.

I heard the owl make a wild sounding call again right as it flew out of the tree. It was right over my head and going right toward the ducks. In hindsight, it was magnificent to see–those wings right over my head. There was a small amount of light left in the sky, just enough to for me to see the silhouette and some under-feather patterns. My goodness! It was beautiful. Its wingspan was about three feet. I think it was a Barred owl, but I definitely didn’t hear “Who cooks for you?”

The only thing I knew to do, as I could see it was going to be on the ducks in one second and it would probably take me at least 10 seconds to get there, was throw my hands in the air and scream, “NOOOOOOO!”

Just as it made a swoop to the ground, Bairre came bounding around, clueless to the owl but aware enough to see that something was wrong because of the way I acting. Either his presence or mine was enough to make the owl move on. A sense of such relief fell over me.

I started hollering again for Ron, and he finally heard me and came outside to get Bairre, as Bairre clearly had to be put in the house and I clearly couldn’t leave the ducks alone.

Ron got Bairre put up, and I got the ducks put up (they went up super fast, no partying). All was well.

But I was thinking, “there is surely never a dull moment around here, is there?”

photo credit: Sonder Quest, Unsplash

Anna Maria was waiting for us.

~ Crystal Sands ~ 3 Comments

Day 345 of 365

It has been a long day, but I have good news: Day 1 of the Anna Maria plan was a success! This morning, I put Antonio in the fenced area and let Anna Maria stay with the other females. They weren’t like super excited to see Anna Maria, but they gave her no trouble. And a few did get close to her sometimes.

Still, Anna Maria was largely alone for most of the morning, and since Antonio was behaving very well in the fenced area, I decided to let him out in the late afternoon. I just stayed with the ducks for a long time to make sure everything was okay.

Everything was really okay! Antonio had forgotten about Anna Maria and really just wanted to roam the duck area again. My plan worked! I do think his hormones may have settled down a bit too, so that was another reason I decided to take a chance.

Anna Maria was safe all day. I was so thankful. Sadly, however, she was also still alone most of the day. She has never fully fit in with the flock, but it seems to be a little worse this year–not just since the incident but really all year. I don’t know if it is because she’s mostly blind or if something else is going on.

But I checked on her and talked to her about a thousand times today. She definitely never runs from me now, which is so cool. The coolest thing happened tonight though. When it was about bedtime for ducks, Ron and I went outside to get Anna Maria, and we found her waiting by the gate where she has been every night since we moved her outside. The rest of the ducks were at the back door. Anna Maria used to wait at the back door. Tonight, she was waiting where we have been scooping her up at night. It was like she was ready to come in!

It was easy to scoop her up. She didn’t run from us at all. Ron showed me the way she likes to be held, so I turned her to situate her on my chest with her head looking over my shoulder. I still didn’t get it just right, but I let her situate herself how she wanted. Once she had her chest against my chest, she seemed to just calm down. I could feel her heartbeat in my chest, and it was not beating super quickly, which I figured was a really good sign that she wasn’t panicking about being held.

I also realized that she could feel my heartbeat. I told Ron that I have had sick chickens and baby chicks also situate themselves on my chest, right over my heart, like the heartbeat relaxes them. Isn’t that cool? I wonder why that is.

This reminds me of the time I had to hold the baby chicks against my chest in my robe. I will have to tell that story soon. Those babies sang to me!

Anyway, Ron told me tonight he has also heard Anna Maria’s tic in the duck house at night and wondered what he was hearing. Now that we know, Ron agrees that Anna Maria is sleeping with us at night for the rest of her life. I am glad we agree on this.

The Anna Maria Plan

~ Crystal Sands ~ 4 Comments

Day 343 of 365

It has been 10 days since Anna Maria was injured and had to be removed from her flock. Because she is so fragile, Ron and I have been back and forth about what to do about her.

For 6 days, she was in the house full time. I hung out with her every day for hours, playing music for her. It was fascinating to see not only what she responded to but also how she responded. I learned in the last 10 days that Anna Maria has a nervous “tic” of sorts. I am happy to report that, over time, I saw less and less of it, but music helped the most. When she liked something, the tic was gone. In addition to cello music (Bach is a favorite for sure), there were some country music songs she liked. She did not approve of Bruce Springsteen’s Dancing in the Dark or Don Henley’s Boys of Summer. She did very much like Maria by Brooks and Dunn. I played it for her because of her name because, a couple of years ago, she learned her name.

Not all of our chickens and ducks learn their names, but some definitely do–like Mary Jane and Rooster. I try to say everyone’s names when I say hello to them in order to see if they eventually learn their names, but I do not spend a ton of time with the chickens and ducks each day (mostly just food and water and treats and egg collecting). I guess the exception is Ruby because, she’s always everywhere. I assume it would take a lot of interaction for the chickens and ducks to quickly learn their names, so it usually takes awhile for anybody to learn.

Still, there is another characteristic of a chicken or a duck who learns their name: It’s that they are curious enough to pay attention to me. For some, I am food, water, and security, but some are pretty curious about me. The fact that Anna Maria learned her name makes me think she has maybe been paying a lot more attention to me than I had thought over the years.

Anyway, I am getting way off track, but maybe it’s important to share those details to see how much I have come to adore Anna Maria extra over the past week and a half.

Ron put some extra fencing around a fenced area at the back of our property, so Anna Maria could go outside during the day. Four days ago, we started taking her outside in the mornings. She is fenced from the rest of the flock but can at least be outside during the day. She seemed so very happy to get back outside. She loves digging her bill into the dirt and hunting around the fence edge for insects. Anna Maria’s joy at being outside made it clear she would not he happy being an inside duck.

So we thought about trying to buy a single female duck to be her companion. Ron would have to build a small duck house for them, and it would mean an additional job in the winter having to shovel snow out of a third area. Ron and I both feel stretched fairly thin most days. We talked and talked, trying to figure out if we could handle more work. Plus, runner ducks live long lives if all goes well. Apparently, they can live 10 to 15 years. Getting a young duck would mean starting that clock over, and while we plan to keep chickens into our old age, the ducks are harder work.

Then, we talked about finding a home for Antonio, which led us to realize that would never happen. People just don’t want an older male duck. Plus, he’s definitely been more aggressive with his mating in the last 2 years. You can’t really give away a duck that might lead to problems for other people. We wondered if we should consider culling him because of his aggression, but we have a hope that this will settle down. He’s getting old enough that his hormones should start to slow a little. We’ll see, but we decided we can’t really choose Anna Maria over Antonio. We just can’t. We love them both, though Anna Maria is definitely the favorite for both of us.

It seems there are no simple solutions, but I think I have an idea that can work. Ron is on board to try, so we are going to try in the morning. The Anna Maria plan is to put Antonio in the smaller fenced area tomorrow and let Anna Maria be with the girls for a few hours. Then, we can let Antonio out and see how he does. We will have to watch closely the whole time. If all goes well, we can try to let them all stay together during the day, but we have decided that, to be safe, for the rest of her life (well, at least as long as Antonio is around), Anna Maria is going to sleep in the house. I think Antonio might get a little aggressive in the duck house.

The first day Anna Maria was in the house with us, I saw her making her nervous tic in the bathtub. She was in the corner and she would move her bill back and forth, over and over and over a million times, each time tapping one side of the bathtub and then the other. It was a constant “thump, thump, thump, thump.” I realized then where I had heard that sound before. There have been times at night when I have been outside near the duck house, and I heard this “thump, thump, thump, thump.” I wondered what in the world this could be. I realized this must have been Anna Maria, and I am heartbroken. That poor girl is nervous out there too–at least at night.

But Anna Maria has good days the flock, so we are going to try her out and see how she does. The plan is to put Antonio up any time he is aggressive and for a few weeks at the first of spring and first of fall, when his hormones really seem to get him wound up. Then, of course, we will bring Anna Maria into the house at night. Hopefully, this will work. Hopefully, Anna Maria is okay. She hasn’t laid an egg in 4 days. It’s a little bit of a concern.

Hopefully, all goes well tomorrow.

A Duck Tale

~ Crystal Sands ~ 1 Comment

Day 317 of 365

I took this picture of the ducks after the wind blew the water bucker. The ducks are in the background, looking very concerned.

Tonight, when I went to give the ducks their bedtime peas and tuck them in for the night, there was a duck missing. It was Anna Maria! Since she is at least partially blind and possibly quite blind, I was really worried about this.

Thankfully, I found her by her voice, but she was stuck–or at least she thought she was stuck–under the deck. She was trying to get to her people in the straightest line she could, but there was a garden fence in the way. She couldn’t seem to understand she had to go around the way she came. She was just following the voices of her people.

I have no idea how she got separated, but I have noticed the ducks will start to go their separate ways for a bit in the spring. All winter, they move as one almost all day long. But the snow is melting, and there is much to explore. They get busy and get separated. Every now and then, they will call each other back together. It’s very cool!

I guess, tonight, Anna Maria didn’t hear the call until everyone else had gone around to the other side. I tried everything I could to get her to go back the way she came. I thought she would be so afraid of my touch that she would run when I touched her, but she just let me touch her. Clearly, she had bigger worries about getting to her people.

I tried the flashlight, but that didn’t make her run either. She was stuck and determined to stay stuck. Poor girl.

Then, I got wise and thought like a duck. I realized I needed to herd her people back around to the deck, so she could follow their voices out in the proper direction. This was going to cost me though. To herd the ducks that far at night would not be easy. It’s out of the ordinary, and out of the ordinary is always stressful. Always. They make no exceptions.

I hate to stress those ducks because maintaining their trust all the time is not easy. They are very skeptical. But I didn’t see any other way to get Anna Maria out besides crawling under the deck–in the mud–so I was like, “Ducks, we’re going around!”

They were resistant for some times, but I finally pushed them with my presence enough (that I learned from thinking like a dog), and Anna Maria came to their quacking and was finally free.

Then, here’s the best part. After all of that drama, I knew the ducks wouldn’t eat their peas. So I had to come back in the house after everything and sit and wait about five minutes before I went out with the peas to tuck them in. I have learned they need a re-set. Then, if you go back to the routine, all will be well.

So I came in the house and told Ron and our son the story and waited. I then took the peas back outside and said my exact words I say every night–“Duck, ducks! It’s your peas!”

This time, seven sweet little ducks came for their peas.

Spoiled Ducks

~ Crystal Sands ~ 4 Comments

Day 53 of 365

We have seven Indian Runner ducks. Six are the ones we special ordered from the best waterfowl hatchery we could find. One is a duck who taught me one of the most valued lessons I have learned in my life. She’s a chocolate runner named Anna Maria, and I will have to tell her story one day soon. It will take me some work to do justice to Anna Marie. She’s special.

But she’s spoiled. All of our ducks have become so spoiled. It happens every summer. We are with them so much they get used to us and start bossing us around. Only, this year, it’s worse. Every year, they get a little bolder and a little bolder. It’s a new level this summer. Today, those ducks sat at the back door and quacked very loudly until we brought them treats–three times. And, I assure you, a group of female ducks can make a lot of noise. So, you give in.

Our neighbors are not that close, but duck sounds carry. Our neighbors have geese and ducks, and when my son and I go for a walk down our road, when the ducks and geese start carrying on, you can hear it for like a quarter of a mile for sure.

So I worry about the loud ducks. So I give them everything they demand.

It’s usually Anna Marie who starts it. She’s extra spoiled. She’s been through a lot in her life. We got her when she was about one year old and have been spoiling her extra every day of her life. Ducks are very smart. They all figured out that everything Anna Maria asked for she got.

Yesterday, we found that some of the ducks were leaning across the fence into a garden area eating the broccoli leaves. Ron went over to them away, and they all ganged up on him and quacked and quacked at him. They were clearly griping at him. Ron had to move the fence farther from the broccoli, and those spoiled ducks quacked at him, complaining about it the whole time.

Tonight, while I made dinner, I took the ducks their nightly greens from the garden. During greens season in the garden, every single night, Ron or I give the ducks their fresh greens.

And I’m not even kidding about this–our ducks will not eat store-bought greens. I have thrown some to them at times when I have bought lettuces in the off season. They’re organic. But nope. The ducks will not eat store-bought greens. They would rather go without. How are they this spoiled?

But they are. And they are so cute they can get away with it. And it helps us on feed bill that both the chickens and the ducks can eat from the garden. I mean, look at them. You can see why they are so spoiled. It’s why every single night I play the duck game.