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Introducing Pippy, the smallest of her litter passed onto us by...

riverdarling — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 22:15:35 +0000

Introducing Pippy, the smallest of her litter passed onto us by a friend. She’s about ten weeks old and very little and dainty. This is a photo from the first time she’d ever been outside. We will be taking Oscar to the vets to be castrated and then introducing her as his companion. The ducks are not impressed.

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The hardest part of letting an animal into your life is losing...

riverdarling — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 11:16:00 +0000

The hardest part of letting an animal into your life is losing them. Their lives are so short in comparison to our own. The duty of being their parent or owner, however you see it, is to make their journey through life as enjoyable as possible. Monty was born on the 31st of May 2012 and died on the 26th of January 2013 from a suspected hormonal seizure. I can only say it wasn’t long enough. He was passed on to us with his sisters Bea and Alice at eight hours old, Monty at only 6 hours. We were told he needed help to get out of his egg, then that his mother did not think he would live and rejected him. For the early part of his ducklinghood he remained half the size of his sisters, and we were praised for keeping him alive. His weight started to snowball and soon we had the most handsome, gentlemanly drake we had yet the pleasure of meeting. I thought it only appropriate his final photograph on the blog was one with Alice. If I have ever seen romance between two ducks it was these two. Despite Alice’s sight problems we knew he would look after her, he would always herd her where she needed to be. The girls were so quiet after his death and are still not their usual selves. Out of the six siblings Monty, Bea and Alice left behind, three then passed away. We are certain he would not have lived without us, and we would probably not have met him or his siblings without the also untimely death of Angelina, who was also the smallest of her own clutch. My partner joked as he drove us to the crematorium that I should stop asking for the runts. Holding Monty in my arms I answered through tears that it was worth it. It is. Again, I thank you all for enjoying his life with us. Thank you.

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Uh-oh! We have some competition. Look at these two fluffing...

riverdarling — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 15:00:51 +0000

Edwin

Monty

Uh-oh! We have some competition. Look at these two fluffing their heads up! Edwin seems to fluff his crest up to make himself taller and Monty fluffs the back of his neck to make himself bigger. Monty wanted to include Edwin when he was a duckling but as he grew older and started to show off with his flying skills (as larger breeds the others can do “assisted jumps” but nothing like Edwin’s 20-foot-soars) the girls started to take an interest in this tiny pilot. Monty is not impressed and shoos him off.

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We have an update from Harriette and Ginger! The two chicks who...

riverdarling — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 15:01:46 +0000

Harriette hiding in the Eglu!

We have an update from Harriette and Ginger! The two chicks who were traumatised after being the sole survivors from a fox attack when they were two weeks old. They now live with my parents. What beautiful birds they have grown into! Harriette, or “Screamer” as we called her when she stayed with us is still very nervous, she wouldn’t come out her housing but is very bright and alert. Ginger is the softest, sweetest cockerel I’ve had the pleasure to meet. He let me pick him up out the side of the housing without a struggle or a sound and let me cuddle him and give him kisses. He’s so fluffy and harmless. He looks incredibly grumpy but I promise it’s just his face! He kept an eye on Harriette and made sure she was safe the whole time. I am so proud of them.

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I just had to post! So here’s another photo of Edwin from...

riverdarling — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 00:38:50 +0000

I just had to post! So here’s another photo of Edwin from this weekend. So ever since he was a baby (admittedly I just forgot to do it every now and then when he was still tiny and fuzzy and always wanted his mummy no matter what) I’ve been picking him up gently from underneath with the word “up”. He would then tuck his legs up onto my hand and stand up. The last few weeks I’ve been putting my hands open in front of him with the same command. He’s normally needed to be poked and prodded, but tonight… Tonight I went to where he was standing on top of his cage, put my hands down as a platform in front of him, calmly told him “up”… And on he steps, one foot, two foot, slowly and deliberately. I am so thrilled! I will probably start devising simple tricks for him to learn on a reward basis. Had to share!

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Edwin puffed up in the garden. We clipped his wings with help...

riverdarling — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 15:01:00 +0000

Edwin puffed up in the garden. We clipped his wings with help from a brilliant video on YouTube. He sat and watched it with us which we feel did calm him. You can see the beautiful green shine coming through on his head feathers :) We also now have a Facebook page!

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Edwin looks up at the sky. His head has darkened and flecks of...

riverdarling — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 09:06:33 +0000

Edwin looks up at the sky. His head has darkened and flecks of green is coming through. Also he no longer has a speckled tummy, it’s turned into a beautiful, smooth rusty colour. Under his tail (where he’s growing two curlies) he has a buzzy grey area only about an inch and a half wide.

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Edwin being cheeky stood on his cage on the 17th of December...

riverdarling — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 22:38:07 +0000

Edwin being cheeky stood on his cage on the 17th of December (that’s Oscar the rabbit’s cage in the background), I am in love with those bright little eyes! We had all concluded Edwin was a girl when their voice started to quieten until we heard a “quack”! We have a little boy! He still follows us all around the house and he comfortably talks to us in duck, a little of which I’ve picked up :)

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Firstly, apologies for the delay on updates and I hope all our...

riverdarling — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 22:34:00 +0000

Firstly, apologies for the delay on updates and I hope all our followers had a wonderful holiday and New Year! On the 3rd of December Alice came in and sat with us in the lounge in her nappy. She hadn’t worn one before but once it was on she didn’t mind it at all. Because she has trouble cleaning herself due to her eyesight and it’s very cold, we sometimes take her in for a lukewarm bath and let her dry herself indoors before she goes back out. This includes mealworms and lots of cuddles. This is a photo of her sat across her peopledaddy’s shoulders, she sat there whilst we watched TV and fell asleep whilst Edwin sat on his lap. She and Edwin get on very well but her greetings can sometimes alarm as she’s so much bigger!

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"Until one has loved an animal, a part of ones soul remains unawakened."

riverdarling — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 14:10:00 +0000

“Until one has loved an animal, a part of ones soul remains unawakened.”

- Anatole France (via riversgallery)

So Edwin hatched on September the 14th, in a week she will be...

riverdarling — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 13:11:47 +0000

So Edwin hatched on September the 14th, in a week she will be two months old. What a roller-coaster… Here’s a long blurb sharing my experiences :)

Having a single duckling increased her people-attachment and our need to be her companion in replacement of siblings. She still cries when she can’t see us but her voice is breaking so the high-pitched squeak has deepened to something less likely to annoy the neighbours, until she gets her adult quack and my partner will finally realise exactly what “Call Duck” means. Hopefully she will be more comfortable on her own as an adult. It can take between five to twenty minutes for her to quieten down again, and sometimes it’s heartbreaking. I’ve given in a couple of times and had her sleep next to me on a blanket but it’s no fun being woken up every half an hour due to being dabbled.

She loves being in the peoplehouse, unlike the big ducks she is calm when things are being moved around, or picked up, I tried to start this early, by emptying shopping bags on the kitchen floor for her to feel new objects of different colours and shapes. (Ducks seem to dislike bright colours, especially red, orange and yellow…) So instead of screaming and running away if something’s new, she’ll remain calm and figure it out.

She likes showers and baths. She especially likes showers with the people because she can stand on their feet and puff herself up (I only let her in once all the soap and shampoo has rinsed away). She’s bathed in the bath and the kitchen sink, which wasn’t a good idea as she likes to splash.

She goes outside when we’re outside with the big ducks and she follows me out to put them away at night when we go “slug hunting”, where she’s learnt if I dip the torch towards the ground I’m “spotlighting” a numnum. She’s also learnt that pointing means something good lies yonder finger.

She loves her peoplecuddles, she’ll sit on you all evening on her blanket but as she’s got older she’s started to tell us off more for tickling her whilst she’s trying to sleep. Noodling the back of her head where it’s still soft makes her go to sleep (I also love noodles), which was something we started early knowing there was no point in making her partial to, lets say, wing tickles which would then grow over with stiff feathers.

She can’t control her bowel movements like most birds so blankets and tissues from pound shops have been lifesavers. So. Much. Poo. We’re going to get her a nappy from The Gooses Mother & Father whose poultry nappies are just amazing. She can follow us around more freely then and we can be shouted at a little less when we’ve gone into another room. The stairs, we hope, she will conquer once her wings are more developed. She runs around flapping now she’s started to feel a little lift in them so fingers crossed!

She talks back every time we talk, she watches TV and me playing the Xbox, she follows us everywhere and she will dabble everything. Just putting my laundry in the washing machine this morning she was jumping at each item as I picked it up. There are two things I’m desperately trying to stop her doing, one is that I like my woolies when it’s cold, and she likes sitting there ripping the bobbles off, the second is that she likes to grab hold of my hair and swallow it so I have to pull it out all wet…

After these months we’ve picked up on her language, there’s a few bits and pieces we know already but we understand her. Ducks are very open, expressionate animals, she’ll let you know exactly how she feels if not vocally then from her body language.

Well, that’s how it’s been so far! The household dynamic will change once she gets her nappy, at the moment we get duck-respite and she gets to sleep in a rabbit cage that sits in the living room with us.

This is Edwin now! She’s nearly finished growing her adult...

riverdarling — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 12:15:00 +0000

This is Edwin now! She’s nearly finished growing her adult feathers through, her wings themselves and the spaces around them are the last places to develop. She still has baby fluff on the back of her head and a few bits on her back.

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So the bigger girls, Jemima and Lilly, standing on the edge of...

riverdarling — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:16:29 +0100

So the bigger girls, Jemima and Lilly, standing on the edge of the old pool and letting the water out (note the muddy bit beside the pool!) was getting silly. They were letting it out so quick within a couple of days the taller ducks were just walking across the bottom. Meet the new paddling pool! The fact we can actually see them diving underwater really is incredible in person :) Especially when we normally only see them swaggering around on land. Here’s bossy Bea showing off :)

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Edwin now weighs 311 grams! She’s got a full tummy of...

riverdarling — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 03:35:53 +0100

Edwin now weighs 311 grams! She’s got a full tummy of feathers, lots of adult tail feathers and her crop is starting to show some beautiful gingery colours as you can see here :) She’s also getting some dark “roots” around her beak so her head will probably be quite dark :)

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Edwin is shown the new paddling pool. She’s very...

riverdarling — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 02:04:33 +0100

Edwin is shown the new paddling pool. She’s very responsive to hand gestures.

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Oscar gets some tickles from the peopledaddy and Edwin hops onto...

riverdarling — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 23:48:33 +0100

Oscar gets some tickles from the peopledaddy and Edwin hops onto the step to say hello :) Oscar doesn’t mind, he sniffs her bum every now and then.

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Oscar spots a duckling. whatducksdo.tumblr.com

riverdarling — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 23:37:47 +0100

Oscar spots a duckling.

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Alice having a stretch this...

riverdarling — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 17:04:42 +0100

Alice having a stretch this afternoon…

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My beautiful big Jemima. She is the only one of the ducks who...

riverdarling — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 23:45:55 +0100

My beautiful big Jemima. She is the only one of the ducks who has not greeted Edwin. I think she is ignoring her and hoping she goes away…

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One more photo of Edwin for tonight because I forgot to make my...

riverdarling — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 23:03:36 +0100

One more photo of Edwin for tonight because I forgot to make my announcement! Edwin is definitely female :) Her voice is breaking on and off (her peopledaddy thought her peoplemummy was making it up for a while…) but we’re certain she’s a little lady especially with the colours of her new feathers that are coming through. She’s a bossypot, regardless!

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