The Duck Thread

[JadeComputerGal]

Lol. Do you still wear the earplugs?

Umm, yeah, sometimes I do when I see an earwig. I never see many anymore. Maybe I scared them all off!

 

[Julie Birb]

Yep, my grandmother reared me and she and I watched Night Gallery, Twilight Zone, all that stuff every week. Horror shows back then were much less gory and much more scary than they are now, and I still very vividly remember some of the episodes. Do you happen to remember the one about serving man?

I can't call you a wuss. My first real-life experience with an earwig was when I was 32 and moved to where I am now. We didn't have them in KY. My hubby and I were on the back deck and something crawled on my arm, then I looked down and flicked it off and said, "Ugly bug. Do you know what that is?" There were several others crawling around on the deck. The hubby said, "Yeah, it's an earwig." I started screaming, and I mean bloodcurdling screams. They probably heard me in the next neighborhood. It didn't help when he said, "It's nothing to worry about. They're all over in this area." More screaming. I ran in the house and put earplugs and huddled in the bed. I told him I wasn't coming back out until all the earwigs were gone.

That is hilarious, Gina. Funny. The screaming.

 

[season1223]

Y'all have me crackin up! I don't guess ive ever seen an earwig! Lol! Hope i never do now! My ear is suddenly itching tho! Hahaha! My chicken recently got eaten up by flies/maggots! I spent 4 days with her in my tub and me picking maggots out of her! I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy...well maybe! It was awful! I had nightmares every night and everything i saw looked like a maggot! She spent almost a month indoors while her wounds healed because i was afraid they would get bk on her! She's all better now! Thank god she survived...that was alot of work & i love that dirty girl!

 

[napdognewfie]

Will someone check out the question on Pekin Duck Club please?

Ducks foot needs an opinion.

 

[Lynn Manes]

Lol. Do you still wear the earplugs?

Umm, yeah, sometimes I do when I see an earwig. I never see many anymore. Maybe I scared them all off!

We have them here too. And I swear they get bigger every year. I've never really worried about them for myself but for my dogs bc they are so tiny and so close to the ground. And they have long flowing coats, so it's easier for the darned bugs to crawl on them(Yorkies and Maltese). But this is just another reason I stopped putting the dogs outside. As far as ducks eating flies, well mine sure don't. Actually they are drawing them. We have the most trouble with flies around the duck pen than anywhere else.I read here all the wonderful stories about members' ducks and how much they truly enjoy them. But I am afraid I do not find the same satisfaction with mine and do not wish to ever have more. To me they are dirty and stinky, and we can't keep the pen from being anything but a mud pit. Had I known this, I wouldn't have had any ducks at all. Mine are not able to free range, so they are confined to their pen 24/7. They seem quite content and are healthy. I'm hoping once we build their permanent pen, they will be less messy. Oh, they aren't human friendly either and kind of go nuts when you step inside their domain. Why do I keep them? Bc I do not believe in throwing animals away once I've made the choice to have them and care for them. So we put up with the mud and try to eradicate the flies as best we can.

 

[napdognewfie]

Mine catch the flies out of the air. Maybe swat a few for them to taste so they get the idea.

You can tame them by being calm and moving very slowly around them. Sit in the pen and let them get used to you. There are lists of favorite treats you can try.

As for the wet mess, you can find lots of info on how to have a cleaner pen. Maybe concrete or patio pavers you can host off. No mud.

If you really aren't enjoying them, you could consider rehoming them.

 

[Lynn Manes]

Here in CA, there are alot of redtail hawks mostly in the surrounding mountains. We live in a regular neighborhood at the edge of farmland and orchards, and my backyard area is 1/3 acre not counting my side area where we keep our rabbits, chickens but he must have traveled on thankfully. My dogs are very tiny-2-4 lbs. I rarely let them out anymore after my male maltese got fly strike really bad on his bum last year. Flies have become really bad in this city over the past 3 years. Now it scares me to put the dogs outside, so I gave their pen to my male goose. I'm so sorry about the losses to you both of your doxies. That would devastate me to lose one especially like that. I've been wanting to move to NC where I can have acreage, but then I think about predators that we are safe from here, along with mosquitoes which are scary bc of West Nile virus, so not certain I now want to move east of the Mississippi. Aargh! Decisions, Decisions

If you move to the mountains of Western NC you won't have mosquitoes  especially if you have ducks.

We would like to be in Central NC. I don't think we will live in the mountains there, but more in the hills in a country setting. That is, unless we find a really outstanding and affordable place, as we do love the mountains and want to live in a log home.My home here is sided with the log siding, so a real log home is my dream.
We don't have mosquitoes here, thank God. We are in a large valley surrounded by mountains and the city was carved out of desert. When I moved here in 1981, there were literally no flying insects here. It was wonderful. That's why the flies are so bothersome to me now. And when we do go where there are mosquitoes, it is scary to me, bc bugs seem to gravitate to me; and I definitely do not like bugs of any kind

 

[Lynn Manes]

Mine catch the flies out of the air. Maybe swat a few for them to taste so they get the idea.

You can tame them by being calm and moving very slowly around them. Sit in the pen and let them get used to you. There are lists of favorite treats you can try.

As for the wet mess, you can find lots of info on how to have a cleaner pen. Maybe concrete or patio pavers you can host off. No mud.

If you really aren't enjoying them, you could consider rehoming them.

Thank you for your advice. We might try the pavers once we put up the permanent pen. I then will try to sit with them & feed them treats in hopes of taming them. And I will do as you have suggested and offer them some dead flies. I'll do anything to help them. I really don't want to rehome them but to enjoy them like everyone else here.

 

[jtn42248]

We have them here too. And I swear they get bigger every year. I've never really worried about them for myself but for my dogs bc they are so tiny and so close to the ground. And they have long flowing coats, so it's easier for the darned bugs to crawl on them(Yorkies and Maltese). But this is just another reason I stopped putting the dogs outside. As far as ducks eating flies, well mine sure don't. Actually they are drawing them. We have the most trouble with flies around the duck pen than anywhere else.I read here all the wonderful stories about members' ducks and how much they truly enjoy them. But I am afraid I do not find the same satisfaction with mine and do not wish to ever have more. To me they are dirty and stinky, and we can't keep the pen from being anything but a mud pit. Had I known this, I wouldn't have had any ducks at all. Mine are not able to free range, so they are confined to their pen 24/7. They seem quite content and are healthy. I'm hoping once we build their permanent pen, they will be less messy. Oh, they aren't human friendly either and kind of go nuts when you step inside their domain. Why do I keep them? Bc I do not believe in throwing animals away once I've made the choice to have them and care for them. So we put up with the mud and try to eradicate the flies as best we can.

More space does not equal less mess only more space to make of mess of.

 

[duckies1230]

Will someone check out the question on Pekin Duck Club please?

Ducks foot needs an opinion.

Please look! I'm still not sure what to do!!!! Lily's foot is bad!