Archive for the ‘General’ Category

The Weather is Affecting My Ducks

Saturday, September 13th, 2008

The weather is changing and so are my ducks.  Up in Minnesota our days are getting shorter and the nights are getting longer.  Our nightime temps are dropping into the forties and the daytime highs are in the high sixties low seventies.  The wild mallards and Canadian geese are getting ready to migrate; flying back and forth between to local lakes; right over my house (and my ducks).  And our ducks are changing!

I’ve noticed a few things lately.  My ducks (4 mallards; 2 hens and 2 drakes) are a lot more aggressive.  The boys are nipping at the girls and the girls are fighting back.  My kids have nicknamed one of the hens “The Cranky Lady”.  She is always running around the yard making a huge racket with her head down.  She is so loud!

The ducks seem very interested in the local mallards (not so much the geese) flying over our home.  A few time they have even gotten agitated and flown over our fence into the neighbors yard.  So far they have come back but what about next time.

I have noticed however, that the two males (e.g., Jumper and Big Boy) have become more friendly when being handled.  They’ll let me and the kids handle them and they remain very calm.  This has been a bonus as the kids love to hold and pet them. 

Make sure to check out the gallery at www.mypetducks.com/gallery to see the newest pictures.

See you next time, Dave

Do You Have Fear of Ducks ? ORINTHOPHOBIA

Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008

I have noticed lots of folks who are scared of big Canadian geese.  Me too, those geese hiss loud, look tough and are huge!  But, I’ve also noticed folks who are scared of ducks.  When my mallards chew on me it’s their way to show affection (I think anyway).  And, even if they do peck it’s not hard.  So, I did a little checking and there is a fear of ducks.  It’s called Orinthophobia.

Orinthophobia in general is the fear of birds, but in particular it can be a fear of ducks. Some of the symptoms include: shortness of breath, rapid breathing, irregular heart beat, nausea, feeling of dread, and even vomiting.  Therapies are the same as those of most phobias and can take months to make improvements.

Do you know anyone who is scared of ducks?  Are you?  Let us know!

Daily Doings 08/20/2008

Wednesday, August 20th, 2008

The big escape!  While I was out running errands the boys decided to do a little flying.   Jumper (the best flier) flew off in one direction while the Twins flew into my other neighbors yard (he has a big underground swimming pool).  Well, the neighbors are on vacation and the pool was covered, so, the Twins were dissappointed .  Jumper on the other hand, decided it was time to come back home but wasn’t smart enough to fly back over the fence.  He just walked up to the gate and began squacking!

As I was not home (the story comes to me via my 10 year old son) some of the neighbor kids came over and got my son Craig.  They let Jumper in the gate (easy) and tried to corral the Twins (hard).  The Twins are a bit hyper and do not like to be handled.  Finally, Megan (one of the neighbors on  a mission to rescue the boys) got the Twins cornered.  She grabbed them one at a time a set them over the fence.  Case closed.

See you next time, Dave