The Ducklings; an Intro"duck"tion to Frank

 You might remember that a couple days after I quit my job last spring, I got two ducklings.  Over the summer, my son asked for ducks for his 17th birthday because he fell in love with mine.  He wanted a specific breed called Cayuga.  They are black and tend to have a green sheen to their feathers and that is his favorite color.  So what do you think sucker me did?  I bought the kid ducks.

Actually, I ordered 5 ducklings from a hatchery.  When they arrived, we got a call from the post office at 6 in the morning to go pick them up.  We got their and opened our very loud box. We were a little surprised by what we found...

Yeah, your eyes aren't deceiving you; there are more than just 5 ducklings in that box.

There were also 5 baby roosters.  Turns out, the company I ordered from, sends the roosters like packing peanuts to keep the ducklings warm.  I had read that on their site but had assumed that since it was almost July and they were shipping from Texas to Tennessee, extra warmth wouldn't be needed.  I WAS WRONG!  Oh well, I got on Facebook, found a local buy, sell, and trade group and found them a new home.  First crisis averted...

The next crisis came too soon after the first one was averted though.  The adorable little yellow and gray one on the far right (a female Blue Swedish) seemed lethargic all day and died by the next morning.  My son was heart broken.  Three days later, one of the black ones (one of the 2 Cayuga's we ordered) started to act lethargic and passed within 24 hours.  Despite my efforts to locate an avian vet in time to save it (we ordered a boy and a girl Cayuga, not sure which one that was), we could find no one that would help.  A week after we got the babies, the other Cayuga showed signs of the same illness and by this time it was painfully obvious that this baby wasn't growing at the same rate as the other two that were left.  My son and I scoured the internet, talked to duck rescuers in Facebook groups and finally found a vet in the next county over that agreed to see the baby after hours.  We took all three of the remaining ducklings in, just in case the other two needed to be treated.  The vet said it was obvious that they came from the hatchery sick because the sick one was half the size of the other two.  She gave us antibiotics and supplements to give the sick duckling.  In a week, he/she was better, but his legs were beginning to splay.   We took him back to the vet (who was surprised he had even survived) and she put splints on his legs and we worked with him for a few weeks trying to save his legs.  It was of no use.  They were permanently deformed.  The last two ducklings never got sick.  They are Runner ducks, a black one and a fawn and white one.  The little sick baby is now named Frank despite the fact that we don't really know what sex he is.  He lives in the house in a playpen during the day, and a padded clothes basket at night.  My son dotes on that sweet duck and plays with him constantly. 

 This is Frank during his recovery.  We had his legs in splint so he had to be wrapped in towels to keep him from trying to walk. 

This is the other two surviving ducklings when they were little.

This is what Franks legs look like.  He was only about 6 weeks old here.

This is the two healthy ducklings on their first day in the duck run outside.  They are happy and healthy.

This is Frank on his first day in his playpen. 

Busy...Busy...

I had no clue that I would stay even busier as a stay at home mom than I did when I was working.  Of course, as you know from previous posts, I got 6 chicks and 2 ducklings the weekend after my last day of work.  Since then, my oldest son got 2 chicks that are 11 weeks.  Four bunnies also arrived for Easter.  Unfortunately, three of them had apparently been weened too soon and developed diarrhea.  I contacted a friend of mine from school who is a bunny breeder and she told me what I could do for them.  We were giving them meds by mouth every night and the day we lost the first one, we started also giving them shots.  Unfortunately, none of the sick ones made it. We also started babysitting a puppy for a friend who has a very sick little boy that cannot afford to be around any extra germs right now while he is heeling from surgery.

For those of you who weren't paying attention...a recap...The residents at my home went from myself, my husband, 4 sons, 2 dogs, and a cat to all of those and 8 chickens, two ducks, 1 bunny, and a puppy.

I have also helped my dad and step-mom go through some storage units (they own the business and they had some unpaid units).  I scored clothes for my 21 year old step son, my husband, a friend's son, my cousin's baby girl, another friend's teen daughter, another friend's 3 young daughters, and a friend of mine's baby boy.  I also managed to get a new desk for the little ones' room, a metal baker's rack that I plan to use in our future greenhouse, 2 nice picture frames, plastic drawer set, unopened stockpiled toiletries, a few board games, books for the 7 year old, Christmas ornaments, fold out TV tables, several plastic storage totes, old game system and components, video games, CDs, and DVDs.  And, because my parents were able to get a new bedroom suite from the unit, they are giving us their old one! 

I mentioned the future greenhouse.  That is another score.  A friend delivered us 17 glass doors (formerly sliding glass doors) for $50.  Each are double paned, so when we take them apart, we will have 34 glass panels available to create a greenhouse.  I am not sure when we will have a chance to buy the other supplies and actually get it built.

I have been couponing and I hit up a local meat sale and stocked up the fridge.  I didn't have to grocery shop this weekend though because another wonderful friend of mine just started a very strict diet and gave me everything in her pantry and fridge that she could not eat instead of just throwing it all away.

Another activity I that has kept me busy is hunting for morel mushrooms.  I am sad to say, I have had absolutely no luck!  But, when walking with some friends of mine, I found a very old stacked rock home foundation and not far from it, my friend found a very old and very rusty plow that she was very happy to carry out of the woods.  Yesterday, when I went in some more woods with my 16 year old, we found two very large coral fossils and some wild miniature irises.  The ground was so soft, I was able to get some of the irises up by hand and I planted them temporarily in one of my raised garden beds.

It has been a busy few weeks but it has been a lot of fun and I have managed to get a lot of freebies!