Petunia & Sam (and Lily)
Petunia just looooves giving Sam a hard time. And he loves to give it right back to her. She stands and chirps at him menacingly while he tries to find a way through the fence to bite her.
Petunia chirped at Sam so long yesterday that she finally wore herself out.
So she sat down to conserve energy so she could continue to chirp at Sam. He also enjoyed this as he could reach under the chicken wire and poke her in the chest.
I think they secretly like each other, but just don’t want to admit it yet.
Sam and Lily are both still doing well and seem to be improving. Sam still has balance issues and rocks back on his feet a lot. Lily is just missing a ton of feathers, but otherwise seems good. She eats a ton of eggshells and oyster shell to regain some nutrition, in addition to her duck food and treats.
Sam will go back to the vet in a couple of weeks to make sure he’s gaining weight and make sure his infection is gone.
Lily doesn’t have to go back soon, she just has to regrow those feathers and continue to gain weight.
Lily is a super sweet girl and likes to sit on my lap. She comes when I call her and both of them are really good now at going into their pen when I ask them to. We’re happy to have them here, and hope they continue to improve.
21 Comments
awwwwwwwww. this makes me happy!
They are looking so much better! That Lily is a doll! How are the neighbors feeling about things?
I think she’s only noisy when I’m out there with her in the mornings and evenings. She’s not too bad. My other ducks are just nearly silent. I haven’t heard anything so I think all is well.
Lily is a beauty! Are Flapper and O’Malley still wary of the new arrivals? I bet O’Malley is just crabby that there is another man flirting with his girl.
Good report! Thank you:-) I see they have been doing well in your absence!
I think they are out of the danger zone (are you listening O’Malley?;-) and I hope they will fatten up and Lily grows back all her pretty featherettes.
Beautiful pictures of two (er three) beautiful duckies!
I see true happiness in Sam & Lily’s eyes…I wish them the best of luck.
That’s so cute!
By the way, what kind of ducks are Sam and Lily? They look mallard-y. But maybe too big to be 100% mallard? Maybe?
God Bless You and all your family!
Meg: Someone else asked this same question a few days ago so I’ll repost that response plus a bit more…
All ducks, except for muscovies, are descended from mallards. But these ducks were bred long ago to be domestic. These are silver appleyard domestic ducks, a breed started in the 1930s in Britian. There are many domestic breeds of ducks that have the green heads like this guy. Here is a wild mallard drake for comparison:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tifotter/2061301196/
The average weight of a male mallard is 2.65lbs. Flapper is a domestic pekin and he weighs 7lbs. O’Malley is a domestic muscovy and he weighs 13.5lbs. This rescued silver appleyard boy duck, if he were a proper weight, would be about 8-9.5lbs. That’s three-times the size of a male mallard.
Mallards are small, compact, thin ducks built to fly. Domestic ducks are bred by humans over the years for meat and eggs, or for show. Most cannot fly (some muscovies and call ducks can fly, but large domestic breeds cannot). There are mallard-like domestic ducks called rouen ducks, which look very, very similar to mallards, but are just larger. There are also captive-bred mallard ducks you can buy, but you need to keep the receipt because it’s illegal to have a mallard in your possession if you cannot prove it was captive-bred.
So almost all ducks are originally descended from mallards, but these rescues here do not have mallard parents. They’re long domesticated through generations and generations of breeding. Incidentally, the guy who originally created this breed wanted to create “the perfect duck.”
Sorry to make you repost that, I must have missed it. But, wow! Good information! They are missing so many feathers and I haven’t seen a proper mallard in a long time, so now that I see your very cute mallard photos, I see what you mean. I was thinking green head and the blueish feathers on the ends of the wings. They will be quite handsome once they have all of their feathers back.
Thanks, silly human!
they look happy
How much does Sam weigh now? What should his weight been when he back to a good weight?
Alyson: I’m not sure what Sam weighs now. I didn’t write it down when we were at the vet. But he should weigh about 8.5-9lbs when he is at full weight. See how his lower back puffs up in the photo where he’s sitting down? That is because his chest muscles and the rest of him are too thin. His lower back shouldn’t be the highest part on him. It’s pretty weird. He’s very very thin. Here’s a photo of healthy silver appleyard ducks for comparison:
http://www.geocities.com/markspoultry/silverAppleyardsMP.JPG
He should look chubby like these ducks. I don’t let ducks get quite that chubby because they can end up with leg issues. But this breed is a heavy breed, and that is “normal.”
Missy feathers is like a very bad hair cut – it will always grow back out. LOL
I meant to say “missing feathers……”
Petunia and Sam are quite the flirts! How sweet.
They’re looking terrific, thanks to your great care. As for Silver Appleyards, well, we have one too, and yes, we think she’s pretty much ‘perfect”.
I’m so happy to hear that they’re on the mend. I suspect that Too likes Sam but she’s putting him through his paces so that he’ll get better more quickly. She likes her men to be strong and fit.
O’Malley is bigger than Flapper?? Flapper looks so huge in all the pictures!
Jenn: O’Malley is nearly twice the size of Flapper. Flapper weighs 7lbs and O’Malley weighs 13.5lbs, plus he has big talons and a bitey beak.
its heartwarming seeing those 2 faring so well after their days of beings so sick. good work tiff!