Mr Flapper Duck

Bath Time for Goobers

bath flap
Flapper had a bath first tonight. He really enjoys bath time, but not like he used to. He can no longer oil his feathers well, so he only takes short baths a few times a week. Overall he is doing really well.

lessie
Then it was time for Lester Leroy to have a bath. He is kind of in the same boat as Flapper. Not great at oiling his feathers, but he enjoys splashing around for a bit and cleaning his eyes and nares. He is doing pretty good, too.

new
Then it was Reggie & Benson’s turn in the tub.

reg
They did well for a bit, but then as you can see in the video below, Reggie got a little too excited. (They both have to use the bath last, since they currently have parasites, so the water was a little dirty by then.)

Reggie grabbed Benson on the back of the head, which is the first step in a mating ritual. We’ll have none of that in the indoor pond, boys!

benson
So Reggie went back to his playpen and Benson finished bath time alone, which was just fine with him.

Benson (the one with the bum leg) enjoyed a good splash and then joined his buddy Reggie back in the playpen. Even though they both rinsed off, they still smell like lake water. Blech.

We heard a little more about them from the woman who arranged for their rescue. She said they showed up at the lake on February 14th, Valentine’s Day. Benson, Reggie and a third duck just appeared out of nowhere, which means they were dumped. Then within a week one of the ducks was gone and Benson’s leg was deteriorating. Then the weather turned really cold, snow fell, and they both ended up sick. We picked them up on February 26th. Hopefully now that they’re on medication they can improve and recover. Special thanks to EVERYONE who contributed so generously to their veterinary bills by donating to the rescue fund. Originally we thought their first vet bill was almost $700, but it turned out to be a computer error, and we were credited $300 on Monday. So their current bills are completely paid for with your donations, and the remaining balance will cover their continued antibiotic treatments and their re-checks at the vet. We reset the fundraising thermometer limit from $900 down to $600 because that’s all we think we’ll need. And we’re already above $500!

Your donations have made a direct impact on the lives of these two boys, so again, thank you.

It was a beautiful night in the Seattle area, and we hope you had a great night too.

Now off to clean the tub.

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February 28, 2011|Lester Leroy, Mr Flapper, Rescues|6 Comments

Introducing Benson & Reggie

benson reggie
Introducing Benson and Reggie. That is what the new guys have decided they would like to be called. Benson will also respond to Benny, but not until he is feeling better. Right now he is all business while his leg heals.

In other news, we think we were accidentally over-charged at the vet on Saturday, by about $270. We’ll know for sure tomorrow. Meanwhile we’ve adjusted the fundraising meter on our rescue fund page, and we’re nearly half way to having the new boy’s vet bills paid for, likely through the duration of their care.

A very special thank you to everyone who has donated so far. Every little bit helps Benson & Reggie fight their infections, kill off their parasites and start feeling better.

So thank you, very much, from me and Benson & Reggie.

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February 27, 2011|Rescues|6 Comments

Muscovy Boys

On Saturday at 12noon we picked up the two muscovy drakes who were dumped at Lake Geneva in Federal Way, WA. Two neighbors around that lake had cared for them as best they could, even buying them the right kind of food. One even gave us a generous donation for their care (thank you, Misty!)

settled
The two boys settled right in and had some food and water.

Here they are eating and drinking before we drove them to the vet.

The healthier boy is very, very attached to his brother who has the injured leg, and he watched over him while the veterinarian did the exam.

pepper
The one with the darker head is the one with the injured leg. It doesn’t look like he was attacked, but rather, he has septic arthritis in his leg from a foot wound that probably started from being kept on concrete or other poor surfaces. Duck feet are very sensitive and prone to pressure sores, and these two both have sores on their feet. The septic arthritis means the foot infection spread to the joints and now it is serious. He also has a bit of angel wing, where the bone turns out a bit from the weight of the feathers, but the vet couldn’t find any bite wounds or bruising injuries.

adore
You can see how much the white-headed boy adores his brother. We heard that the dark-headed duck was staying under a boat for protection, and the light-headed brother never left his side. We’re not sure how long they were at the lake before we were able to rescue them, but a third muscovy that was dumped with them was killed by a predator (likely) and these two would not have lasted much longer.

two
Both of these goobers have slight respiratory infections and parasites as well. Round worm and coccidia I think. So they both have antibiotics and two different anti-parasitic medications, as well as pain medication for the boy with the bum leg.

It is really beyond me how anyone could dump these ducks like trash at a lake and think they could survive on their own. Domestic ducks cannot survive in the wild, and dumping them causes terrible suffering. It is animal cruelty, plain and simple. And these boys are only between 5-6 months old… just little boys. People tend to dump male ducks because they don’t lay eggs and too many males fight with each other and can hurt hens. Dumping is illegal and as I mentioned, cruel.

Thankfully the nice people who were caring for these guys kept calling around until they found a nut like me to come and pick them up. I think they will stay here with us until the dark-headed duck’s bum leg infection is cleared up, and then they’ll go to the same sanctuary that is taking in George. Hopefully we can move them outside once George is gone, and then maybe when they finally leave, it’ll be warm-enough for Lester Leroy and Flapper to move outside.

As you can see, I am already dreaming of the day I don’t have waterfowl inside my house.

Until that day, these kids are more than welcome to rest and rehabilitate along with the entire motley crew. We are accepting donations for their care, and you can learn more by visiting our rescue fund page, here.

Stay tuned.

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February 26, 2011|Rescues|12 Comments

Surveil the Madness

olly
Tonight, Olly Astro hung out in the bedroom with the whole crew for a while.

well
She is doing really well post-surgery, and getting pretty bored in her kennel.

hanging
Hanging out in the bedroom was a nice change of pace, and she enjoyed exploring the room.

settle
Then she finally settled down in the very corner of the bed, and declared that her “nest.”

Let’s recap the current in-the-house situation, shall we?

simon
Simon is taking the madness in stride, as long as he can perch right on top of me, a safe distance from any feathered family.

work
In other news, I work in a short building between two tall buildings. Right now the two tall buildings are having a post-it war of sorts. On Monday, I plan to join in with a colorful display of Space Invaders.

Lastly, we’re rescuing two muscovy ducks on Saturday, if all goes well. There were three muscovies dumped at a park and one has already been killed by a predator. Another is injured but both are apparently friendly and hopefully easy to catch. So we’ll have some new kids around here for a bit, if we can catch them.

That should add a little more fun to the madness here, don’t you think?

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February 25, 2011|Fuzzy Indoor Ducks, Rescues|7 Comments

What’s Up? Chicken Butt!

olly
Olly Astro is doing really well tonight. She is eating and drinking and talking like a champ.

Here’s a little video of Olly tonight just before bed time. You can see her little chicken butt is naked, but I haven’t looked close enough to see the surgery staples. She has been really good about letting me gingerly pick her up and give her shots for her antibiotics and pain/anti-inflammatories. And she’s so LIGHT now! I can’t believe how light she is. In the video, when she sees herself in the video she tells herself to “go away, chicken!” That growl is a complaint about having another strange chicken around. Pretty funny that even when she’s not feeling her best, she still makes time to tell the “stranger chicken” in the video to go away.

That’s our update for tonight. Time to get Lester Leroy and Flapper in the bath.

OH! We have a date to deliver George to his forever sanctuary now. George will travel to his forever home on Saturday, March 12th. They even agreed to let him bring his girlfriend, “Ms. Atra Turf,” along with him. Hee hee. He’s going to be so happy there. I just know it. I can’t wait until he is back with other geese. Nothing against Ms. Astra Turf, but I hope he meets a nice goose girl and settles down. Or maybe just a great wingman to enjoy the bachelor’s life together.

Stay tuned.

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February 23, 2011|Olly Astro, Rescues|4 Comments

This is Completely Gross

This is completely gross.

You have been warned.

Seriously, you should stop reading now and go look at kittens or rainbows if you don’t want to see the grossest thing ever.

It will make you lose your breakfast, and you will never want to eat eggs again.

This is your last warning.

Okay here we go with the grossness.

I warned you.

Seriously.

I’m not joking.

Okay here we go…

As you know, Olly Astro had a big operation today. It turned out to be very, very serious, and she still has a few days before we’ll really know if she’ll be okay. She is in a lot of pain tonight.

a lot
Olly Astro had an operation today to clean out the stuck yolks in her oviduct. It turns out that she had a whole TON of stuck, partially-formed eggs inside her.

stuck
Look how gross! All of those are egg yolks and some egg whites and some partially formed egg shells. The surgeon thinks that the very last egg Olly laid last season, which was probably in October, was mal-formed. This can happen at the beginning or end of any egg-laying cycle for chickens. As they start laying eggs or taper off, their eggs can be oddly formed. So Olly’s last egg of last season got stuck in her oviduct and never came out. Then she was okay all winter because she wasn’t laying eggs anyway (chickens lay less eggs in winter than they do in summer). But in the past few weeks, as she started to lay eggs again, they couldn’t get out!

stuck
All of her eggs got stuck behind that last season mal-formed egg, and built up inside her. There were at least TWENTY YOLKS, so this has been going on for at least three weeks.

Poor Olly Astro!

As her belly grew, I knew she should be laying eggs soon, and then when she didn’t, I knew something was wrong. But I had NO IDEA it was anything like this! She must have been so uncomfortable. Plus she just had a respiratory infection, too!

still
And she is STILL uncomfortable, but hopefully she is on the mend. Her weight before the operation was 2.12kg or 4.67lbs, and after surgery, she now weighs 1.48kg or 3.26lbs. One-fourth of her total weight was STUCK EGG YOLKS!

Yuck.

She is inside for about five days, especially since the weather is so cold. She did have a drink of water and pooped in her carrier on the way home. But other than that, she is very quiet and I’m sure she is really sore. She’s not speaking to me. At all. Hopefully tomorrow she will start feeling a little better. I am sure she is BREATHING better without all those stuck eggs pushing on her air sacs.

Now… we don’t eat eggs anymore around here, because they gross us out. We’re vegan. But you… you just try and enjoy that next Denver omelet or egg scramble.

Mmmmm. Bon appetit!

Oh! In other news, Lester did really well at the vet and will do one more round of antibiotics to make sure his bone infection is gone. They were impressed that he is able to stand up and get around, and he is very happy to be back home with his buddy Flapper.

Please send good thoughts for Olly Astro. She really needs them as she recovers from such a serious surgery.

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February 22, 2011|Lester Leroy, Olly Astro|21 Comments

Flapper Fun

splash
Flapper had some fun today, playing outside in the pool and splashing Petunia. George has decided the pool is HIS now, and he protects his AstroTurf, so he followed Flapper into the pool. Luckily he is a good goose, but Flapper was not about to share. So I had to kick George out until Flapper was done. Flapper is just about to start his 3rd month of heart medicine, and he seems to be feeling good. He definitely tires easily, but he is happy and stable and sweet as ever.

Flapper had a good time splashing, and then Lester Leroy came out for a quick swim as well.

Then George had his pool back, and spent some quality time with his AstroTurf.

On Tuesday, our chickie Olly Astro will have surgery. Also, Lester Leroy will go to the vet as well, for a recheck on his bone infection. Please send good thoughts for Olly. We hope the surgery goes smoothly. Fingers crossed!

Quacks and clucks,

Tiff, Flap & the flock

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February 21, 2011|Mr Flapper, Petunia Peach, Rescues|4 Comments

Sunny Sunday at Chez Flapper

olly
It was a busy weekend here at Flapper’s house. Poor Olly Astro, who just got over another respiratory infection, now has yolk coelomytosis. That is the same illness that killed Phoebe Kay years ago. Luckily I think we caught Olly’s illness sooner, and she was on antibiotics for the respiratory infection, so hopefully she will have a better recovery. She will have surgery on Tuesday. Yolk coelomytosis is a common problem in egg-laying hens and ducks. It is an infection that causes egg yolks to form without shells, and to build up inside along with fluid. I hope she does well on Tuesday. She sure deserves to be healthy and happy for awhile after her rough start in life. NOTE: Her care is paid for, so no donations are needed.

lessie
Speaking of rough starts, Lester Leroy came outside with Flapper today to hang out in the aviary and swim in the baby pool.

turns
They took turns in the pool and ate some lettuces while soaking up the sunshine.

hairdo
Lester allowed me to take a few photos of his amazing hairdo. Lester is a crested cayuga domestic duck. His crest is not very big, but it is pretty cute.

crest
Isn’t it fancy? It even blows in the wind.

george
I think George has a little bit of hairdo envy.

news
In other news, we found a new place in Seattle that sells good quality chicken feed and supplies. Portage Bay Grange. They also sell duck and rabbit food, and are looking into getting us Mazuri food.

chicks
We heard about them at the vet’s office and went to take a look. While we don’t really like to see any place selling baby chicks, they are doing it as responsibly as it can be done. For people who are going to eat eggs, this is a better way to get them than from a factory farm. The bad part is that 1/2 of these little chicks are likely male, and there isn’t any use for roosters on an urban farm. Roosters are even illegal in Seattle. Next time you eat eggs, ask yourself “what happened to the baby boy chicks?”

Still, they’re awfully cute little babies. Adorable even. The ones with the puffy heads are silkies, like our rescued fluffy muppet Racquel L’Oreal who passed away last June.

simon
It was a beautiful Sunday in Seattle, and we enjoyed it to the fullest.

Hope it was a beautiful day where you are, too.

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February 20, 2011|Lester Leroy, Mr Flapper, Rescues|4 Comments

Humane Lobby Day

capitol
Today I took a day off of work and traveled to Olympia, WA to meet my legislators and talk to them about the opportunities they have to help reduce the suffering of animals in our state. There are various bills to talk about, and I wanted to make sure they knew that while animals can’t vote, I sure can, and I speak loud and often for the hens, dogs, cats and other furry & feathered friends who share this land with us and count on our responsible, compassionate stewardship.

office
In case you wonder where your tax dollars go, rest assured, they’re not being wasted on fancy office space for our Representatives and Senators in Olympia.

frockt
Here’s Representative Frockt talking to some 4th graders about the legislative process. He took time out of his busy schedule to listen to me talk about HB1813, which is a sham bill that egg producers introduced to keep hens locked in battery cages with less than 67-square-inches of space to live in for their entire lives. That’s less space than a sheet of paper, and it doesn’t allow them to stand up, turn around or flap their wings… ever… for their entire lives of suffering. I hope my representatives, Frockt and Kenney, vote NO! on HB 1813.

senate
Then it was off to the Senate side to meet with Senator Scott White, who was running late because he was entertaining those same 4th graders from earlier in the day. Senator White is a loyal advocate for the animals, and knew almost all we had to say before we even spoke. So we had fun talking about his campaign instead, and how I’d wave to him standing on the corner of Lake City Way & 80th Ave NE every evening on my way home from work. Special thanks to John in his office for squeezing in our time with the Senator, even when he was running behind schedule. We hope we can count on Senator White to vote NO! on SB 5487.

great
It was a great day in Olympia, and I was happy to be a part of Humane Lobby Day for the animals.

home
After a bit of a drive back to Seattle, I was home before 5pm, and spent a little quality time with George in the yard.

Then something really special happened.

lester
I brought Flapper and Lester Leroy outside for a little sunshine, and Lester STOOD UP for the first time!

As you remember, Lester has not walked since he arrived here, after being bitten by a dog and suffering from parasites and osteomylitis from not being treated promptly (bone marrow infection). But after twice-daily physical therapy, he is finally sitting better and amazingly, able to stand up! Yay for Lester!