I came across your blog and in particular your post entitled F#$% You, Raccoons! while googling for information about crows that act like ducks. I wanted to see if anyone else had noticed this type of behavior. Anyhow, the reason I’m writing is that we have ducks and we have had raccoon problems too though they have been most interested in our chickens, and I can really relate especially to the title of your post! Raccoons are F*&%#ing pests! So I thought while I was here at your blog I’d drop you a line and let you know that by adding geese, male geese especially, to our flock of ducks we have completely alleviated our raccoon problem. Haven’t seen one of the little buggers in nearly a year! I have our whole raccoon saga posted on my blog here http://johnnysgarden.wordpress.com/category/racoons/ in case you have an interest. Hope that information is of some value to you.

And since I’m here, have you happened to notice crows intermingling with your ducks and imitating their behavior in order to be able to eat their food?

A competitor for Malley’s affections? And a gorgeous one at that? I can’t see Toonie liking this at all. I can just hear her now: “You best step off, b—, and take your hands off my man. I will cut you” (translated from the Muscovese).

Most pond ducks have tapeworm. They are not harmful unless the duck has an overload or ill with something else. Luckily, they are very easy to treat – just the two spaced out doses of tapewormer. And I’m told that they shed all the worms in the 24 hours after the first dose and then any eggs hatch just prior to the second dose and those are shed in the 24 hours after that dose. So they aren’t shedding constantly during the 2 weeks between doses which is good.

So sorry about Benson’s bum leg. I’ve dealt with those too often, poor duckies. He’s such a good looking guy.