Good Visitor

stranger danger
“Duck lady Marlys visited us today, all the way from Oklahoma. While I am a little afraid of strangers sometimes, I did let her hold me and I also let her feed me some Cheerios.”

nice
“She even brought us some lettuce treats, which I think I will have for breakfast.”

beak
“Chewy is normally pretty shy, but he let Marlys hold him and pet his beak. Then he ate some peas from her (he doesn’t like Cheerios like I do).”

That’s right, Flapper. We spent a nice evening with our friend Marlys who was in town for a conference. You may remember her from a previous blog post where we did a long-distance caruncle reading for her muscovy Max. Here is a link to that post:

http://mrflapper.com/blog/2008/09/02/maxs-caruncle-reading/

Special thanks to Marlys for bringing great treats (for the ducks AND for the human). It was great to finally meet you in person and share stories. Come on back any time!

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October 10, 2009|Good Eggs|5 Comments

Wesley the Owl

Do you know about Wesley the Owl?

We highly recommend the book “Wesley the Owl” by Stacey O’Brien. It’s one of our all-time favorites.

wesley

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September 15, 2009|Good Eggs|8 Comments

Apologies, Mr. President

Flapper issues a formal apology after interrupting President Obama’s press conference.

Sorry, Sir. It won’t happen again.

Thanks to Lori for sharing the link.

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June 29, 2009|Good Eggs, Mr Flapper|8 Comments

Breakfast with Undisclosed Condiments

facon
Today for breakfast we made facon (fake bacon) and biscuits. We wanted to try this special honey, sent to us by Flapper Fan Toni.

see
As you can see, the honey is “top secret.”

toni
Toni runs a blog called City Bees. If you click the link, you’ll see when it comes to bees, she’s pretty well connected.

She used to keep her urban beekeeping pretty quiet. But now that the White House has raised the profile of area beekeepers, she was even featured in an article in the Washington Post.

“The Perfect Pursuit In This Urban Hive”

Thanks to Toni for the super-tasty honey. It made for a great breakfast this morning!

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June 27, 2009|Good Eggs, Silly Human|Post Comment »

A Treat for Me

bought
I bought myself a little treat this week.

let's see what's inside
Let’s see what’s inside!

goose
It’s a handmade goose necklace. I love it.

will
Will you try it on for me, Meelee?
“Sure. Anything as long as you stop giving me pills.”

no
No promises on the pills, Meelee. But you look great! I’m going to try it on Flapper though, since he is my regular jewelry model.

how
“How do I look?”

oh
Oh, Flapper. You’re so handsome! Super cute, buster.

thought
“I thought so. Thanks, Mom.”

Christy Robinson has many other beautiful animal-friendly jewelry designs. You can find her work on her website at http://www.christyrobinsondesigns.com.

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June 24, 2009|Fuzzy Indoor Ducks, Good Eggs|9 Comments

Sing A Song

Petunia? Would you sing a song for me?
yes
“Yes! I would be happy to sing a song for you.”

la la
“La, la la la… la la… la la laaaaaaaaa!”

Wow! Petunia that was a beautiful song!

We’re going to dedicate your song to our friend Spirit in the Netherlands.
spirit
She was feeling under the weather, but we hear she is feeling better now.

Spirit? These flowers are for you, sweet girl. We’re so happy you’re doing better.
flowers

XOXOX

Tiff, Petunia and the flock

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June 3, 2009|Good Eggs, Petunia Peach|5 Comments

New Friends at the New Home

boat
This morning we boarded a ferry for Whidbey Island to transport Sam & Lily to their new forever home.

ferry
After a quick ride…

whidbey
…we arrived on the island.

not
Their forever home isn’t far from the ferry terminal… about ten miles or so. We drew up some simple background information and instructions for Sam & Lily, so their new humans would know all about them. We also took Lily’s nest with us so she can settle in tonight. Sam goes wherever Lily goes, so that’ll be a comfort to him, too.

lily
Lily started off by looking for bugs.

sam
Sam surveyed the pool and inspected the perimeter to take a count of all animals in the vicinity (he’s a pretty serious duck). Once he had the lay of the land, he started making friends.

new
Their new home has a silver appleyard girl duck just like them. Here you can see Sam checking her out. Her name is Clay. That’s Lily’s butt up close on the right. Clay clearly has Sam’s attention though.

distract
With Lily distracted by some corn treats, Sam could make his move on Clay. Check out the teenager duck on the right as well. That’s Clay’s kid. We think she’s a girl. She was hatched and raised by a chicken, and is just now learning to be a duck.

chuck
I think her name is Chuck (chicken and duck).

In addition to Clay and Chuck, there are some chickens and some new additions to the feathered family.

you
“You’re a funny looking duck.”
“I’m a turkey.”
“Oh.”

I’ve vowed to return to visit that cute turkey when s/he grows up, and to check in on Sam & Lily too. Their new home also includes a few cats and dogs, and two humans who are both high school teachers.

hug
After a goodbye hug from Lily, I was on my way. In this photo you can see the string system above the entire yard that keeps the ducks safe from eagles and hawks. They’ll also have a predator-proof night pen. It’s a good set-up and we’re happy that Lily & Sam have a big family including some silver appleyards just like them.

Their new home has promised to send updates and photos in the future so we can keep track of how they’re doing. I feel really good about their new home and know they’ll do well there. It always makes it easier to say goodbye when you find the right home.

Best of luck, Sam & Lily. You be good and take care. I love you!

XOXOX

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June 1, 2009|Good Eggs, Rescues|13 Comments

Fluffy Baby Chicken Cam

NOTE: THIS IS NOT OUR HOUSE. Our human is not THAT kookoo (but close).

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May 29, 2009|Good Eggs|7 Comments

Sprinkler Time

fla
Flapper hung out on Sunday and played in the sprinklers.

stand
He likes to stand right in the middle of the sprinkler to doodle in the mud and cool off.

sam
Sam hadn’t played in the sprinklers before, so he stood guard to make sure everything was on the up and up.

once
Once he decided the scene was clear, he doodled in the puddles like a champ.

chase
And then he chased Chewy just for fun.

shook
Flapper shook off the sprinklers…

flap
And then had a good flap.

s
Sam did some flapping, too…

both
…in both directions for good measure.

nice
Nice flapping, Sam. You look super cute in the sunshine.
“Thank you, treat lady.”
Oh! I’ve been upgraded from mean lady who took you to the vet. That’s good!

toon
Toony hung out on the deck and did a little yoga stretching.

aviary
Then she hung out in the aviary with O’Malley.

ate
And ate some bugs and weeds.

eggs
She has laid 2 eggs so far this week. That’s pretty good, and we haven’t taken her for an x-ray because she seems to be doing well all on her own. You can see the egg on the right is a little odd in shape. But the 2nd egg looks much more normal, so we hope she is just fine.

caterpillar
Lastly, O’Malley was nice-enough to point out this fuzzy caterpillar to me, and I was able to get him before he became duck food. We released him in the duck-free zone. O’Malley wasn’t sure if he wanted to eat him anyway, as he was pretty fuzzy.

It was a good weekend all in all, for ducks and caterpillars alike.

_________________________________

In other news, I’ve started receiving a deluge of emails and notes about Joel the Spokane banker who catches ducklings as they jump off ledges. This is Joel’s SECOND year helping a mother duck and her ducklings make it safely from the ledge outside his office to the nearby lake. Here’s a link to the video of this-year’s ducklings for your viewing pleasure.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theworldnewser/2009/05/the-duck-parade.html

That Joel, he’s a good egg.

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May 18, 2009|Chewy Magooey, Good Eggs, Mr Flapper, O'Malley Peepers, Petunia Peach, Rescues|16 Comments

Flapper Visitors

Today Flapper had a fan come to visit him.

cindy
Cindy has been following the blog for about a year, and recently moved to Washington from California. I tried to warn her that it isn’t really that exciting to meet Flapper in person… that he kind of just stands there and eats treats, but Flapper tried his best to be entertaining, even splashing her with water.

good eggs
The ducks were very impressed with Cindy, because she knows her ducks (and she fed them lots of treats). She had mostly cayuga ducks as a kid, and she also volunteers each year at the State Fair with ducks, geese and other small animals. She even had a pekin like Flapper, only a girl, and her pekin lived to be 10-years-old.

sam and ciaran
Cindy brought her friend Ciaran with her, too. He hadn’t been close to ducks for years, but Sam and Lily didn’t see any reason they shouldn’t take treats from him anyway. They were very welcoming since he had treats, and thought it was the least they could do, to eat ALL the treats he had.

Thanks to Cindy & Ciaran for dropping by and stuffing the ducks full of treats. They loved the attention and are happily napping in their aviary now.

Happy Mother’s Day to everyone out there… those of you with human children and also those of you who care for feathered, furry or scaly friends as well!

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May 10, 2009|Good Eggs, Mr Flapper, Rescues|13 Comments
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