Monday, May 28, 2012

Cuteness fix


By popular request, I offer you DUCKLINGS.

I am in the middle of transferring files from my old iMac to my new iMac. A few minutes ago, the computer was claiming this process would take 94 hours over the ethernet cable. Now, yes, my old harddrive is completely full, but still.

Okay, wait, I just checked. Now we're down to eight hours.

Anyway, back to ducklings. Yesterday I went out and found one baby sitting by herself under the upturned milkcrate I keep in their little run (so I can sit on it to watch them!) Mama and the siblings were inside the duckhouse. When I went to retrieve the loner, I realized she was having seizures! Her head kept twitching to one side, and when I put her on the ground she could only propel herself backwards in circles. She was clearly upset and peeping in an anxious way. I took her in the house while Gordon Googled "duckling seizures."

Well, apparently waterfowl just love having seizures for all sorts of reasons. Our duckling didn't have any visible injuries, so I wondered if she was dehydrated and/or overheated from being outside alone. It was quite hot yesterday, although baby was in a shady spot two feet from a waterer! 

So we tried giving her sugar water as per internet suggestions and voilà, the duckling quickly returned to her normal. I took her back to Mama and she had along nap. Later that day she was getting around fine, and today she seems back to normal. Meanwhile, Gordon and I were both about to have heart attacks thinking the duckling was going to die.

We've named her Twitchy, sort of in honour of our recently-departed duck Squishy (so named after Gordon stepped on him as a duckling.)

I'm hoping Twitchy is done with the seizures, because this stuff just kills me!

More ducklings soon.

29 comments:

  1. You two are Hell On Wheels with Ducklings! You two totally should do a M*A*S*H TV show with baby ducks.

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    1. Hahaha! I know! The chickens are MUCH less trouble.

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  2. Glad that Twitcy seams to be OK again :)

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    1. She seems completely recovered. I'm relieved!

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  3. As one who had seizures and now has them again, I never thought of animals having seizures. Cool.

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    1. Twitchy (Gordon named her, don't blame me! ;) ) sends you ducky kisses.

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  4. Which one is twitchy? I can't beleive how much they have grown already :)

    I bet you the second one from right is the #1 :)

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    1. The one on the far right was the firstborn (the most yellow.) I think Twitchy is second from the left but i'm not positive. :)

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  5. Ouch! If you need to defibrillate then use two bits of wire and a small torch battery. Don't forget to shout "clear"! My mother gave mouth to mouth rescusitation to a goldfish once (it died though, so I got the dog as per bargain, I was a horrible kid) ...

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    1. I will keep that advice in mind for future duck interventions!

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  6. OMMMMMG! I had a little duck a long time ago! His name was Totoco... miss him.

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  7. These little guys are soooooo cute! I love them!!!!! And what a rescue job you did. Great job!! Just adorable photo :-)

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    1. Honestly, I need to go to vet school so I can stop worrying so much about my own dang livestock! Leg splinting, cracked beak repair, seizure control... what next?!

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  8. Too cute - glad Twitchy is less twitchy!

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    1. ANd I Hope she stays that way!

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  9. Twitchy! Love it!

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    1. Your special-needs grand duck!

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  10. Andrew6:21 pm

    Very tasty. I can appreciate why an Eagle would want to eat them all up.

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    1. You are SO naughty!!!

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    2. Andrew7:25 pm

      I can't help it. Your cuties just keep reminding me of wonderful things... Tonight I am thinking... Sweet and Sour Duck Hong Kong Style.

      I could accept a scolding from a vegetarian, but from anyone else?

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  11. These duck emergencies will be the death of you two!
    Twitchy. What a cute name. Let's hope that that seizure was a one-time-only event!

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  12. Too cute. Just a little reminder, I have lots of cute names for the little ones.

    Life seems never dull at your place.

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    1. You are not eating my ducks!!!!! No Duck à l'orange! No Peking duck!! Nononononono!

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  13. Aw, how cute!
    I hope Twitchy is fully back to normal now.

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Thank you for all your comments, which I love to read!