wood at the grocery store

[Wiley]

Re: wood at the grocery store

I have a friend who says he tried eating raccoon...seems he was tired of the raccoons eating his chickens and thought turn-about was fair play. He said it wasn't particularly tasty but that it was extremely greasy.

My friend is a fairly colorful character who once accidentially ran over a neighbors duck. The neighbor complained, and so he went to their house to settle the situation. He asked what the duck was worth and what it would take to make things right, the neighbor said five bucks, which my friend promptly paid. He then asked for the run over duck which he took home and cooked for dinner.

We are in a fairly constant war with raccoons where I live. If they aren't breaking limbs off our fruit trees in quest for the fruit they are killing our ducks. Over the years they have killed many of my Khaki Campbell ducks and Muscovies but the final draw was when they killed my favorite goose, named Harry. Harry was 18 years old and a grand old fellow. Ever since then all tree'd raccoons are shot and trapped raccoons are transported many miles away, off island.
Wiley

[egalecki]

Re: wood at the grocery store

I'd be PO'd too if they killed a duck. I would love to have a couple of ducks for bug control in the garden. And the eggs. Someday when I don't live in town (livestock bans, ya know) I'm going to have ducks. And bees. (I know I could have them now, but the neighbors have kids and I don't want to rock that boat)

Poor Harry.

[dmun]

Re: wood at the grocery store

I would love to have a couple of ducks for bug control in the garden. And the eggs.

More and more suburban, and even urban areas are allowing backyard chickens. I don't know about ducks, but I've seen them hanging around people's lawns without much encouragement. If you like Canadian geese, we could arrange for you to get a whole bunch of those.

[Wiley]

Re: wood at the grocery store

I would suggest anyone considering ducks to look into Khaki Campbells. They have the record for most eggs laid in a year (well over 300, the record is something like 340) and are very sweet of temperment. They are unlike chickens in that they are very parasite resistant. The Drakes can be noisy but the hens are usually quiet. The drakes sound just like Daffy Duck! They look like a sepia copy of a Mallard only they do not weigh as much nor are as "deep keeled" (that is a term used in describing ducks that means they don't have as big a chest/breasts) and as such are less suited for meat producton, but their eggs are great.

A huge boon is they really enjoy eating slugs although watching them do so is a bit disgusting. And as anyone who has been to the Pacific Northwest we do have slugs! Great liitle fellows who if raised from duckilings will eat from your hand. And Khaki's can pretty much live off the lawn and garden without the need for purchased feed (again very different from chickens).

Wiley

[Frances]

Re: wood at the grocery store

And as anyone who has been to the Pacific Northwest we do have slugs! Great liitle fellows who if raised from

Ok, the next word makes all clear, but for a moment you had me confused there. Do they have them over in Europe I wonder? Ducks, not slugs (we have PLENTY of them)

I assume you'd need to keep several ducks so they don't get lonely. Do they need a pond to swim in or can you keep them on land? Hmmm, that would be very cool....

[Frances]

Re: wood at the grocery store

btw, you must all be wrong about Raccoons... they're all sweet and fluffy like in Snow White. Aren't they?

[Alfredo]

Re: wood at the grocery store

globeandmail.com: Raccoons spread flu, study shows

That cute face is a disguise

[egalecki]

Re: wood at the grocery store

If you like Canadian geese, we could arrange for you to get a whole bunch of those.

We have a resident population here in SWVA. They're as bad as the river gulls.

[staestc]

Re: wood at the grocery store

Never trust a masked rodent with dexterious hands!
Travis

[Wiley]

Re: wood at the grocery store

Frances, one can get away with using a kid's plastic (blow molded) wading pool. Something 4 ft or less in diameter so you can easily dump the muck out and change the water. Ducks are dabblers and will spend hours exploring muddy areas and they will bring anything they find into the wading pool hence part of the muck, the other is duck poop, all in all, good fertlizer. Such a small pool can easily handle a half dozen ducks as they won't all be in the water at the same time.

It's fairly easy to figure out how many ducks one needs, figure an egg a day per hen output. Two birds would be a minimum to keep them from being too neurotic. In a flock they are less prone to the problems of pecking order that plague chickens. On the down side as most who have kept or keep any birds will confirm: if you have birds you will have a rat and mouse problem to contend with. It's not insurmountable but one that you will have to deal with.

At the present time we do not have any birds but do have a new enclosure planned in the new small garden out the back door. Only big enough for four hens and a drake. At one time we kept peafowl, muskovies, ducks and geese.

Wiley

[Wiley]

Re: wood at the grocery store

[QUOTE=dmun;If you like Canadian geese, we could arrange for you to get a whole bunch of those.[/QUOTE]

I raised a Canada Goose that I hatched in an incubator. The egg came from the side decks of a chip barge. At the time I was working at the local paper mill as a deck hand on the tugs moving the barges from the moorings to the dock. Part time work but it filled my need to be on and around the water and brought in some small money while I built or present home. When headed north in the spring Canada Geese often build temporary nests and lay eggs they abandon. Such an egg I recovered and hatched. "Ba Dee Ba Deep" was his name after one of the calls he made. He inprinted on me and is what got me started in raising birds. He'd hang out with me like a dog (but not in the house:-) And I could run around the yard flapping my arms like a fool trying to take off and he would fly along side (he had trouble staying in flight moving as slow as I ran, sometimes circling the house "lapping me"). We lived in town then and more than once I would return home from work and stop to talk to the neighbor in the front yard. He would be in his pen in the back and not see me but hear my voice and would fly out of the pen around the house and land at my feet. Great memories. I had him seven years and he died of some sort of obstruction in his digestive track.
Wiley