The Iris Chronicles (Embarrassing Homestead Challenge)
I’m going to tell a story, it’s a long rambling story of our first animal mishap on the homestead.
(Barry and Iris)
Shortly after our ducklings were moved outside to their tractor we have to opportunity to purchase a couple of 2 month old muscovies. We didn’t want to put them in with the ducklings in case they were sick so I built this temporary area for them next to our garden. It included a roofed shelter and a fenced in area. I knew that muscovies could fly but I had heard from a number of people that birds aren’t stupid and they won’t stray far from their home. They know where their food comes from!
After a few days they started to feel more comfortable with their surroundings and the female started perching on the gate to our fence. I had NO idea that Muscovy ducks liked to perch, just like chickens! Oops. 😬 So I would go outside and shoo her off so that I could let the dogs outside to do their business.
(Iris in her favorite spot)
Now my dogs have never been around poultry or livestock before and of course they are very interested in the ducks. We have what we think is a Coonhound Shepherd mix, an American Staffordshire Terrier and a Great Dane mix. One day I was outside working and I had the shepherd mix, Titan outside with me. He was in the fenced in area next to the duck area when Iris, our female decided to perch on the fence. Titan went for her!
(The doofus in question)
Now this duck instead of flying back into her run with her buddy decided to fly clear across our yard and into the neighbor’s yard. We hadn’t purchased a net yet so I had to ‘herd’ her closer to her pen. Here I was running like a crazy person, waving my hands, trying to use my body to get Iris to move in a specific direction. Let’s just say I was really hoping my neighbors weren’t home. Instead of going back into the yard, she thought going into the woods along our fence line was a better idea. A woods with spiders hanging from every surface, it was disgusting. She followed the fence line in the woods until she was next to her buddy and then I scared her into climbing the chain link back in.
A similar situation happened a few days later once I decided I was sick of scaring the duck off the fence every time the dogs had to go out. We decided it was worth the risk and put them in with the ducklings. By this point we had a net and we still chased that duck all over the darn place trying to catch her. The male (Barry) never once left the ground but Iris wanted nothing to do with us and our net. We ended up having to wait and hope she found her way back to Barry that evening. She did and that is how my husband discovered that you can get right next to them as long as it's dark out and you shine a light directly in their eyes.
(Barry, Iris and the ducklings)
The next evening that’s how we caught them, with a net and a cell phone flashlight app!
What is your most embarassing homestead moment?
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Love Love Love those baby duckys! Soooo Cute!
The male we bought for some genetics unrelated to the ducklings but the female we bought specifically for her coloring. Absolutely love it!
Man! That would stress me out! Haha is heir space now covered? Have you thought about clipping wings to prevent flying? I'm glad putting them with the ducklings worked out!
right now they are in basically a roofed run area. We are calling it their aviary. I hope to do a post on it in a couple days! We did consider clipping their wings but since we are working on training the dogs I wanted to be sure they could get away if need be
THat makes sense! I've been against clipping due to predation, but I guess it will happen if need be!
If they still try to get out once there is a visual barrier and we feel confident the dogs won't try to kill them then I'll clip their wings. I have been told though that muscovies can fly if you clip both so you should only clip one
It's always something, isn't it?! :-) Awesome trick with the light though... wonder if it works on chickens... hmmmm... :-)
yup! Now I'm super paranoid about letting them our to free range. Waiting until we have some perimeter fencing so there is at least a visual barrier haha. No idea! Someone with chickens needs to try it out!
Stigmatatata from Lake Titicaca!
love this!
Such a sweet story! But I may have misunderstood something: the ducklings were not Iris's? Why was it a risk to put her in the same area with them?
We got the ducklings first at 1day -1week old. They weren't sure because they're ducks are mostly wild. Then we bought iris and barry from someone else. It is always possible that poultry or livestock you get could carry a disease and not be symptomatic yet. I believe most people wait at least a few weeks to a month before putting new poultry or livestock in with their other animals.
I see. Yes, that makes sense. I was also thinking that they might not get along well, seeing that they are complete strangers to the grown ducks.
That's always a possibility but we figured we could take them back out if need be! They immediately started acting like a little family haha The little ones would follow the bigger ones around. It was darn cute. Iris and Barry weren't full grown though only a couple months. Muscovies don't produce eggs until they are 6 months old.