Dramatic Duck

Courtesy of Skeeter The Duck...

Duckscrimination

I grew up in a family that wasn't exactly animal-friendly. I made up for it though, spending all my time outdoors. The stray dogs in the neighborhood would scratch on my front door to play every day; Families of raccoons would visit for handfed cookie feasts; birds would randomly fly up to me and perch;  Blue jays would fly into my house for peanuts on the kitchen counter when mom wasn't looking; and I had the once completely wild squirrels tamed and eating on my shoulders.

Fast forward, I'm now a 25 year old military wife; mother of one. We rarely get to visit home... RARELY. The opportunity to visit my family has finally arrived over Fourth of July and days to follow. I was so excited to break the news to my mother. She was just as excited, so it seemed.

"Who's going to feed your horse?" She says
"My pasture mate", I replied.
"And your dogs?"
"My neighbor." I said

That's when I knew it was coming.
"And what are you going to do with your duck?"

Ugh. Why did she have to ask!

"Welllll", I said, "You're um... going to have to meet the duck."
I grimaced for what was to come.

"Well that's just fine and dandy, but I ain't having a DUCK running around my house so you're welcome to bring it, but that thing is sleeping outside!"

An excitable moment became a very frustrating one.
I was shut out from any explanation on how Cheyenne is. My mother goes on and on about how dirty they are and how much they stink, yet she let's my sisters dog move in with her and she plans on getting my nephew pet rats.

Her sleeping outside is NOT AN OPTION. Aside from the cold nights in the mountains and hot days, she would be lonely and KILLED BY THE RACCOONS. I absolutely refuse to leave Cheyenne for an extended period of time. I'm her mom. I could NEVER do that to her. Ever. She WILL stay with me always and I refuse to STILL conform to a person's disinterest and lack of sympathy (which I will never understand) towards animals. I'm 25 years old and it is still trying to haunt me.

My feelings are hurt. Seeing her grandson and daughter after all this time isn't worth having a perfectly clean duck in the house? In a cage?  It hurts.
Looks like we'll be staying home for the 4th.

Forage Time

Cheyenne's First Swim In Her New "Pond".

Video of Cheyenne Wearing Her Diaper Harness

I love that you can barely see that she's wearing it.
I also introduced her and the cat today.  It went really well.  You can see in the video that my cat couldn't care less. lol  When I first introduced them, my cat was purring up a storm and rubbing up on everything.
This harness can be purchased HERE.

:)

It's official. Cheyenne's Angel Wing has corrected itself. So relieved!

Week Seven Update

So, Cheyenne is seven weeks old today. I'm SO EXCITED that her intermediate diaper harness officially fits with no problem. Finally, she doesn't take it off and seeing that it was her first day with it on, she was very tolerant of it. We were able to take a nap together with no worries on my end ;D Today was the best day I've had with her.
You can barely see the black harness on her:


Also, about her Angel Wing. A couple days ago, after having wrapped her, I decided it was just too much to put her through. I felt terrible for making her endure the whole process and decided, since it's cosmetic, and not to risk injury of blood feathers, etc in her struggle, I would let it be.

Yesterday her angel wing looked horrible. Worst it ever had and thoughts of wrapping it started crossing my mind again, but still I let it be.

This morning I wake up and, unless I'm hallucinating, it looks as though it's correcting itself!! All within the night hours! It's crazy. I sure hope this isn't presenting false hope, but I'm excited about it.

Here's her wing today:


And a couple extra pictures...

Cheyenne's Weekly Growth Comparison-- Seven Weeks Old

Click here for more growth comparison photos.

Truck Duck

View more videos at: http://www.nbcchicago.com.

More Week Six Pics

Weekly Growth Comparison-- Six Weeks Old

Click here for more growth comparison photos

Wrap It Up

Finally managed to get the vet wrap around Cheyenne today to see if I can correct her angel wing.

NOT EASY TO DO.

I really hope this works. It has to stay on for 4 days, off for two, and if it still isn't corrected, on for another 4 days. So if it doesn't work this time, I have one more chance to get it right. **crosses fingers**

Guilty Conscience

What makes them look at our shoulders and think, "Oh! That looks like a good place to lay down!" ?

Frustrated

Week 6 and Cheyenne, no doubt, is forming angel wing. My husband and I tried to wrap it this morning with vet wrap and failed. Couldn't give it a second shot because he had to go to work. I'm so frustrated. This isn't easy. She slipped it right off. Tomorrow I'm going to try and wrap the wing itself and then continue the vet wrap around her body. Looking for an easier way in the mean time. :(

growth photos to come...

Angel Wing?

Here are a couple better pictures(top view) showing why I'm concerned she might have Angel Wing.

Update: Week Five

Cheyenne is doing good. I have concerns that she may be showing signs of Angel Wing, though. :( I surely hope not. Her left quills that are coming in are splaying out a bit. On the right side, the quills are neatly tucked under her wing. We shall see! I posted these pictures in the yahoo group petducksRus in hopes of getting tips and advice. In the mean time, I'm weaning her off starter feed today and adding xtra oats to deplete the amount of protein she's consuming.
You can see here that she's forming green feathers on her face now (yay!) And when she's out, she is now using her Ducky Diner from The Goose's Mother. Really cuts down on the mess. Her feathers are coming in more and more. (Note that Cheyenne is a LOT darker than all the pictures I post of her. She's so dark that I have to brighten the pictures up enormously so that you can even see her). I'm going to put her intermediate harness on again today, and hopefully she has grown enough and won't be able to take it off. I'll update later.

With that, here are a few five week photos of her. The first one is my favorite picture of her.  I love it when she flaps those little wings!

Cheyenne's Weekly Growth Comparison-- Five Weeks Old

Click here for more weekly comparison photos.

Diaper Delivery

Cheyenne's intermediate diaper from IndoorDucks.com arrived today.  HIGHLY impressed with the quality.
It was so much easier to put on compared to the baby safety pin harnesses.  (I would suggest skipping those all together). 

Unfortunately, she was able to get it off in under a minute.  I think when she grows a tiny bit more and it's more snug, it will stay on (especially seeing as how she doesn't have any feathers to help keep it in place).   But, again, beautifully made.

I ordered her adult harness from the same company yesterday.  I also ordered her a waterproof pillow.  I thought they were silly before I got Cheyenne, but now after having her, and now that's she's grown a lot, it's clear that it's a necessity in her cage..... really.

She ate her first snail yesterday! 

The swallows who are nesting on my porch have finally accepted her and see her as no threat so no more dive-bombing.

Her feathers are slowly coming in.  And, today on her wings there are long, sharp, white quills coming from her wings.

She's shedding her baby fluff rapidly, too.

Cheyenne is one month old today :)

QUACK!!! ( ')>

Cheyenne found her voice today! Day 29 (4 weeks, 1 day old).

She let out several loud quacks after I cut up pear for her and started walking with the dish to her eating spot. She's was so excited. lol

Yay!

Oh, and we had a run-in with a BRAT neighbor kid, who no matter how many times I told him to stop chasing her, he wouldn't stop. Finally I SCREAMED at him and told him he better start listening and to go home. Yuck. It's freezing outside, and this tiny boy was with his 7(or so) year old brother. Barefoot in the rain running in the street for the previous hour without his brother in sight. Parents... grrr.

But, anyway, hooray for Quacks!

Her diaper harness was put on hold (I guess the girl who makes them hurt her wrist). So, it's FINALLY been shipped. Unfortunately, it's already time to order the adult harness. Sigh.

I'm so over poop and steam cleaning the carpet. 0_0

Awkward!

I was SO EXCITED yesterday when I had her outside and saw 1/2 inch feathers coming out that were glowing iridescent green. I can't wait :)

Down side? She's going through an incredibly awkward stage.... and it isn't pretty. lol