Orphan call

On Friday evening I sat outside and got a message from someone I have never met in person, just a FB friend. She knew I raised ducks and posted about raising ducks of all kinds. She was retired, had a flock of ducks on her farm and predators got to her flock. All were missing, killed and gone except one lone duck. She did not have a dog to watch the flock and they were easy pickings. She wanted to know if I would take the last duck. So we met at the feed store and I got this crazy female Indian runner. She is in quarantine until she learns this is her new coop and her new life. She can see every duck comes in at night and she wants to be a part of them, badly. She is afraid of me and makes that known. Very high strung for a duck. But I will give her a chance to relax and join up with my flock.

It is not a good idea to add animals into an established flock. They can carry diseases, parasites and more. I always try to pair up newborn orphans and try to avoid adult orphans. It requires a lot of my time and effort to quarantine an animal. You need to have separate area for them, separate feed and water. Also there is the unknown as to how the animal was treated. Do they have a fear of people or where their spoiled and fearless! Yes, that matters. A fearless rooster or drake will attack you when they are feeling the urge to mate or protect their flock. Some people raise livestock as pets, the animals get too big and they do not know what to do with that pet chicken or duck. Most do not want to buy a cage and deliver the pet to the auction house. But that is what is done with livestock. I do not name my livestock. It makes life easier when I have to sell or cull them. It is better for the animal if it enjoys its life on our farm until it can no longer serve a purpose. We do keep our poultry until they die of old age. Roosters get replaced each year. Young roosters get sold off. But our egg layers get to stay with us until they die. It is a good place to live. They are happy, keep the bugs down and are neat to have around. When a new arrival does not work out I have to build a cage and take it to the auction myself. But I try to give the animal a chance. It is one of the nice things about having a farm.