Keeping hens and ducks chat.

Cheery_Daff

Aw Edwink, I am so sorry to hear about Hoppy. Such a good age, and she had such a lovely life with you. I can only imagine how sad you are xxx

sammyjammy

SisterAnna said:

I am sad to hear your news about your little duck Hoppy.  Like maddiemay, I have really enjoyed hearing about her and how she was getting on. That's a good age for a duck at nearly ten years old, what a lucky little duck she was to have you and Mr. edwink to look after her. 

I don't post on your thread much because I don't keep hens myself but I do love following this thread and catching up on everyone's hen and ducks news. Just wanted to say that I am thinking of you both, take care.

Me too!  I have duck and hen envy!

sammyjammy

Just watching the news about the flu outbreak and the indoor mandate from Monday, then they just start going about a shortage of turkeys for Christmas!  No mention of the enforced lower welfare for millions of birds.  Sometimes I hate humans.

edwink

sammyjammy said:

Just watching the news about the flu outbreak and the indoor mandate from Monday, then they just start going about a shortage of turkeys for Christmas!  No mention of the enforced lower welfare for millions of birds.  Sometimes I hate humans.

Thank you for posting about this sammyjammy. 

We don't have a TV so have not seen it on the TV news but here is the link from BBC news online.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-63431588

As sammyjammy says it is indoors only from next Monday.

For backyard hens, as they call them that is undercover so at least ours are NOT enclosed in a huge shed/barn without any daylight with thousands of others with no fresh air.  It is so sad that this keeps happening and now it is every single year and for each year the lockdown gets longer and longer. How farmers are still allowed to label their birds as free-range is beyond me, it really is.

I'm just glad mine are out and about getting up to all sorts of mischief and chomping on my lawn today.
 
Edwink x

edwink

I FIND THE POULTRY NEWS TERRIBLY DEPRESSING AT THE MOMENT SO FOR THOSE THAT HAVE NEVER SEEN THIS PICTURE WHICH I PUT ON HERE SEVERAL YEARS AGO.........

Let's play spot the duck.  By the way, it is Hoppy when she was about 5 years old, bless her x

edwink

This is a much more recent one of Hoppy from last year. To be honest we had no idea that when she got older she would start to lose her black feathers and then they would be replaced with white ones. 

sammyjammy

Ahh she was a beautiful colour, I guess many ducks don't make it to old age - I've certainly never seen one go "grey/white"  its pretty cool!

Was Hoppy your only duck or do you have others?

edwink

sammyjammy said:

Ahh she was a beautiful colour, I guess many ducks don't make it to old age - I've certainly never seen one go "grey/white"  its pretty cool!

Was Hoppy your only duck or do you have others?

Hi Sammyjammy

Did you spot Hoppy in the first picture, when she was all black?  Just interested to know because when I first put that picture on here some years ago I had everyone looking for her.  You may be one of those posters that spot her straight away.  If I remember correctly there was someone who managed to do that, but she was the only one ever able to. Do let me know if you spot her (it's not easy). I'm not sure if Maddiemay has ever seen that picture and spotted her either.

Hoppy was our last duck here and we always said we wouldn't get any more after they had all gone. We had nine here at one time.  We planned to start with hens and then get some ducks later but it ended up being the other way around.  We got our first 4 rehomed ducks here 12 years ago and then 6 months later got our first 12 ex-battery hens. And then took on some more ex-battery hens and some more ducks, plus we bought some Cayuga ducks because we thought they were so striking to look at. We also bought an Indian Runner which we called Pingu (she is my avatar pic).  At one time we had 9 ducks and 21 hens here so 30 in total, I used to say to people "the more the merrier" because I loved them all. So as time went on and I lost some like we all do a friend would let me know that someone they knew was moving and could I take their hens etc. So the numbers went up and down a lot and we took in more ex-battery hens too.  Sadly after nearly 10 years of keeping ducks and hens here, we had a fox attack and my 4 remaining ex-battery hens were killed and several of my ducks including 2 of my original ducks 2 beautiful pure white Aylesbury ducks, and some of my Cayuga ducks. We were only left with Pingu our Indian Runner and Hoppy our beautiful Cayuga. Sadly Pingu died about 6 months later and we were left with just little Hoppy on her own, bless her. Then trying to put the horror of the fox attack behind us we rehomed 24 ex-battery hens here so Hoppy had some feathered friends again and lots of them.  Sadly ex-battery hens don't live for years and years after rescue so Hoppy nearly outlived them all except 6 of them. 

I'll have to take a trip down memory lane and dig out some pics of my girls and boys to put on here. I had the most beautiful cockerel here, he was a rescue boy, and sadly that blooming fox got him as well.  He was absolutely stunning.  I'll definitely sort some out and post them soon.

Edwink x

maddiemay

Yes Edwink I saw the picture at the time and found her, but it did take me a little while.

sammyjammy

edwink said:

sammyjammy said:

Ahh she was a beautiful colour, I guess many ducks don't make it to old age - I've certainly never seen one go "grey/white"  its pretty cool!

Was Hoppy your only duck or do you have others?

Hi Sammyjammy

Did you spot Hoppy in the first picture, when she was all black?  Just interested to know because when I first put that picture on here some years ago I had everyone looking for her.  You may be one of those posters that spot her straight away.  If I remember correctly there was someone who managed to do that, but she was the only one ever able to. Do let me know if you spot her (it's not easy). I'm not sure if Maddiemay has ever seen that picture and spotted her either.

Hoppy was our last duck here and we always said we wouldn't get any more after they had all gone. We had nine here at one time.  We planned to start with hens and then get some ducks later but it ended up being the other way around.  We got our first 4 rehomed ducks here 12 years ago and then 6 months later got our first 12 ex-battery hens. And then took on some more ex-battery hens and some more ducks, plus we bought some Cayuga ducks because we thought they were so striking to look at. We also bought an Indian Runner which we called Pingu (she is my avatar pic).  At one time we had 9 ducks and 21 hens here so 30 in total, I used to say to people "the more the merrier" because I loved them all. So as time went on and I lost some like we all do a friend would let me know that someone they knew was moving and could I take their hens etc. So the numbers went up and down a lot and we took in more ex-battery hens too.  Sadly after nearly 10 years of keeping ducks and hens here, we had a fox attack and my 4 remaining ex-battery hens were killed and several of my ducks including 2 of my original ducks 2 beautiful pure white Aylesbury ducks, and some of my Cayuga ducks. We were only left with Pingu our Indian Runner and Hoppy our beautiful Cayuga. Sadly Pingu died about 6 months later and we were left with just little Hoppy on her own, bless her. Then trying to put the horror of the fox attack behind us we rehomed 24 ex-battery hens here so Hoppy had some feathered friends again and lots of them.  Sadly ex-battery hens don't live for years and years after rescue so Hoppy nearly outlived them all except 6 of them. 

I'll have to take a trip down memory lane and dig out some pics of my girls and boys to put on here. I had the most beautiful cockerel here, he was a rescue boy, and sadly that blooming fox got him as well.  He was absolutely stunning.  I'll definitely sort some out and post them soon.

Edwink x

Oh thank you for telling me all of the history, I did indeed spot her straight away, all glossy and black.

You have done such wonderful things for so many ducks and hens.  You are a very fine lady (sorry if you are a man!) Pingu sounds amazing, Indian runners always seem so regal, some pics would be fantastic.  Its a tough time of year to lose Hoppy but the hens will keep you busy.