Saturday we took Benson to the vet. We think Michelle, the vet tech, is smitten.

Benson’s leg has improved, but this old x-ray shows that he will always have a pretty bad limp. The joint feels much better though.

Benson had a fecal test to see if he and Reggie could be let out of confinement to roam the yard. Both parasites we knew they had before have cleared up, but while we were there, Benson pooped a tapeworm. (Yeah, sorry, we hope you weren’t enjoying lunch or dinner).

Surprise! We didn’t know they had tapeworms. They don’t show up on the fecal test, so frankly we got really lucky that Benson held a show and tell for us.

So they both have new medication and are locked up for another 2 weeks. Then we have to watch poo. Yep, we have to keep an eye on poo and make sure we don’t see any more tapeworms. Super gross!

Saturday night we had a silent auction for NARN, the Northwest Animal Rights Network. We’re on the Board of Directors. It’s our big yearly fundraiser and it went great! It was a lot of fun and we had a great turnout.

One guy walked up to me at the auction and started taking his shirt off. That was fun, so I just encouraged him. It turned out he was trying to show me this tattoo, which apparently means “mallard.” He heard I was the duck lady and had to show it to me. He was super cool and we chatted about ducks and chickens for a while. “A tour of Flapper’s aviary” was one of the auction items, but we’re not sure who won it yet.

Later at the auction, another guy said he works with the Seattle Animal Shelter and they had a female muscovy duck who just came in. He asked if we might be able to give her a home. I went to the shelter on Sunday and found this girl next to some big barking dogs. There isn’t anywhere else to keep a little duck in the shelter. A female muscovy is the exact duck I still have room for here, so we brought her home as a permanent member of the family. We can’t keep Benson & Reggie because they are both boys and O’Malley is our muscovy drake. Two muscovy drakes don’t really get along. George we couldn’t keep because he was a little loud for our neighborhood and he needed to be with other geese. But a female muscovy can be integrated with Petunia and O’Malley, and then she won’t even take up extra cage space. It’ll take a little time, but it’ll be a good match for them, and it’s better for a muscovy drake to have more than one hen for company.

Isn’t she pretty? That’s Reggie trying to put the moves on her through the partition. She actually has coloring very similar to O’Malley. We think we know her name, but we’re going to sleep on it. She was found at a light rail station in Seattle and brought to the shelter. It’s my guess that she was probably looking for a good nesting spot and flew out of her yard, then couldn’t find her way back. It’s pretty common this time of year.

Here Petunia and O’Malley meet the new girl for the first time. She will be able to come out and play with them once she passes a fecal test. Hopefully she’ll do better on her test than Benson & Reggie did!

So that’s it for the busy, busy weekend. We’ll keep you posted. Have a good week!

He has been on heart meds for two days now and they do perk him up a bit. The first night they perked him up TOO MUCH! But last night was better, and they actually make it easier for him to stand up, so that is great. He can stand and preen better, and he seems to have a bit more energy. He is also eating good. It is nice to have some borrowed time with him, and I appreciate every minute of it.

The weather is cold for Seattle today and tomorrow, so the other feathered kids are locked in their night pens. It’s going to get down to 25 degrees tonight, brrr!

The chickens have their heat lamp, so they think they are at a tanning salon. They tried to order some mai tais but they couldn’t show proper ID so I turned them down.

George is still sweet as ever, and his foot looks great. We’re giving his forever sanctuary some time to get some repairs done to their waterfowl areas, and then we’ll talk to them about when is best to deliver George. He’ll still have one last vet visit to get the all clear, but he’s pretty good.

Simon is also getting old and feeble. He sits funny like this sometimes now. I think it is because his back legs hurt a bit. His back legs are weak, which is one of the symptoms of diabetes in cats. He has been on insulin for about two weeks now and we’re working out the right dosages. His biggest problem this week is that the wet food he loved was discontinued. So he has tried 10+ different foods and does not want any of them. He only wants his beloved discontinued prescription-only, limited ingredient food (which incidentally was a food he refused to eat for a long time, until one day he decided it was his only favorite). Being a cat is a tough job.

That’s the update from this motley crew for today. We wish everyone a very Happy New Year, and we thank everyone for their continued support.

O’Malley decided he wasn’t going to be very friendly today. I stopped O’Malley from attacking George just in the nick of time, and George is fine. Then everyone ELSE enjoyed the sunshine.

George nursed his bruised ego.

And O’Malley sat on my lap, insisting that George had started it.

Flapper and Chewy enjoyed a swim in their fresh pool, and then settled in for some preening and a nap.

George took a bath too, and then chatted with me about his morning.

Janet and the other chickens went all floppy in the sunshine so they could sun their feathers. They love to lay spread out on the ground so they can soak up as much sun as possible.

That’s about all that’s going on here this weekend. Preening, napping, swimming and sunshine.

We hope you had a good weekend, too.

He will share it sometimes with Chewy, but just a little bit.

Eventually he wants the pool to himself, so he kicks Chewy out.

Then he’s free to watch the birds fly by.

And splash up a storm, all by himself.

George eventually got pool time, but he had to wait until Flapper was done.

In other news, O’Malley is a snuggle-saurus again. He has been mad at me for weeks, and running away from me when I tried to pick him up. He was mad over a combination of molting, George being here, and having to take a round of antibiotics to clear up a cold. But he finally decided that I’m okay again, and now comes to me when I call and sits on my lap. I must say, I didn’t miss the ankle-biting, but I did miss my quality time with my snuggle-saurus. I’m glad he’s friendly again and back to trusting me.

It was a good, chilly weekend in Seattle. And we had plenty of yard time with treats for the chickens and everyone else.

We hope everyone is having a great holiday season.

From all of us (plus George) to all of you and yours…

Happy Holidays.

Flapper asserted his dominance by taking over the tree trunk pool for a while.

Goose was a little upset about having to share the tree trunk pool, but they worked out a schedule.

Goose is doing really well. On Tuesday, goose will go in for foot surgery to clean out the infection and help the foot heal as best it can. We may also find out if goose is a boy or girl on Tuesday, so then we can properly name the goose.

Meanwhile, goose enjoyed the weekend and took several swims in the tree trunk pool. So far there has been very little honking, which is good since we live in a quiet neighborhood. Goose is being a good neighbor.

The crows hung out with us this weekend too, and the chickens turned over all the leaves to search for bugs. Petunia’s cold is improving and hopefully both she and O’Malley will forgive me for giving them pills twice a day.

The chickens all get along pretty well now, though they argue at night over who gets top spot on the roost. They’re molting a bit right now, too. So I’m sure that adds to the crankies. But you can see they’re a pretty tight crew.

In spite of this photo, goose is not super friendly. Goose is just lonely and needs attention.

I am happy to be a soft spot for goose to rest, at least until his/her foot is healed and s/he can be reunited with the flock or sent to a sanctuary with other geese.

Goose says “keep honking” and have a good week.

P.S. The tree trunk pool isn’t the only spot that needs a sharing schedule. Flapper is willing to share my lap with the goose, but only for a while.

That means he likes to fight.

I think the combination of his feathers being sore, along with his worry that he will lose top alpha duck status while he molts, makes him want to challenge me all the time. He also can’t talk to me, so he gets angry when I misunderstand him and don’t do what he wants me to do.

I try to stop him and back away.

But he just keeps coming.

I try to discourage him.

But he’s persistent.

He’ll even jump over obstacles to get to me.

Once in a while he’ll pause to catch his breath.

But then it’s time to lunge, catch his talons on my legs and smack me with his wings again.

Here he is in motion.

In spite of his cranky behavior, he really is a lovable guy. Here he is sitting on my lap, telling me about his morning. Although he can be a cranky biter sometimes–especially when he’s molting–he is always a super lovable duck and I’m happy he’s my buddy.

In other news, Olly Astro’s 2nd blood work came back normal, so she’s done with antibiotics. Simon is on antibiotics for a very slight infection, and seems to be doing great. He’ll go back to the vet next Saturday for a quick re-check. Everyone else is doing great.

Happy weekend, and watch out for cranky biters.

Well now he’s a big biter duck, but he’s still as sweet as ever. We spent some quality time in the yard tonight as you can see.

We also had a surprise call today. Our friend Peggy called and said a muscovy duck was taken in by PAWS. The duck was found abandoned at a park, too friendly and tame to survive there on his own. We told PAWS we could take the duck if it was a girl, but for people who aren’t too familiar with muscovies, it is really tough to tell boys from girls. After trying to get the duck to talk on the phone with me, we decided I should just come see it.

So tonight we drove over to PAWS to see what awaited us.

This is what we found. Unfortunately he’s a boy.

He seems like a very sweet boy, but we simply cannot have two muscovy drakes here at Flapper’s house (remember Turk & Rex?)

We apologized to this boy for not being able to give him a forever home… but then we decided to bust him out of the clink!

So he’s here, staying with us until Sunday. Our place is larger than this bank cage he was in. And he can enjoy his time at Flapper’s Hotel & Spa until he heads to his forever home on Sunday. He will live with a goose and some ducks on a pond, and get support with food. He should do okay there.

In other news, I have a new shin guard.

Olly Astro has decided that sitting on my shin is a good spot to watch everything that goes on in the yard. She likes to talk to me, too.

We might get her a napkin so she can wipe her beak on it though.

Happy Birthday to my lovable dinosaur O’Malley. And all the best to this new muscovy drake staying at Hotel Flapper until Sunday. We wish he could stay, but since he cannot… we wish him all the best in his new adventures.

P.S. Flapper says good night.

This is a video of Petunia, Olly Astro and Janet enjoying their afternoon corn treats. That noise at the beginning is Petunia’s very happy sound. She loves corn treats.

Later, O’Malley thought he could get treats faster if he came inside and helped me get them from the refrigerator. His chicken posse followed along to back him up.

While the ducks and chickens enjoyed their treats, Simon sat with me and watched the little birds that fly into the yard. He knows he is not allowed to chase them, but he sure loves to watch them.

Then Flapper requested that I be his “Official Beak Holder” for his evening nap.

Of course I am more than happy to hold his beak. Anything for my buster.

Happy long weekend from Flapper and the whole motley crew.

P.S. I love this duck. He is a lovable biter and he’s my good buddy. He just reminds me a little bit of Hannibal Lector.