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!

Her incision healed really well, and all the staples were removed.

She wasn’t too happy about being held down and squished, but she did just fine.

No more staples!

OIly Astro couldn’t wait to get all of the human cooties off of her feathers.

Then she waited patiently while I talked to the vet and we left.

She was happy to be back home, and she’s doing really well. She won’t ever have to deal with eggs again, and that’s just great. She gained some weight after surgery, so she must be feeling better, too.

In other news…

Olly Astro may not be laying eggs again, but Janet the Cannibal is laying eggs. Then she eats them. Blech. George thought he was missing out on some special treat, and Janet was not backing down or sharing her egg with some big lug of a goose.

They had a peaceful standoff and then George went his own way and left Janet the Cannibal to eat her egg in peace.

Bum-leg Benson and his buddy Reggie went outside today and had a swim in the baby pool.

They both enjoyed the time in the pool.

And then they enjoyed some flapping and preening time.

Reggie seems to be doing pretty well. He has another week of antibiotics for his respiratory problems.

Benson’s breathing is not as good, and he has at least two more weeks of antibiotics for both his bum leg and his respiratory problems.

You can hear them both coughing and hacking up junk in this little video where they talk to O’Malley through the glass door.

They are both good boys and seem strong. They are eating well and getting lots of rest. Hopefully they can recover and join George at his forever sanctuary in about a month.

Speaking of George, this is his last week here at Flapper’s house. Next Saturday he goes to his forever sanctuary where he’ll get to live with other rescued geese and also some other animals. We’ll take some photos if we can. George has been a joy and a wonder to have around, and we will miss him dearly. He is a slightly shy, sweet guy who is growing up now and needs some friends. So it’s perfect timing. We hope he settles right in, and we’re happy we’ll get to hopefully see him again in a few more weeks when we take Benson & Reggie to join him.

Our other rescued kid, Lester Leroy, also got to go outside today. He and Flapper had a nice time swimming and preening in the sunshine. Lester can stand up really tall now! He still rests on his butt for balance, but he is doing well and can get around pretty good.

Lastly, Petunia is doing well and thinking of nesting. She is probably 7-years-old now, so she doesn’t lay many eggs at all… maybe one or two in the spring. But she is thinking about nesting now and goes through this daily ritual of picking up stuff and tossing it around. She especially likes to pick up feathers and rearrange them. It’s cute to watch her with her busy, important nest rituals.

That’s a BIG update for this weekend. We hope everyone is having a great, relaxing weekend.

Keep quackin’!

P.S. Oh! We almost forgot! In the window post-it war at the office, the next building over finally posted a response to our Space Invaders post-its.

Check it out!

It’s Dig Dug!

Well played… well played. We’ll have to think seriously about what our next move will be. Until then, keep quackin’.

Flapper had a good time splashing, and then Lester Leroy came out for a quick swim as well.

Then George had his pool back, and spent some quality time with his AstroTurf.

On Tuesday, our chickie Olly Astro will have surgery. Also, Lester Leroy will go to the vet as well, for a recheck on his bone infection. Please send good thoughts for Olly. We hope the surgery goes smoothly. Fingers crossed!

Quacks and clucks,

Tiff, Flap & the flock

Poor little Petunia has a sinus infection. Her nare was blocked off with gunk and so she and O’Malley both started antibiotics this week. Petunia went to the vet to have her nare cleaned out and she’ll go back in 10 days if it doesn’t clear up. She was NOT AMUSED. I told her I would watch her more closely in the future to make sure I noticed when she was sick. She is too sweet and quiet so it is sometimes hard to tell when she’s not feeling well, especially when there is other stuff going on here. So Petunia… feel better soon, girl. O’Malley too. (Her feathers look bad right now because she is molting. They should be back to beautiful very soon).

Now about that sweet goose.

Goose was not at all interested in being at the vet today. But she was a sweetheart.

Goose weighs 6.06kg.

Goose’s foot does not look good. Vet wanted to take an x-ray to see if it had been broken.

The foot has been broken, and dislocated, and it is also really infected and arthritic. Some of it has calcified. This means it is unfortunately too late to fix, especially in a heavy bird like a domestic goose.

We had blood taken to see how bad the infection is, and in the meantime goose will start on antibiotics and anti-inflammatories.

It was a group effort to get the blood drawn.

We are also having a DNA test done so we can know whether goose is a boy or girl. Then we can give him/her a proper name. My guess is girl, but I’ve been wrong before. All blood results should be back Thursday.

While goose’s foot cannot be “fixed,” it can be improved. Goose will go in for foot surgery to clean out the infection and help the foot heal as best it can. This will probably happen a week from today. Goose will need quite a few weeks of aftercare, and hopefully we can do that here at Flapper’s house. If the infection has not done too much systemic damage to the goose, she should be able to recover. She will always have a slight limp and arthritis, and she’ll be prone to future bumblefoot flare-ups, but she should be able to walk okay and live a good life.

Some people have said goose looks angry or mad or upset in some of these photos, but I have to tell you, this goose is not at all aggressive. I know some geese have a bad reputation, but this goose is so far a perfect angel and a total sweetheart. The goose was panting in the photos from stress. It’s a normal response to being poked and prodded by strangers. Goose never tried to bite anyone. Goose is just stressed and scared and a little confused.

Goose came home, let me give her two shots and put cream on her foot, and then she settled into her space and ate some lettuces and food.

We will keep you updated on goose, and let you know as soon as we know more. This is going to be a long-term foot care, so we will not update every day… just when there is new news to share.

Thank you for all the nice thoughts and well wishes for this goose. Remember, there are 8-9 other geese still dumped at Riverfront Park in Spokane, WA who need a safe forever home with a winter barn and food support. We are sorry that we can only help this one goose, but that is all we can do for now.

In other news, goose was not the only one dumped at a park.

This iguana was found in a park in Seattle. It is cold and wet and rainy here. Someone let this beautiful reptile go in a park. Thankfully the Seattle Shelter took it in and we got to meet it today at the vet’s office. We also saw a hawk, some parrots, a frog and a 10-year-old hen.

We’ll share more as soon as we know more. Thank you, and keep honkin’.

P.S. Please tell everyone you know that there is a difference between wildlife and domesticated pets. Domestic animals CANNOT be released in parks. It is a death sentence for them, and causes great suffering. It is also illegal in most areas and can carry cruelty charges. Please never buy pets, and never hatch or breed any pet you cannot care and provide for for life.

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.

It’s been kind of hot in Seattle, so Janet the chicken has been trying to stay cool by fanning out her feathers. She insists it is very civilized, but I think it looks goofy.

Olly Astro thinks it looks a little goofy, too. But it’s pretty hot in Seattle.

So eventually she decided to join in the fun. A nice dust bath didn’t cool her down, but it cleaned her up.

I have been staying cool with fruit icees made from fresh fruit from the local farmer’s market. Olivia shares them with me but the other chickens don’t care for them.

Olivia and Olly Astro still don’t get along too well, but they mostly avoid each other. As you can see, most everyone gets along okay as long as I keep an eye on them.

The hot weather has caused Petunia to start molting. She leaves a pile of feathers everywhere she goes.

She’s still pretty though, even if she’s missing a few feathers.

Simon is doing well. He loves hanging in the yard in the warm weather, and he prefers the heat to the rain.

That’s just about all the updates from here at Flapper’s house. We’re doing a lot of maintenance work on the yard, so we haven’t had much time for the interwebs. We’re having a tree taken out, trimming up the ivy, keeping everything watered and hoping it cools down soon.

We hope you have a good week. Chewy and Olivia send their best. They promise to pose for more photos this week.

And Flapper says, “stay cool.”

“I want to take a swim in Flapper’s pool. Do you think he’ll mind?”

I think he might be okay with it if you ask first… oops! Too late.

“Yahoooo!”

“That was a good splash.”
And a far-reaching splash, too. I am all wet now.

“Make room for me!”

“Cannonball!”

“WOohoo!”

“Super splash!”
Nice one, Petunia.

“What’s that sound?”
Oh! Um… hmm, I’m not sure, Flapper.

“If they are in my pool I don’t want to know. Just promise me you’ll clean out the muscovy cooties.”
Okay, Flapper. I promise.

“I can’t look. I’m going to make myself invisible by hiding my head. What?! What do you mean that doesn’t make me invisible? Are you sure?”

“Aaaah, that was a great swim.”

“Wake me up when my pool is clean again.”
Okay, Flapper. Sweet dreams buddy.

First he got some oil from his oil gland on top of his tail.

Then he spread the oil onto his long wing feathers.

Some feathers were hard to reach, but he managed to preen them all.

He even scratched his chin feathers, which gave me a close-up view of his fuzzy butt.

Finally it was time to flap off the last of the water droplets.

Chewy even flapped to show off his buff chest feathers. He has been working out.

The bright sunlight showed off Chewy’s colorful feather details once he was all clean and preened.

Lookin’ good, Choo Choo. Right down to the last freckle.
“Thanks.”

After preening, Chewy laid down next to his wingman Flapper for a nice Saturday afternoon nap.

I was laying down on the other side of Flapper, so we all took a nap together.

On the other side of me, even O’Malley settled down for a nap with Petunia and Olivia the chicken.

Simon gave us the stink eye from across the yard, because he doesn’t like to nap near flapping birds. Too bad, Simon.

We hope everyone had as nice of a Saturday afternoon as we did.

Happy summer weekend, from Chewy and the whole crew.

For instance, did you know that chickens like applesauce?

Well they do. But if you plan to share with them, make sure you take your share first, because they get dirt in your applesauce.

In other news, O’Malley was the victim of a sneak attack.
“It was scary!”

He was walking by Racquel L’Oreal in the yard, and Racquel thought he was way too close. She thought he was going to attack her so she made a pre-emptive strike and FLEW through the air right at O’Malley’s face.

HI-YA!

“I wasn’t attacking her, she attacked me. I was just walking by her and she went kung-fu on me.”

“I have conquered. Who is next? Wax on, wax off. HI-YA!”
Calm down, Racquel. No one is after you, silly muppet.

“I’m going to stay in my pen for awhile. Will you close the door?”
Sure thing, O’Malley. I’m sorry buddy.

Racquel is growing some new face feathers, so maybe she is just a bit sensitive.

Here is what we call a “Racquel Eclipse.” She stands behind Olivia sometimes and we can’t find her.

Everybody else is doing fine. Chewy loves napping in the long grass.

And Flapper does, too.

“Wait! It’s not nap time until after treat time.”
Good point, Flapper. I’ll go get some treats and we’ll wish everyone a good week for now.

Have a good week, everyone.

Petunia enjoyed a good splash in the clean pond and then showed off her wings.

Then she showed them off from the other side, too.

And finally, from the back.

Looking pretty good, Petunia. I think once you’re all dried off in the sunshine you’ll look just perfect.

“I think so, too. Thanks.”

“And now, time for a nap.”