# Pics Of New Rescued Birds - April 6, 2005



## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

http://www.rims.net/2005Apr06/Ducks
http://www.rims.net/2005Apr06/Mockers

Terry


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## Lin Hansen (Jan 9, 2004)

Hi Terry,

Thank you for sharing your pictures.....the ducks and ducklings are beautiful and the juvy mockingbirds are just the cutest little things!

Just out of curiosity, I wanted to ask you about the classroom project ducklings...did you get a chance to talk to the teacher or to the school who ran this project? Or were the babies just dumped on you?

While I'm sure the project of hatching duckling eggs was probably a thrilling class project for the children, it seems unconscionable that an educator (of all people!) would run such a project with no thought or plan of what would become of the ducklings once they hatched!

Thank goodness there are people like you out there to help these poor babies.

Linda


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## bigbird (Aug 19, 2000)

I love baby ducks.
In fact I love all baby birds.
Sometimes I wish they would stay "babies" forever.
Guess I should grow-up.
Carl


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

bigbird said:


> Guess I should grow-up.Carl


Naw .. takes all the fun away!

Terry


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

Lin Hansen said:


> Just out of curiosity, I wanted to ask you about the classroom project ducklings...did you get a chance to talk to the teacher or to the school who ran this project? Or were the babies just dumped on you?


No chance to speak with this particular teacher. A very nice young lady who works at the school realized that no plans had been made for these ducklings and that the likely outcome would not be good unless she intervened and made arrangements for them.

Often the teachers are convinced that setting the ducklings or chicks free at some public park is a wonderful thing, and they don't realize that it is a death sentence for the little birds.

The other "myth" is that the feed store, hatchery, or laboratory will welcome the babies back with open arms .. I can assure you that's not the case. They may indeed take them back, but I'm reasonably certain that most of the classroom hatchings are simply killed if/when returned .. too much risk of introducing a contagious disease into a commercial operation to do otherwise.

The really sad cases are the hatchlings who end up with deformities from poor incubation, those that are dropped and/or stepped on resulting in horrible injuries, those that develop splayed legs .. and nobody notices until it's way too late to try to rectify the problem(s).

Terry


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## Lin Hansen (Jan 9, 2004)

Hi Terry,

*Often the teachers are convinced that setting the ducklings or chicks free at some public park is a wonderful thing, and they don't realize that it is a death sentence for the little birds.*


Thanks for the reply.....too bad the "Hatch Kits" the schools use don't include a warning of some type that these ducklings will not survive if let free and that suitable arrangements for aftercare should be made BEFORE embarking on a project of this kind.

The babies are adorable...I'm glad that they are in good hands now.

Linda


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## Poulette (Feb 5, 2002)

bigbird said:


> I love baby ducks.
> In fact I love all baby birds.
> Sometimes I wish they would stay "babies" forever.
> Guess I should grow-up.
> Carl


I am just like you Carl. When my birds have babies I spend as much time as possible with them, in a contemplative state! They are pure little miracles but they grow too fast!
 
Suz.


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## Pigeon-girl1988 (Mar 20, 2005)

Cute pekins! I love ducks I have three of them a pekin and 2 pekin crossed with blue swedish. The swedish got killed she was actually a rescue from a park. She had crd ( a resperatory disease) and was about to die I stole her and brought her home and treated her and she lived a year with me but she got killed by a dog, but I have her 2 daughters. They are some of my favorite birds. One of mine is just a baby now only 1 week old and too cute my female blue swedish layed the egg just the day before she died.


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## WhiteWingsCa (Mar 1, 2002)

TAWhatley said:


> No chance to speak with this particular teacher. A very nice young lady who works at the school realized that no plans had been made for these ducklings and that the likely outcome would not be good unless she intervened and made arrangements for them.
> 
> Often the teachers are convinced that setting the ducklings or chicks free at some public park is a wonderful thing, and they don't realize that it is a death sentence for the little birds.
> 
> ...



ACK! 

I would never have thought about that. Our local public school had ducklings incubated and hatched in the grade one class a couple of years. However, the teacher had a farm -- and raised ducks -- so it was her duck's eggs/her incubater/her ducklings that went back to the farm afterwards.

Do they seriously sell "hatch kits" for schools - without any warning/instructions on proper care and what to do with the birds afterwards?????

The animal rights folks would love to step in and put a stop to it, I'm sure. Those poor babies!


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

WhiteWingsCa said:


> Do they seriously sell "hatch kits" for schools - without any warning/instructions on proper care and what to do with the birds afterwards?????


I don't know about the selling of hatch kits, but I know for sure that the teachers have no trouble getting the eggs for their projects.

Terry


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## Lin Hansen (Jan 9, 2004)

Hi Terry and Whitewings

The link below is just one example of a complete "hatch kit," incubator, eggs, etc that can be ordered for "educational" purposes:
http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/product/classroom_incubator_and_brooder_kit.html

And here is a link spelling out just why these classroom projects are not always a good idea....read it and weep:
http://articles.animalconcerns.org/ar-voices/archive/hatching_proj.html

The two links I've provided mainly mention chicken eggs and the poor chicks that hatch from these projects..but if you look around at the site that supplies these kits, a variety of eggs can be ordered for use in these projects.

I think these projects probably would be a wonderful learning experience for the children, but only if proper care is taken and proper care and homes are ensured for the resulting birds...I think sometimes people lose sight of the fact that these birds are not just a science project, but living beings that deserve to be treated properly once they arrive.

JMHO
Linda


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

Excellent article on the down side of classroom hatchings. Thanks for the links, Lin. I was a bit surprised to see the fairly significant cost of the kits but wish they were even more to help discourage the classroom projects.

Terry


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## Pigeon-girl1988 (Mar 20, 2005)

You can buy an incubator virtually anywhere. I have one myself. For raising chicks all you need is an incubator and for when they hatch an aquarium or similar with a clamp light for heat. Also a bag of chick starter. I'm sure most schools find homes for them, very few are unprepared i'm sure but most (like my high school) have homes in advance. The thing about improper turning resulting in deformed chicks is completely untrue as most incubators have an automatic egg turner. The thing that really makes me mad is people selling colored easter chicks or ducks to little kids who have no idea how to take care of them and they usually die.


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

Sorry PigeonGirl .. I gotta disagree with your post. I have gotten as many as four dozen ducklings from one school district, 3 dozen chicken chicks from another, and constantly battle the Anaheim CA school district who dump their classroom hatchings at Pearson Park. The park maintenance personnel watch the Anaheim U.S.D. van drive through and then call me about the new ducklings (fuzzy yellows) that are there .. I'm sorry .. this is insane .. this is irresponsible .. and I'm sick of it.

If you are somewhere that the teachers actually have their heads screwed on right, they I'm happy for you, them, and the little birds.

Trust me .. most places .. the little birds are dumped or sent home with unwitting kids whose parents sucker for it until the chicks or ducklings become a problem.

Several years ago I got in another not 3 .. not 4 .. not 5 .. but 6 dozen ducklings from a Tustin CA school district where the ducklings had been sent home in cages of a size that would work up until about 3 weeks of age. When I got the first sets of two from two different places with the ducks actually having curved spines from being in too small of a cage, I had to go ballistic .. the first Mom who found me realized that she and her family had been duped and that the ducklings were =not= OK .. once she found me, I had a literal tidal wave of incoming from this school district .. so, I'm sorry to say that based upon my experience this classroom hatching stuff is NO GOOD.

At that point I was left with four very young ducks with severe bone problems and nobody standing up to cover the vet bills to try and correct it or even the cost of euthanizing them (no, we didn't euthanize .. but these ducklings were doomed to a horrible life .. very crippled and disfigured).

All these ducklings were placed, but this was an extremely difficult thing and what the schools did was morally wrong .. they did not take responsibility for the young birds, did not find them good homes, did not provide information on care and housing, and basically just created 6 dozen very messed up ducklings. 

Sorry, I can't and won't go for it .. classroom hatching is bad in my opinion.

Colored babies .. well .. go let those folks soak themselves in a vat of dye and walk around as pink, blue, purple, yellow, or red folks for awhile. Actually the practice of doing this and selling them has been outlawed for years in most states.

Sorry to be so vehement about this BUT .. IT'S WRONG!

Terry

PS: All members are most free to have another opinion .. I'm not an ogre or anything, but if you think this classroom stuff is good, please e-mail me where I can ship you this season's batch of mangled, deformed, injured, sick, and otherwise needy. Will be looking forward to lots of offers for homes.


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## Lin Hansen (Jan 9, 2004)

Hi Pigeongirl,

As Terry said, it's great if you are in a district where the schools and teachers act reponsibly during these chick hatching projects and take responsibility for the resulting chicks. However, your area appears to be the rare exception. In addition to the link I provided in my previous post above, I invite you to view the following links:

http://www.teachkind.org/humanesci_hatching.asp

http://www.upc-online.org/hatching/

http://www.actionforanimalsnetwork.org/ny_school_duck_hatching.htm

This one is especially heartbreaking:
http://www.paveglio.com/features/chicks2003.shtml

Believe me, I could provide more links, but I think you get the idea.....

Terry, I'm with you on this one....

Linda


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## Pigeon-girl1988 (Mar 20, 2005)

I know all about hatching chicks as I have done it for 4 years. Unfortunatly those colored chicks are still sold. As many hatcheries sell them to several states only a few states have a law that bans them. My state sells them. I have bought two colored ducklings which grew to large adults unfortunatly I don't have them anymore. Easter is the biggest problem of all colored chicks or not thousands of chicks are sold to eager kids who beg there parents thousands of ducklings are also sold. And ask anyone who has had one if they still do and they will say oh I "let it go", "I gave it away", or the most common "it died" I don't think class room hatches are as much a problem as this easter thing. Although I do believe those links are right but down here in the country where I live there is an unlimited supply of places to take unwanted chicks.


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## feralpigeon (Feb 14, 2005)

Hi Pigeon-girl1988,

What kinds of places do you mean by unlimited supply of places to bring unwanted chicks to?
Thanks,
fp


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

Pigeon-girl1988 said:


> Easter is the biggest problem of all colored chicks or not thousands of chicks are sold to eager kids who beg there parents thousands of ducklings are also sold. And ask anyone who has had one if they still do and they will say oh I "let it go", "I gave it away", or the most common "it died" I don't think class room hatches are as much a problem as this easter thing. Although I do believe those links are right but down here in the country where I live there is an unlimited supply of places to take unwanted chicks.


Yes the Easter impulse purchases of chicks, ducklings, and rabbits are a huge problem .. I definitely agree with you on that. 

It's wonderful that you live in the country and can find good homes for the birds.

Terry


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