It's all about the poop

I used to say this to my wife when our son was born and I still do from time to time as he is now being potty trained.

Those are his shorts on his head while he does his business

 Poops tells us a lot it seems, from human to animals. I recently was concerned about my ducklings as I was noticing very wet runny stools. I was concerned enough that I went to Just Answers and paid for some general advice plus posted in a duck group Facebook forum.  I got replies such as infection, parasite to water-rich foods.  Apparently the answer is stress from my observations. They only seem to do it when they get spooked out or are kept in small containers while I clean the pen (which I expanded and is easier to clean). Suddenly frightened or stressed seems to do it as when they are relaxed they have normal stools. I've ruled out infection or parasites as it is never a constant runny stool. Just now Naili had a perfectly normal poop. POOP POOP POOP! It's all about the poop!

I've also figured out a less stressful way of providing clean water. I have two dog bowls set in a wide brim bowl to catch run-off/spillage.  I give one while they have food and then I give the other and take food away for awhile once they had their fill of it.. Don't worry, they don't go hungry as their is plenty spilled on the ground. The problem is not that they dirty it up while eating as it is used to help pass the food down, but because Naili chases them out of the way which means wet feet covered in food going through the water bowl.

Here's an example:

This is a full clean bowl of water

This is 5 minutes after providing a full bowl of food (now only 1/4th full) and a nearly empty bowl of muddy water. If I put both bowls down she chases them regardless and in five minutes I have two bowls in same condition.



This new pen I made from a tarp is working great except for the hole that Naili discovered and keeps trying to exploit (I cover it with towel). Clean up is a lot quicker and when cleaned well I can simply lay on my side and play with them.  The smaller ones that are nervous around me lose their inhibition when they see me play with Naili or Omelet.

Today is clean the house day so off I go to do my Honey-do list. Enjoy!