Malley all grow'd up.

Now that "Malley" is all grow'd up. It's quite obvious he's not a Mallard. Which is fine. We love him all the same. But because of this we do clip him so that he can't meander and upset the natural balance of Florida. Malley came to me as bitty chick. The owners kept seeing his output getting larger and larger and stinkier, and well....



Now look at my boy... This is all the lift he can muster.





But it doesn't stop him from thinking he can fly. He jumps up on the table. Then he flaps up onto the railing. Then after a nice waddle around up there he gains some wind and flaps to the ground. :) Every morning! His ritual.






Bad momma that I am, I haven't created a pond for him yet. And this is truly my  next adventure in home improvement. I have two Red-Eared Sliders that are just getting to big for my tank. Malley needs a pond. Don't you think? Poor thing has to resort to this. How degrading!






See? Clipped. Not painful. I do it only once a year. After a large molt. Before the winter blows in. And can blow him into a higher lift than he can naturally. Because he's considered a nuisance non-species we thought of pinioning. But for now I can handle the clips.

ducks