Prevue Flight Cage (wide, 1/2" bar spacing)
Wide, not tall. Budgies fly sideways, not up, and Carmella proved it the first week.
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Real animals, real names, real attitude. Nobody here is a stock photo. Click a name to jump down.
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Blue, green and yellow, left to right (usually).
The budgies
Carmella, Plantain & Plantini
Carmella is the blue one and the boss. She wakes up first, calls roll, and if anybody's late she lets the whole house know. Plantain (green) is the gentle one who'd rather sit on your shoulder than do anything productive. Plantini (yellow) is the youngest, the loudest, and the one who learned to say "hello" and now says it at 6 a.m. on the dot.
They live together in one wide flight cage, which took me two tries to get right. The three of them have a rotating alliance system I still don't fully understand. Some days it's Carmella and Plantain against Plantini. Some days it's everybody against the mirror.
Fun facts
- Carmella can mimic the microwave beep, which is not helpful.
- Plantain falls asleep on the swing mid-conversation.
- Plantini says 'hello' in exactly my wife's voice. Nobody else's.
- All three hate the color red. We don't know why. We've stopped asking.
What Carmella uses
Roudybush Daily Maintenance Pellets (Nibles)
The pellet our vet nagged me about until I switched.
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White Pekin, orange bill, black frames.
Pekin duck, wears glasses
Dabodabo
Dabodabo is a white Pekin duck with a big personality and, in our branding, a pair of glasses she did not ask for but has come to accept. She's the face of the channel. If you've seen us on TikTok, you've seen her.
She waddles like she's late for a meeting. She greets the hose like an old friend. She has flooded the patio more times than I can count, and every time she looks proud of it. Her kiddie pool is the most-used object in our yard, and possibly in the neighborhood.
Fun facts
- Favorite food peas, frozen, dumped in the pool so she has to dive for them.
- Nemesis the garden rake. Long story.
- Best trick untying my shoelaces while I'm not looking.
- Sleeps standing on one leg with her bill tucked, like a little white teapot.
What Dabodabo uses
Purina Flock Raiser Crumbles
Non-medicated, works for ducks and chickens together. Dabodabo approves loudly.
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Hard Plastic Kiddie Pool
Cheaper than a pond, easier to dump. Dabodabo's personal spa.
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Brewer's Yeast Supplement for Ducks
Ducks need more niacin than chickens. A spoonful over feed does it.
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Brown feathers, red comb, the same black frames as Dabodabo.
Brown hen, also in glasses
Lady Peck (aka Coworker)
Lady Peck got the nickname "Coworker" because when I'm outside working, she's beside me, watching, occasionally pecking a screw out of the pile. She takes coop cleaning day personally. She supervises.
She and Dabodabo are an odd couple. The duck wants to be wet, the hen wants to be dry, and yet every afternoon they nap within a foot of each other in the shade. She lays a brown egg most mornings and announces it like it's the first egg ever laid in history.
Fun facts
- Egg color brown, and she's very proud.
- Hates rain. Will stand under the coop overhang looking betrayed.
- Loves the treadle feeder. She figured it out faster than I did.
- Signature move the side-eye. Devastating.
What Lady Peck (aka Coworker) uses
Rat-Proof Treadle Feeder
Ended our nighttime rodent buffet. Lady Peck learned the step in one afternoon.
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White, deep orange, pale peach, classic gold.
The goldfish
Snowy, Pumpkin, Peaches & Goldie
Four goldfish, one 40-gallon tank, and more filtration than the tank technically needs, because goldfish are the messiest pets we own and that includes the duck. Snowy is white and the biggest. Pumpkin is deep orange and follows the gravel vacuum around like a puppy. Peaches is the pale one and the shy one. Goldie is, well, gold, and was the first fish and the reason there are three more.
People think goldfish are boring until they watch these four at feeding time. It's a mosh pit.
Fun facts
- Snowy recognizes the food container and goes wild.
- Pumpkin sleeps in the same corner every night, tilted slightly left.
- Peaches gulped air at the surface until we switched to sinking pellets.
- Goldie is at least five years old and still growing.
What Snowy uses
AquaClear Power Filter
Big media basket, easy rinse. The workhorse on Snowy's tank.
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Sinking Goldfish Pellets
Sinking pellets cut the gulping-air problem Peaches had.
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API Freshwater Master Test Kit
Liquid drops, not strips. Trust me, I read labels for a living.
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Gray, fluffy tail, zero shame.
Recurring guest, uninvited
The Squirrel
We didn't get a squirrel. A squirrel got us. He showed up one spring, stole from the chicken feeder, got caught on camera, and became the most-requested character on the channel. He doesn't have a name yet; we're letting the audience decide.
These days he has his own feeder, which was the deal we made: eat from your box, leave the birds alone. He mostly honors it. Mostly.
Fun facts
- Arrives around 7:40 every morning. You could set a clock.
- Solved the lift-lid feeder in under two minutes, on camera.
- Fears Lady Peck, weirdly.
- Doesn't fear me, the hose, or consequences.
What The Squirrel uses
Cedar Squirrel Feeder Box (lift-lid)
Watching him figure out the lid is a whole episode of our channel.
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Dried Corn on the Cob for Squirrels
Buy the case. He eats like he's paying rent.
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Squirrel-Proof Bird Feeder (weight-activated)
The thing that finally made peace between the squirrel and the wild birds.
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