Our Ducks

Lucky - introduced us to handling ducks. She was a Muscovy-Mallard mix and with Frenchie became the first two therapy ducks. She passed on summer of 2008.

Frenchie - Muscovy-Mallard mix was foster raised by Lucky. She had a tuff or crest on her head that resembled a French beret. She is one of our smallest and oldest ducks.

Von Drake is a male Peking duck. After Lucky passed, we knew we wanted to continue but thought we should go with stay away from mixed breeds for longer life. A farm in Nescopeck gave us Von Drake and Frenchie had a new freind.

Donald and Daffy - While on a therapy visit in the Montoursville area during the Spring 2009, a nursing home worker had two ducks they got for Easter and were now growing and they wanted to get rid of them Donald is a male Peking duck white like Von Drake and about the same size. Daffy is a female Rouen, not quite black in color. She does lay eggs.

Afro is also a another Muscovy-Mallard mix who was born with a full crest of hair. He has more color than Lucky or Frenchie and is absolutely cute as can be. So cute he was picked as our youngest duckling to be picked for training.

Stumpy - a another Muscovy-Mallard mix that was not choosen as a therapy duck. As a duckling, she must have been attacked by a turtle on the pond and was missing a foot. She survived a second night and was placed in our therapy duck pen. We handle her often and as she was use to it, we took her on some visits. Kids especialy with disibilities loved hearing how fast she was and hard to catch.

Because of limit budget, we did not test Stumpy. A doctor friend decided to sponsor her and was tested with some other animals that were due. She passedand is a therapy duck.

Home > Therapy Ducks

Our therapy ducks all tested or retest 2010 as Delta Society Pet Partners

Young's Funny Farm Therapy Duck Program-How it all started

One of the many ducks we had on the property had a run in with a car while crossing the road and our vet was called and recommended catching the duck and putting it into the bath tub to see if it could swim. If it could, it had a chance for survival.

Luckily, for Lucky as she was soon dubbed, she could swim. But how to keep her safe until she healed was the next question. She ended up living in the basement for the entire winter and swimming once a day in the bathtub.One day when it was time to go back to the basement, Lucky was missing from the tub. After a quick search of the house, Lucky was discovered eating dog food from Timmy’s bowl, with Timmy by her side. At that time, we decided we had a special duck.

While she was living in the basement, Vonnie had some extra chicken eggs from a 4-H embryology project, slipping them into her nest, Lucky (a Muscovy-Mallard mix) hatched one chick. Unfortunately, the chick did not survive for long. Assuming Lucky would be a good mother we moved some new hatched ducklings into her nest. Lucky happily accepted her foster brood and raised 5 ducks.

Lucky had healed with only a slight limp. It was time to move outdoors. She and her ducklings moved into the dog kennel with a kiddy pool to keep them safe. One of the ducklings, a second generation Muscovy-Mallard mix, was especially cute with a little French beret tuft of feathers on her head. Frenchie and Lucky were the first therapy ducks for Young’s Funny Farm and for the Delta Society.

Lucky’s story was shared with all the school children she visited, reminding them to be careful when crossing the street. Lucky has passed on from old age but Frenchie is still making visits and has been joined by Daffy and Donald, a Rouen and Peking, rescued from a nursing home. Afro, another Muscovy-Mallard mix has a “hairdo” that would make many a lady jealous.

VonDrake, a Peking, came to live on the farm from a local duck farm. Stumpy, had a run in with a snapping turtle in the pond and was brought into the pen to have time to heal and stayed to join the therapy ducks .

The ducks have a “magical” touch with people as they stroke the soft feathers. They bring big smiles to all they visit.