About Taylor

Hi friends, my name is Taylor.

Growing up I knew I always wanted to rescue animals. Big, small, I didn’t care. I would save bugs from the pool, and anything else I thought needed help. Flash forward to today, I am 24 years old and I finally got my dream: rescuing animals, a long driveway with our last name on the gate, and the love of my life by my side.

I wasn’t always a big bird person, to be honest. I only got less scared and more appreciative of birds when I met a dwarf macaw that was surrendered at an exotic pet store I worked at. The macaw was very nervous, and I feel like he knew I was nervous. He was also aggressive towards everyone. I decided to take a chance and start giving him attention. I ended up being the only person it liked, and it liked me a lot. It would sit on my shoulder most shifts, he wouldn’t even poop on me. The only problem, he still didn’t like other people and would bite me whenever someone got close, but eventually he got nicer. He was adopted by someone eventually. I would have taken him home if I could.

How the birds started

Anyway, this started my bird journey, along with getting more used to birds in the store. I was always leaning towards the homestead life, and ended up getting a few chicks from Tractor Supply. I unfortunately started off not knowing what coccidiosis was. All twelve chicks passed, at least one a day. It was terrible, I felt like an awful pet owner.

This is how I started supporting only local farms for animals. I know the risk is still there for coccidiosis, but the risk is much lower. I’d also rather support local people I know than big corporations. Once I learned more information I felt better hopping back into my journey. I got four frizzles and two ducks, Menace and Giblets. It turned into more chickens eventually. Then we moved to our now two acres. When we moved, it just exploded. We ended up with two rabbits, almost 40 ducks, and around 10 chickens at our most full point.

Why ducks

Homesteading, along with life, is all about learning, every day. Eventually I learned that ducks are less prone to a lot of issues compared to chickens. On top of this, plenty of people love chickens, and if they have 10 it’s about the same work as 20, and so on. Ducks on the other hand are a lot more work when you add a few more.

They are dumped frequently because there is a lot of misinformation out there about being able to leave domestic birds at ponds. Pekins are a big one. I made a post about all the reasons why you shouldn’t dump them, if you want to check it out.

Anyway, I would be on Facebook daily and I kept seeing more and more ducks looking for homes. A lot of which were males, which people didn’t want because they were too “mean” for their flock. It hurt my heart. Chickens almost ALWAYS got a home, especially if they were free. Ducks don’t get the same treatment, especially when the ratio for males to females is best when it’s 1 male to 5 or 6 females. It’s hard to make that work when you don’t have enough space or ducks. There are so many factors as to why ducks go unhomed, and all I want to do is do my part.

What the rescue actually is

I take in ducks that don’t have a home to stay at, or one at all. Those ducks tend to move on to better suited homes, people who can give them lots of love and attention daily. I can give that to them, but the more I find permanent homes for, the more I can take in.

I also take in surrenders. When I take in a surrender from someone who can no longer care for their ducks, I tend to keep them here. The reason is because sometimes the owners get into situations where they can have their ducks again. I want people to know that they can get their babies back if they can. I also allow visits!

Eventually I’d like to be open to people coming to hand-feed the ducks and learn about them. My husband works in education, and I love to learn. The more I can teach people about ducks, the better I’ll feel about making a difference in hopefully reducing the amount of dumped ducks. I am so tired of seeing dumped duck posts. In Florida, there are so many water sources so ducks just get put anywhere. Any domestic birds do terribly when dumped.

Muscovies are another one that needs homes frequently. They are a nuisance here in Florida, because they are not from here and outcompete many of the native species. Due to this, many people take in injured muscovies or babies that are orphaned, and it is illegal to put them back in the wild. Rehabbers won’t spend their resources on them, or aren’t legally allowed to. Only rescues are willing to help. I am one of them, but boy can they be problematic. I’ve had muscovies who could not be with any other birds, they ate my house, and hated humans. Muscovies typically are very friendly, and very quiet, but not always, and when they aren’t the perfect “social media version” people can become frustrated.

Who is here now

Right now I am sitting at just under 20 ducks, I have two rabbits, and fish that I’ve had well before we moved here. I ended up giving away and selling my chicken flock. They did not get along with the ducks, because ducks can easily kill them. They were always free-ranged until I started my rescue, and they did not do well in a run. So I made the heartbreaking decision to let them go and focus on my ducks, rabbits, dogs, and fish. The fish were rescued from someone selling their house who just abandoned their tank, with no electricity and no food or anything. I’ll tell you about it sometime.

The dogs

We also have two dogs, which is our limit, especially due to my Maltese Wifi. He is my only living childhood dog, and he has terrible separation anxiety from me. I somehow convinced my boyfriend, now husband, that Wifi would be less anxious with another dog in the house, a brother.

I knew I always wanted to rescue dogs, and my brain immediately went to a pit bull. You’ll see a theme with me: I gravitate towards the animals that people typically don’t want, or misunderstand. My favorite animal is a shark. Anyway, we went to the shelter for a pit bull that we chose online. The shelter refused to let us take the dog we wanted because we were not a good fit for the baby. It didn’t like men, and it didn’t like other dogs. Totally fine, and I applaud shelters who will hang onto dogs till they find a good fit. I have also refused to rehome birds because they were not a good fit.

They offered us Cannoli, whom we took home immediately. They said he didn’t bark at all, and just liked to escape. He got along with Wifi and us, and home we all went. Turns out, he was just a very shut-down dog. He hated the shelter, it was a loud scary place. So when he went out to go potty, he wanted to leave. I don’t blame him. At home, he didn’t understand toys, or jumping on furniture, or barking, or treats. It was heartbreaking. You wouldn’t recognize him today: he loves jumping, loves to use his voice, lovesss his treats, and is protective of his family.

---

Well, you’ve made it, you now know my story. Eventually I will come in here and add some more as life goes on. But I greatly appreciate you being here and supporting my dream.

With that, I leave you with one of my favorite quotes from Zootopia 2, particularly Judy Hopps: “The world will never be a better place if no one is brave enough to do the right thing.”

Do the right thing. Help animals who can’t speak for themselves, or find someone who can. Support your local businesses, farms, and homesteads.