Newbie with a couple of questions

Hi,

We are having our garden redone at the moment and have allocated space to some Cayugas. We are thinking of three, a local breeder has suggested two female and a male although i had wanted all girls.

I have picked up a duck house and have planned out the run and area they will have during the day, the garden is secure enough for them to be let out while we are home.
My first question is regarding the best age to collect them. They will be going straight into the duck house which has no artificial lighting. Am i right in thinking they need to be 12 weeks old? The weather here in the UK is quite mild.
Also we have our old bathtub which I'm going to sink so they have a good amount of water to bath in. It will have circulating water, the water will run out of the original taps using a pond pump. I will also create a ramp so they can get out but i appreciate this is quite deep so what age will they be happy swimming on their own in this depth. Any other info would be great. I have kept chickens before so I'm quite happy with the construction of the run etc but just any general duck advise.

You can have three girls. With my drakes two girls would not be enough. Their libido runs rampant. However I know people that have no issues with a 2:1 ratio.

They will be fully feathered at around 6 weeks or so and will be fine outside and swimming in the tub once they have all their feathers.

Enjoy them and post lots of pictures!

Excellent thanks for the reply.

It's a bit of a nightmare trying to read through all the different websites!
Chris

If the weather is mild you could do more around 8 weeks outside. Just watch the nighttime temps. I would not get a male with just 2 females. Some people can make it works but my guy has 5 females. They all get lots and lots of love and are missing a few feathers too now. Ducks tend to muck up water very quickly and most pond pumps can't keep up. So really research how you are going to keep the water clean or how you will drain it.

again thanks for the reply.
I have been thinking about the pond as assumed it would get a bit messy. I have got an old bilge pump to empty if needed. I might incorporate a draining system into the pump but will have to see. Will update once the coop is all together.
thanks again

Mine are 6 weeks old and they go outside during the day but they still have patchy fluff. The only reason I would caution you on putting them out at 8 weeks is if they aren't oiling their feathers regularly and they have any fluff left they can get waterlogged and chilled fast. You might want to wait until they are 100% fledged before you give them a deep water source just to prevent getting chilled. Otherwise I would think between 8-10 weeks they would be fine in their duck house overnight.

thanks for the feedback.
I will get in touch with the breeder and see if i can come to an arrangement with them.
thanks again for the advise
chris

So a bit of an update.
I picked up my 3 cayugas at the weekend. First afternoon they seemed pretty nervous but that was expected really.
They are 10 weeks old now so have nearly all their feathers and seem pretty happy outside. The weather has been quite good.

Just a quick question. how much feed should i be giving them daily? I assume they could just eat and eat? Also do i need to be putting any feed in with them at night?
Thanks again

edgeydt50 said:

So a bit of an update.
I picked up my 3 cayugas at the weekend. First afternoon they seemed pretty nervous but that was expected really.
They are 10 weeks old now so have nearly all their feathers and seem pretty happy outside. The weather has been quite good.

Just a quick question. how much feed should i be giving them daily? I assume they could just eat and eat? Also do i need to be putting any feed in with them at night?
Thanks again

Click to expand...

You can choose to feed them twice a day, morning and evening, or you leave them enough food so they pick and eat when they want to. If you want to reduce their mess in the coop, don't place food and water in there. They will all be fine without feed for the night.

Keep food in stock and available. They will eat and stop when they are full, however they should always have it available.