1900 Gallons of ducky bliss

[Tevyes Dad]

Awww poor Tevye. She must think she's a person!

Okay! So Tell and Ettie were your first ducks, or did you get them as adults? Have you hatched any of your ducks?

We got them as fully feathered adolescents. When we first started talking about ducks, I didn't have a clue and we thought we could get a couple Mallards and if it didn't work out we would let them go with the Mallards who live out in the swamp. 30 ft away. We didn't know that this was a horrible plan. Well one of Yvonne's coworkers (from a different branch a couple hundred miles away) said he had a mallard who was sitting on some eggs and would give us two for free if we would meet them halfway. So we made arrangements and they kept failing to work out for one reason or another until the girls were about 8 weeks old. Then we picked them up. When we got them home we figured out that they were too big to be Mallards (and their right dew toe wasn't cut) then figured out they were Rouens. Then we knew we were "stuck" with them or would have to find them a new home if it didn't work out. All the rest of our ducks we ordered from Metzer so we could sex them. I didn't want to send any excess drakes to freezer camp. We have pet owner brains, not farmer brains when it comes to these ducks. (Not that I have anything against farming ducks, but you don't name your food

).

 

[NathanZee]

We got them as fully feathered adolescents. When we first started talking about ducks, I didn't have a clue and we thought we could get a couple Mallards and if it didn't work out we would let them go with the Mallards who live out in the swamp. 30 ft away. We didn't know that this was a horrible plan. Well one of Yvonne's coworkers (from a different branch a couple hundred miles away) said he had a mallard who was sitting on some eggs and would give us two for free if we would meet them halfway. So we made arrangements and they kept failing to work out for one reason or another until the girls were about 8 weeks old. Then we picked them up. When we got them home we figured out that they were too big to be Mallards (and their right dew toe wasn't cut) then figured out they were Rouens. Then we knew we were "stuck" with them or would have to find them a new home if it didn't work out. All the rest of our ducks we ordered from Metzer so we could sex them. I didn't want to send any excess drakes to freezer camp. We have pet owner brains, not farmer brains when it comes to these ducks. (Not that I have anything against farming ducks, but you don't name your food

).

Oh okay. Yeah that wouldn't have been good!

Being "stuck" with ducks is a good thing!

I made the mistake of getting straight run, never doing that again! But Metzer's is great. You definitely don't!

 

[Tevyes Dad]

Some ducks need the ramp less than others. Latte is just about ready to go rampless...

 

[plethora]

Awesome!!! another person with ramp trained ducks

I want to post a link to your thread https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1165474/born-to-swim#post_18337616 and I would hope you expand it. After all with a big pool like that there are many variables for other people. I don't filter mine, but I have no concern about saving water as I live in a wet land and have a well so flowing a couple thousand gallons of water in and out isn't a big deal for me plus I flow a lot of additional water on the hottest month and a half to control the temperature of the pool so it is mostly free of algae. (which I can do since I live in cooler area.) Also if that's all your ducks, you have a bit less poop to deal with than I do so your water might last longer anyway (making the filtering make even more sense). So I encourage you to expound on your thread (I'm subscribing to it.) I would love nothing more than to get several big poolers to post threads and link them all together so that people with similar circumstances can figure out how best to provide their ducks with this special luxury. There is no question ducks love enough depth to dive in and everyone doesn't have the property or means to let their ducks have a farm pond (and the level of security that requires). I am so excited that you get to enjoy the same ducky bliss I do.

AAAAAAnd...

Thanks! Keeping the water clean has been a fascinating adventure indeed. The sand filter does a great job but needs backwashed frequently whenever the water quality gets bad. So we've learned now to stay on top of it on a daily basis so that it never gets to that point. For algae control, I bought a pond UV filter and inserted it in between the filter and the pool. Wasn't sure how well it would work but it has eliminated algae entirely. We also put some chlorine in very sparingly, and vacuum the bottom out every couple of weeks.

Last season we didn't replace the water once. The four Appleyards are the pool kings, and there are six Moscovies as well. Good times.

 

[Tevyes Dad]

Thanks! Keeping the water clean has been a fascinating adventure indeed. The sand filter does a great job but needs backwashed frequently whenever the water quality gets bad. So we've learned now to stay on top of it on a daily basis so that it never gets to that point. For algae control, I bought a pond UV filter and inserted it in between the filter and the pool. Wasn't sure how well it would work but it has eliminated algae entirely. We also put some chlorine in very sparingly, and vacuum the bottom out every couple of weeks.

Last season we didn't replace the water once. The four Appleyards are the pool kings, and there are six Moscovies as well. Good times.

My ducks would have the ammonia level up to dangerous levels very quickly (this is actually more of a problem than the solids). The only way I know of to deal with that is a bio filter with bacteria (in my case the swamp

) or a charcoal filter. I am surprised you don't have issues with that. At 10 ducks in a 10' vs 15 ducks in a 12' I would think you would have as much ammonia as I do.

 

[Tevyes Dad]

I got a new toy for the ducks a few weeks ago. It is a tube made for swimming/snow (It has a nice cap over the valve so it can't scratch or hurt a person / duck) I got it with the idea that they might like floating on it, hiding in it, diving under it and it might provide a buffer between some of the ducks and Kaine. I inflated it with the very least amount of pressure that would give it its shape so that if it "burst" it would be pretty uneventful. So far, duck claws don't seem to do a thing to it, so I think that won't be a problem.

On land, it took them about an hour to decide it wouldn't kill them and when worms were poured inside they had no problems hopping in and out of it. When I put it in their pool, it took two weeks for them to decide it wasn't a donut shaped crocodile intent on eating them (probably had to do with it bobbing around and being blown back and forth by the wind.) So a couple days ago, they decided it was no big deal so I've started to put worms inside it to get them motivated to experiment with it. Hoping they will learn they can fly into it our dive under it.

This was today's exercise (all pics were taken from security cam, so they aren't the greatest quality) ...

I started by adding "instant motivation" to the tube:


Noir learned the very first day that if she chest bumped the tube twice quickly, it would bounce some of the worms out from under the tube. It took the rest of the ducks 5 minutes to learn that when she did that, they should eat as many as they could.


This is the duck that after two years still can't open the food dispenser by herself so she stalks other ducks when they eat so she can mooch a bite while they hold it open.


There have been many attempts to board the tube when it is near the ramp, but it usually results in a duck falling in the water. This time there was enough back pressure from the other ducks that Tella was able to board the tube without pushing it away...


Tella was queen of the world with all the worms available to her and her alone

Nom, nom, nom...


Well her evil sister Ettie gave her a push...


And Pocahontas helped... (Edit: Just noticed in this and the next pic, Noir was bouncing the tube to get worms out which couldn't have helped as far as Tella staying on the tube

)


And they toppled the queen.


Of course that just made Tella's life easier... Nom, nom, nom...


So Pocahontas and Entie tried to get on board.


Pocahontas was successful, Entie, not so much...


A little later, Rhiannon and Entie tried to board.


Rhiannon got on board.


Pocahontas fell in...


Rhiannon followed suit...


And Entie still couldn't get in...


Rub-dub-dub three ducks in a tub(e)... Nom, nom, nom...


Well all good things must come to an end and they eventually ran out of worms

Pocahontas flew out with no problems...


Rhiannon swam out from under the tube (this was a first for any duck.)




Tella kind of leapt clumsily out of the tube.


But she did make it.


So now the tube is empty of both ducks and worms.

 

[Debs Flock]

I'm glad they're getting used to the donut shaped crocodile. I figured the meal worms would sink. Guess not before they munch them all down. Nom nom nom. lol

 

[Tevyes Dad]

I'm glad they're getting used to the donut shaped crocodile. I figured the meal worms would sink. Guess not before they munch them all down. Nom nom nom. lol

Dried meal worms float a long time (over 24 hrs). When I first started with my ducks I kept a life cycle of live meal worms going: meal worms, pupae, Darkling Beetles. Once I had a good cycle going I tried to feed live meal worms to the ducks. They weren't interested!!! So we went with the dried meal worms. They are the ONLY food we now throw in the pool because they do float well and the ducks will get every one of them. When we first got the pool we threw peas in and some of them sank and the ducks had their fill and we ended up vacuuming up a bunch of old soggy peas

. Lettuce is just as bad, so all other food is outside the pool (except goldfish of course

.)

 

[Debs Flock]

Koi food (pellets) float pretty well and our ducks go absolutely nuts for them. They actually weren't as interested in the live fish. Goofy ducks.

 

[Tevyes Dad]

Koi food (pellets) float pretty well and our ducks go absolutely nuts for them. They actually weren't as interested in the live fish. Goofy ducks.

When we were trying to figure out a good food for the ducks at the pond (that would float in the water), we bought a bunch of Koi pellets. The wild pond ducks wouldn't even look at them (but they will eat a dry moldy Twinky someone throws at them

). So we brought them home and our ducks snubbed them also - so much so, we ended up throwing the bag out.

Seems there's no telling what a flock will or won't accept. There are only two foods I have come across so far that individual ducks stray from the flock on. Apples - Rhianon loves them and there are about 5/6 ducks that will eat a couple pieces when they are offered. And dry cat food. Tevye loves it... Everyone else either ignores it or picks up a piece and drops it again.