Jumped in both feet!

[Island Juli]

I have a fairly large flock of chickens, around 250 and growing. I have been getting a lot of requests from my customers for duck eggs and/or salted eggs.

An opportunity arose and I got 100+ ducks of various breeds, but mostly Khaki Campbell and Pekin. We picked them up today and the poor things had only lived in mud for forever looks like. We got them home and into their area. They have a 10 x 20 barn, 3 kiddie pools with wire mesh "ladders" to get in and out, and about the same size of a run outside for now. We plan to expand their area slowly so I don't have to Easter Egg hunt too large of an area. We are in Hawaii and very lucky to have no predators to speak of so they do not get locked up at night. They have full access to the run and barn 24/7.

They got into the pools and cleaned themselves up, I thought they were all brown! I have some very pretty white Pekin ducks now! We changed the pool water 3 times in just under 2 hours.

They ate, a lot!, and drank, a lot! They seem to be settling in, many found sunny spots and preened for a long, long time!

What am I missing? The transition seemed to go too smoothly and I've researched and read, but I still feel like I missed something.

Any suggestions or condemnations for something I did or didn't do?

Thanks for any help with my new loves!

Juli

 

[sourland]

Sounds as if things are going positively. You might want to check for parasites.

 

[luvmyduckies]

Maybe I am wrong but that seems like a small area for so many ducks. I have 18 that free range on the pond all day and gointo a 10 by 20 secure pen with an attached 4 x 8 hutch and feel They do not have enough space. I would love to add more ducks but thought it might be unfair to the ones I have now.

 

[luvmyduckies]

Maybe I am wrong but that seems like a small area for so many ducks. I have 18 that free range on the pond all day and gointo a 10 by 20 secure pen with an attached 4 x 8 hutch and feel They do not have enough space. I would love to add more ducks but thought it might be unfair to the ones I have now.

 

[Island Juli]

I know it's not large enough. Right now, I'm wanting them to re-acclimate and get to know where home is.

Our plan is to increase their "free-ranging" space a little at a time. We have a full acre that will be shared with our chickens, but I don't want them having access to it all as I don't want to hunt for eggs every day.

Last night, their first night here we got 5 eggs and they all laid in the same spot so I'm finding that a positive right now. They greeted me this morning when I went out to feed, they went through around 20 to 25 pounds of feed with a little left in the tubs before they seems to have their fill.

I dumped and cleaned their 3 pools and they hardly waited until they were full before diving in and messing them up! All this was taking place during a torrential downpour so we all got wet and muddy as they flapped their wings in the pools. It was awesome!

 

[TLWR]

Ducks typically lay before sun up, so if you lock them up into their current sized pen/barn, you should have no problem finding their eggs.
If they stay in that space for very long, your pen is going to be complete mud as well.