Slimp Farm
Hatching
- Jun 23, 2016
- 7
- 0
- 7
He everyone from Benton KY. I am so excited to find a place to talk about my flock and get the information i need. Well alittle bit about myself....
About 2 years ago my 4 year old daughter (now 6) brought home 3 baby chicks. We lived in town at the time so i didnt really know how i was going to take care of these babies but my daughter loves all animals so i did what any good mother would do. I built a coop the best i knew how with what i had (old dog pen). We raised them inside until they were big enough to go outside. First night in the coop something got all of them. My daughter was devastated so i went out bought chicken wire and reinforced the coop, then bought 2 more chickens already old enough to go outside. I sat up all night watching for what was bothering them and come to find out it was opossum. I sat some live traps and took care of that situation, then went out to buy more older chickens. At this point im starting to enjoy having them. So we ended up with 3 rhode island reds and 1 barred rock all hens. All was good, I built a run on their coop because they couldn't free range in town, i collected eggs, checked on them all the time, made sure they were warm during the winter and happy girls.
At the beginning of this year we moved out of town to a place that had a nice big yard with a big pond out front and a nice creek on the side of the property. Now my ladies would be able to free range and they loved it. Well the previous owners of the house had 3 ducks (1 pekin male, 1 pekin female, 1 magpie female) which refused to leave so they became my ducks. They weren't used to people so i couldn't touch them or get real close. I feed them everyday at the same time and they started to come closer. Then i noticed they were laying eggs but something was eating them they didnt have a safe place to lay eggs and raise babies so I built them a floating duck house. Now both females started laying eggs and sitting on them. Then one night a fox, or raccoon, or something killed one of the females (pekin). The magpie female took over all the eggs and sat on them constantly.
So long story short lol i love my birds, I now have 2 adult ducks with 12 ducklings (was 13 until a hawk came) who are now 4 weeks old, 6 chickens (2 are 2 months old, 4 are 2 years old) and one of those hatched 2 ducklings that were left behind (also 4 weeks old). Im still really new to the duck raising so i have alot of questions about those. Im getting the hang of the chickens. I added the younger 2 chickens a week ago so my older girls are not being very nice and im trying to figure out how to keep them safe. I really think they are just doing the pecking order thing and im sure they will stop eventually. I also have 1 chicken that lays on the nest all day long for some reason she never did before but after the other one hatched 2 ducks i guess she wanted her own. We dont have a rooster so she will have to wait till next spring when my ducks start mating again.
About 2 years ago my 4 year old daughter (now 6) brought home 3 baby chicks. We lived in town at the time so i didnt really know how i was going to take care of these babies but my daughter loves all animals so i did what any good mother would do. I built a coop the best i knew how with what i had (old dog pen). We raised them inside until they were big enough to go outside. First night in the coop something got all of them. My daughter was devastated so i went out bought chicken wire and reinforced the coop, then bought 2 more chickens already old enough to go outside. I sat up all night watching for what was bothering them and come to find out it was opossum. I sat some live traps and took care of that situation, then went out to buy more older chickens. At this point im starting to enjoy having them. So we ended up with 3 rhode island reds and 1 barred rock all hens. All was good, I built a run on their coop because they couldn't free range in town, i collected eggs, checked on them all the time, made sure they were warm during the winter and happy girls.
At the beginning of this year we moved out of town to a place that had a nice big yard with a big pond out front and a nice creek on the side of the property. Now my ladies would be able to free range and they loved it. Well the previous owners of the house had 3 ducks (1 pekin male, 1 pekin female, 1 magpie female) which refused to leave so they became my ducks. They weren't used to people so i couldn't touch them or get real close. I feed them everyday at the same time and they started to come closer. Then i noticed they were laying eggs but something was eating them they didnt have a safe place to lay eggs and raise babies so I built them a floating duck house. Now both females started laying eggs and sitting on them. Then one night a fox, or raccoon, or something killed one of the females (pekin). The magpie female took over all the eggs and sat on them constantly.
So long story short lol i love my birds, I now have 2 adult ducks with 12 ducklings (was 13 until a hawk came) who are now 4 weeks old, 6 chickens (2 are 2 months old, 4 are 2 years old) and one of those hatched 2 ducklings that were left behind (also 4 weeks old). Im still really new to the duck raising so i have alot of questions about those. Im getting the hang of the chickens. I added the younger 2 chickens a week ago so my older girls are not being very nice and im trying to figure out how to keep them safe. I really think they are just doing the pecking order thing and im sure they will stop eventually. I also have 1 chicken that lays on the nest all day long for some reason she never did before but after the other one hatched 2 ducks i guess she wanted her own. We dont have a rooster so she will have to wait till next spring when my ducks start mating again.
