The Brooding of Allie, Casey and Latte

[Tevyes Dad]

You're a great duck dad! Those are very lucky little ducklings. I love that you have a variety of breeds. Why no muscovy? Too odd? Sorry if you have answered that question elsewhere. I just imagined you would get a kick out of their personality.

First thank you. We try but have certainly had our failures (part of the reason for this brood is we decided we really did want a Pekin even after we failed Snow.) But we have learned from all of our failures and have become better.

Now for the Muscovy...

At first - never heard of them.
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First impression - Ewwww, they have ugly buzzard faces merged with a duck.
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Later impressions - you get used to the caruncle - in fact it adds character. On the girls is it usually dainty and kind of pretty and on the drakes, well it defines them.
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Ok, now I am moderately interested... But Metzer, where I have ordered all my ducks, doesn't stock them, also for some reason, I haven't heard of any of them around here.
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I had the great pleasure of meeting Opie, his girls and his owners (hey Patti, we're talking about the ducks here

- BTW while I have you in the parentheses, Yvonne read about Ernie, we're so sorry

). He has more personality in one claw than just about any other duck/drake I have ever met!!! And his girls were shy and sweet (at least with us strangers). If the only question was to have one or not, I would definitely have one.
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What is keeping us from getting one now is two fold. First we are full up. Once this brood joins the others, the house will be full, the pool will be full, the yard will be full

. We have reached that point in duck math where we will need a real estate agent to get any further. (Yvonne says if I go that route, I go it alone - I had fantasies about a 20 acre field full of grasshoppers and 50 Runners...

). The second problem is the reason why I haven't heard about any Muscovy here. Their caruncle is no longer an aesthetic issue, but it is a health issue. With -20F (annual low) winters (record low is -42F) and the high winds in our area, a Muscovy would definitely have a hard time avoiding frost bite. Even if I gave them a heated house, I am sure they would want to go outside and play with their Mallard-based friends who don't have issues with the weather and they would suffer. I think most chickens around here stay inside during the cold snaps. Not my ducks. In the winter of 2014/2015, my ducks stayed in their house (other than eating and drinking) 2 days. This last winter they were out every day (on the coldest days they just came out and laid on the straw, but they came out). Wild Muscovy don't fly up here at all and some wild Mallards do overwinter here. So I won't force a Muscovy to live here.

 

[Tevyes Dad]

Hypnosis, it HAS to be hypnosis... how else could he get those 'lings to walk calmly back and forth eating and drinking???

Mine run back and forth at 90mph...

Today they don't care about towels... 90mph it is

 

[Tevyes Dad]

Tony, how long would you guess they'll be able to stay in the dog taxi brooder?

I am hoping the whole time. My big brooder that I used with my main flock was 3 ft x 6 ft = 18sq ft and I raised 11 ducks including 1 Pekin in it (1.6 sq ft / duck) This one is 2-1/2 ft x 4 ft = 10sq ft. So that works out to 3-1/3 sq ft per duck or a hair over double the room per duck. Of course toward the end of the brooding process, they will be going outside to "meet" the flock during the day (not falling asleep every 10 minutes) and they will mostly sleep at night so even though it was a tighter fit, it worked out alright. And I expect this to work out great! According to Boondockers Farm (the first place I found info) they recommend .75 sq ft up to two weeks, 1.75 up to 4 weeks and 2.75 up to 6 weeks. So my 11 ducks were a bit cramped (they seemed fine) and three in the carrier should be living the life.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Thank you Tevyes Dad and Yvonne, It was very hard saying good bye to Ernie, Ruth his only girl who is left is slowly making her way into the rest of the flock.

she still stops by his stall every evening to talk to him but he isn't there. I think we'll both be okay.

 

[Ravynscroft]

Thank you Tevyes Dad and Yvonne, It was very hard saying good bye to Ernie, Ruth his only girl who is left  is slowly making her way into the rest of the flock. she still stops by his stall every evening to talk to him but he isn't there. I think we'll both be okay.

So sorry!!!

 

[Julie Birb]

CUTE LITTLE BIRB DUCKS AND I AM IN LOVE. CASEY'S WEBS POP AGAINST THAT TOWEL. AND THEN LATTE'S FULL FRONTAL FACE OF BIRD. ISH. AND NOTE THE PRECARIOUS BALANCING OF ALLIE WITH HER CUTENESS.

Very round they all are.

 

[Julie Birb]

Thank you Tevyes Dad and Yvonne, It was very hard saying good bye to Ernie, Ruth his only girl who is left  is slowly making her way into the rest of the flock. she still stops by his stall every evening to talk to him but he isn't there. I think we'll both be okay.

Bless sweet Ruth. I am glad she is fitting into the flock slowly.

 

[Ravynscroft]

Good morning all. Day one cleaning the brooder was a snap! Two towels out, two towels in, new water, top off food, done! Metzer lists KC as "nervous" same as a Runner. Wow! When reaching in the brooder, Allie and Latte are pretty calm, but Casey is like a flash of lightning and is very hard to catch. They are all great for cuddle sessions though. (Probably because they like the warmth.) Yesterday evening my wife was tracing the mesh of the brooder with her finger. This caused all the 'lings to have an obsession with poking and pulling around the zipper... Good Call I didn't want to see if the carrier's warranty covered 24/7 picking by 3 ducklings with nothing better to do so I devised a toy for them. I took an old lunch meat container, cut a couple holes through it and poked the ends of a bandanna out each side then sealed the rest of the bandanna back in the container like so: It was a real hit and completely distracted them from pulling all the stitches out of the carrier. Now I can't see them finding a way to kill themselves quickly with this, but ducks are clever so maybe one of you can warn me if you think there is a reason this toy is unsafe. The bandanna is fairly new so quite strong and there is NO way they can swallow the whole thing. I doubt they can quickly tear a strip out big enough to be a problem but small enough to swallow. (If there is ANY visible damage to the bandanna, I would either replace it or abort this toy.) There are no sharp edges and the holes are just barely big enough for them to stick their heads through so there is no way they can do that while the bandanna is in there and in two days they wouldn't be able to stick their heads through if the bandanna wasn't there. Anyway, they like to jump on top of it and tug on the bandanna and it seems like a good toy to keep them occupied. Here is a crew shot from right after I cleaned their brooder and put them back in: Left to Right: Allie, Latte, Casey. Most of Allie's back gunk is cleaned up and she is doing great. I have several cameras that are the same as the ones I use for the back yard (that will be installed around the rest of the house once I am ready to go down in the crawlspace and route cables). I temporarily hooked one up over the brooder so my wife can peek in on them from work I already had the camera so it didn't cost me anything That also means I am recording everything so if I find something amiss, I will be able to find out what happened. For example right now, from my computer, I can see they are taking a nap...

sorry, had to laugh at what your wife started... yep, they are OCD about those little things... bandana toy looks great and I think you're on top of it already to watch for fraying... that would be my only worry... I had a groupd of Calls discover a towel I left just within bill reach... by the time I noticed it, they had it pulled through the wire mesh in several spots and frayed to bits... was a new towel too, lol... Love the cam views!!

Today they don't care about towels... 90mph it is

Ya know, after I thought about it last night and was showing my OH the amazing calm duckie vid, I don't think it was the towel as much as it was them getting their 'land legs' back... I didn't think of their trip in the box across the country, lol...

 

[Tevyes Dad]

I believe they have grown since yesterday. So adorable ..

Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! You are correct

Latte: 1.4 - 1.7oz up 21%
Casey: 1.5 - 2.0oz up 33%
Allie: 1.7 - 2.3oz up 35% - Go Pekin power!

But let's not forget the real reason for this thread... Pictures

Latte (L) and Allie (R)


Casey


Allie has something to say....


...reminds me of another opinionated bird... <smile with a tear>

 

[Tevyes Dad]

sorry, had to laugh at what your wife started... yep, they are OCD about those little things... bandana toy looks great and I think you're on top of it already to watch for fraying... that would be my only worry... I had a groupd of Calls discover a towel I left just within bill reach... by the time I noticed it, they had it pulled through the wire mesh in several spots and frayed to bits... was a new towel too, lol...

Love the cam views!!

Ya know, after I thought about it last night and was showing my OH the amazing calm duckie vid, I don't think it was the towel as much as it was them getting their 'land legs' back... I didn't think of their trip in the box across the country, lol...

I can't remember my other two broods day 1 specifically. I know they raced around like crazy on the pine shavings, but I'm not sure about day 1 after their trip. So it could be either. Casey is really crazy. I reach my hand in the brooder toward her, there is a popping sound and she is standing somewhere else - and always was... I am not sure why I was reaching for that other place... Ducks don't care about paradoxes.