Recent content by cayugaducklady

  1. cayugaducklady

    Bedding for Duck House? Hay or Shavings?

    I use old sheets / towels while they're babies. Then they graduate to pine pellets ( horse bedding). It breaks down into sawdust as it gets wet. I use pine peletscin the nest box. May I suggest offering your boys some greens in a shallow dabbling pan? They may be bored or need more green...
  2. cayugaducklady

    Duck bedding?

    I buy the Corn cob pellets from tractor supply. They're expensive, around $30 or $40 for 20 lbs. A little goes a long way and they hold up well once you put them out in the pen. I just use those around the areas i know the ducks make the most water mess. I dont mix them together but in...
  3. cayugaducklady

    No One Told Me This About Baby Ducks

    I don't know the answer. I offer chick grit and full size grit to my adult hens because i have an abundance of both. Each bird eats the grit they need. I don't know what I'll get once they finish off my current stock.
  4. cayugaducklady

    Bumblefoot- at home treatment advice

    I soak in peroxide. For open wounds like that i dilute with sterile water. One drop of iodine every 7-10 days. Cover wound with medical ground manuka honey (exotic vets use it to protect tissue and heal wounds like bumbles). I don't do bandages unless vet recommends it. My girls are too...
  5. cayugaducklady

    Duck bedding?

    I've been really happy with pine pellets and corn cob bedding. My hens like nesting in it. they can really make a nice deep nest in it. It holds up well in wet weather and spills/splashing/crazy duck swimming.
  6. cayugaducklady

    Bumblefoot

    I don't mean to alarm you. I had one hen that seemed to constantly get open wounds on her feet this past summer. She died suddenly a few weeks ago. They found a circulatory/ liver congenital problem in her. While she was alive I couldn't find the cause/source of her bumbles at all. Soft...
  7. cayugaducklady

    DLM for Ducks

    I used DLM last year in our relatively mild winter. I switched over to horse stall pine pellets this year because straw is just too expensive in my area if you're not buying it in large quantities. I live in a cold climate. I stirred the bedding every time it wasn't frozen (about once a...
  8. cayugaducklady

    Duck Enrichment

    In warm weather I float their favorite fruit and veggies in water for them. Halved watermelons also provide hours of entertainment. Last year I added about 2 lbs of composting earth worms to their pen. They hunted those all winter and had a blast looking for them. In winter I put out whole...
  9. cayugaducklady

    Psa:it's hawk migration season in New England

    I'd rather not say where I live but its near the Appalachian trail in the northern section of the trail. Our leaves are already changing (Elms poplars and maples) and it's been unseasonably dry since August. They're broad winged hawks...
  10. cayugaducklady

    Psa:it's hawk migration season in New England

    This was the scene over my backyard just a few minutes ago! There are 12 different birds circling over my property and my ducks are super nervous!
  11. cayugaducklady

    Cayugas or Black East Indies

    I had good luck with metzers. I'd order from them again
  12. cayugaducklady

    Teenaged Ducklings Don't Like Their Food

    The easy way to ferment it is yo disk it on water over night before feeding the next morning. It's not a real ferment but it's easy. Here's a link that describes an actual ferment system: http://ohlardy.com/fermented-chicken-feed/
  13. cayugaducklady

    Duck egg cartons

    I use jumbo cartons with my Cayuga eggs. The eggs are slightly larger than the jumbo egg cup but I can close the cartons without a rubber band.
  14. cayugaducklady

    Ducks not laying, it's driving me quackers

    This is my second year raising ducks and Cayugas. My year old ducks didn't start laying until December. They hatched in May. Only one of this year's hatchlings have started laying. She was 4 months and 1 week old. Her hatch mates are showing signs that they're sexually maturing.
  15. cayugaducklady

    I feel bad collecting my ducks eggs

    I collect daily but I only do it when my hens are busy with their daily water play. I used to collect them with them around but I observed one of my hens "deflate" after I gathered the eggs she had just been sitting on. My girls all share the same nest for laying.
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