Recent content by Dancinbaer

  1. Dancinbaer

    Rouen Hen still laying

    This spring our Rouen hen laid 19 eggs, 10 hatched (early July). Late September she started laying again. She's been pretty regular at one egg per day. Is this normal? We got our drake and hen last year when they were about 7 weeks old. She started laying her first few eggs around this time...
  2. Dancinbaer

    Sexing Rouens by color

    I read through several threads on sexing and understand sound, quack or hiss, is the best way other than looking for the corkscrew method. But seems I read somewhere that one has a single black stripe across the eyes and the other has a double stripe across the eyes. When our two were still...
  3. Dancinbaer

    Will they hatch?

    There was originally only one clutch of 17 eggs. Ten hatched, seven did not. Since my post I have not seen her on the remaining seven. She is being a great Mom to the ten ducklings that did hatch. I'll probably just toss the 7 unhatched eggs. Thanks,
  4. Dancinbaer

    Father nipping at ducklings

    Is it normal for the father to "nip" at the ducklings? Not often but a few times I've caught the father of our new ducklings nip at them.
  5. Dancinbaer

    Will they hatch?

    Another twist to the duckling saga. I set up a barricade in the door of the run high enough to keep our new ducklings in but low enough so the adults can come and go. Placed some fresh straw in the run and Waddles built a nest for the ducklings. I thought Waddles had abandoned the remaining 7...
  6. Dancinbaer

    Day-old ducklings go for their first swim - video

    Here's our day-old ducklings going for their first swim. Around 42 seconds Mom grabs one by the scruff of the neck and throws it in. It's amazing how much natural instinct these birds have. Both as ducklings and adults.
  7. Dancinbaer

    First ducklings

    Here's our proud Mamma with the first couple ducklings. Around 7AM there was one duckling. Around 6PM I counted seven. She laid 12 eggs total that I could count.
  8. Dancinbaer

    Rouen Duck thread

    Found this among many others by Googling "Ducks Molting" : Molting: Putting on a New Feather Coat Ducks depend on their feathers and old, worn feathers must be replaced. Molting is the process of replacing worn feathers. Ducks molt in the late summer and in the early spring. During the fall...
  9. Dancinbaer

    Rouen Duck thread

    I asked the same question several days ago about our year-old Rouen, he is starting to molt.
  10. Dancinbaer

    Color changes

    Our Rouen drake has some color changing going on. He's just over a year old. In the picture you can see the lighter color coming in around his lower beak, a few speckles near his upper beak and above his eye. What doesn't show up in the photo is around his eyes is turning from the emerald green...
  11. Dancinbaer

    Rouen Duck thread

    One morning I went out to spend some time with our drake. I set him on the bench next to me and after a short time he jumped in my lap. I found a spot just below the white ring on his neck that when gently rubbed makes him drowsy. Soon he tucked away one foot, closed his eyes and dozed off...
  12. Dancinbaer

    What if ducklings do not hatch?

    Our female Rouen has been sitting on about 8 eggs since the last week or so of March. Temps were pretty low back then. Last week she rejected one egg by pushing out of the nest. It had a hole in it and some pretty gross grey stuff was coming out. I'm wondering what I should do in a week or...
  13. Dancinbaer

    Rouen Duck thread

    I wish I could have gotten this on video but it happened in seconds. A wild mallard landed next to our pond. He barely touched ground when Wade (our rouen) was on the poor unsuspecting mallard. They fought for a couple seconds and the Mallard took off. I finally got my wish of seeing our rouen...
  14. Dancinbaer

    Duck repellant?

    Back story: Even though I built our two Rouens a nice snuggy coop, they insist on hanging out on our patio door step, which is just a single step made of wood. Even when the temps dropped below zero they spent the night on the step instead of the coop except if it was windy. Problem: Ducks...
  15. Dancinbaer

    Cracked Eggs in Cold Weather

    This was our first winter with ducks and I feel your pain. We're in Northeast Wisconsin and had a record breaking winter. I found that timing was key. I used to check for eggs when I got home from work around 5 PM. As you, I always found the eggs froze and cracked. Then I started going out in...
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