Hens go broody when you don’t want them to… and won’t go broody when you do. Recent content by solarpup
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Mean duck
I've got a mean mallard drake, too. And nope, he never does learn to get along with those he picks on. With our two girls, he will mate with one (as gentle as a drake ever mates), with the other, he will mount her, but it is only for dominance. He'll tear at her neck and back, and never... -
Duck Feed in the St. Louis Area
Our ducks used to get Blue Seal, which is made by Kent, in pellet form. We have gotten shipped the regional Kent product, but only have found that in crumble form. Which they'll eat, but they seem to spill a lot more of it, and little birds steal it. And that's running low for us. We've yet... -
Duck Feed in the St. Louis Area
Us and the ducks are newly moved to the St. Louis area, and their normal duck food is just not available in this area. (We've called all the stores and the manufacturer, and no dice; their normal preferred food just isn't available out here.) We need a good maintenance diet for our mallard... -
Pond plants that ducks won't eat?
I've dug around online, and scoured old posts here, but I haven't found any good answers yet. We've moved our ducks (and ourselves for that matter) from more rural sections of Massachusetts to urban St. Louis. But to make up for that, in their new home, the ducks have their pond inside their... -
Duck Friendly Motels off of I70 near Columbus, Ohio?
Subject says it all. Tomorrow I start moving myself and my ducks from Massachusetts to Missouri. Health certificates and import license are in hand. But, I expect that I will be stopping around the half way point, somewhere off of 71 or I70, near Columbus, Ohio. Anyone every have any... -
Eggspectations for our near 3 yr Old Swedish Ducks
Our blue and black Swedish girls, Moneypenny and Domino, are turning three this July. So, this is there 3rd season of egg laying. Season 1, they started late February, both close to each other in time. There'd be an egg, and maybe they'd skip a day, two tops, but then they got going and... -
Urban Duck Living
In the Spring, we'll be moving from more rural northern Massachusetts to more urban St. Louis. Going from ~5 acres of land (75% of which are woods) to 0.4 acres, pretty flat and manicured. Interestingly enough, our new neighborhood not only will allow us to house a duck (in the backyard, with... -
Transporting Ducks
Luckily I am married to a vet with federal accreditation. But she just called the Missouri Dept. of Agriculture, and it's even more complicated than the certificate! They need a pullorum test (easy, can be done at home) and an avian flu test (more difficult – requires a lab), and then they... -
Swedish duck questions..
I don't doubt that your daughter will be upset, but once they all reach sexual maturity, that mixture of drakes to the one female is going to get ugly fast, and she will likely be even more upset than she currently is. I've got one mallard drake and two Swedish girls, and at that, the mallard... -
Transporting Ducks
Hello All- Well, it looks like sometime in the Spring we will be moving from our home in Massachusetts to the St. Louis area. That's about a two and a half day drive for us (a brief drive to a siblings house in New York, and then an ~9 hour drive and one overnight stay somewhere around... -
End of egg laying season?
Hmmm. Good point. There's not a lot of evidence of molting yet, but it's about time for that to start happening. (The one mallard drake we still have is definitely into his molting plumage, and he's starting to drop his feathers.) They've also been ravenous for greens, more so then usual... -
End of egg laying season?
Having started with Mallard drakes, we've had two Swedish hens for 15 months now. This is our first egg laying season. The girls started in mid-February, and despite the brutal heat of this summer, they've only skipped a few days here and there. By my count, they've each laid about 190 eggs... -
Duck Houses
We have two nearby nurseries, and both have a good pond plant section. There's all sorts of choices, ranging from plants in the pond directly, to those in the bog, to those near the shore. In the pond, I've got a water hyacinth, attached to a weighted string to keep it from being sucked into... -
Duck Houses
You're definitely getting beyond my engineering knowledge at this point :) But as a guess, I imagine you could run a siphon off of your big pond, and run that to the float valve in the filter. Our pond is not filled under high pressure – it's attached to our outdoor faucet by a fairly small... -
Duck Houses
I think the issue with depth is just to go deep enough so that the pond doesn't freeze solid down to the bottom in the winter. I think there will be less wear and tear on the liner if it doesn't freeze solid. 1 1/2 feet is too shallow (the water in the filter tank will freeze solid – we...