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Breed???
If I'm understanding correctly you bought them from Rural King. Pretty good chance they Are from Hoovers. Check what Marans (mixes) they offer.- Yardmom
- Post #6
- Forum: What Breed Or Gender is This?
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Duck food shelter?
We put our duck food under the deck to protect it some. I think you have a great idea. -
Question about Duck eggs/hatching
The air Humidity is always changing, so your hatch conditions could still be changing. Other things that could be different would be nutrition of the adults. Also how many generations of ducks have you kept? Exploding means bacteria has entered the eggs. -
Welsh Harlequins: hens or..?
In some strains at this age the girls bills are dark and the boys bills are lighter. If one of the more yellow bills is quaking, their breeding might not be accurate for this. Feathering looks female at this point. -
Mystery - missing three ducks
Sometimes my broody ducks seem to start brooding at the same time. Broodies sometimes hide very well. Do you know where they have been laying? -
Am I risking deformed ducklings with hen only incubating part time?
This has happened in my Silkie coop even in freezing temps. (Daughter takes the broodies to fenced area at night). When we realized the eggs were viable at about 1/2 way we allowed the hen to finish brooding. These chicks are fine. Now grown. More recently I have one chick that this... -
I want the pecking order to go back to how it used to be! Help!
When one rooster overtakes another the loosing rooster will stay back for a bit. it takes time, but the other boy is normally aloud to rejoin in a lower roll eventually. How much time and what roll will depend on personalities. If you don't want to have the naturally dominant boy rule the...- Yardmom
- Post #4
- Forum: Chicken Behaviors and Egglaying
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What’s going on guys :/ foot injury
What type of surface does she normally walk on? Any heat or black spots (other than coloring) -
Call duck feather/wing question
Are the feathers affecting her movement or is it just appearance? -
Can a drake have too many hens?
In the wild ducks form 1:1 bonds for mating season. The males at times will force other females to mate. These forced matings can be very ruff. In a domestic flock these forced mating happen with any female that is not an established mate of a drake. (A duck removed temporarily likely fits... -
Brooding too long without ducklings
Cell phone flashlight works well for candeling. Candeling is best in the dark, but sometimes you can tell in the light with duck eggs. Normally a duck will stop brooding once eggs are removed. -
Drake and Hen
My birds free range together (a few ducks currently head to a chicken pen at night) In my experience the drakes don't interact much with the roosters other than to push them out of the way for food. The only time I had real issues with drakes and chickens was when the chicken hens hatched... -
Maybe I'm mistaken.
Are you sure the chicks are Ermine? Im not familiar with the mutation, but less common mutations are often recessive. If they are recessive both parents have to have the gene. In order for my chicks to be mottled (looks like what you call Ermine) both the hen and the rooster need to have the...- Yardmom
- Post #9
- Forum: Exhibition, Genetics, & Breeding to the SOP
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Maybe I'm mistaken.
I have backyard mixes with several color patterns. In the mottled chicks that are also barred I will see the white dot on the dark colored heads. When grown those birds at first glance appear to have a white base with random dark spots, but at a closer inspection you can see that there are...- Yardmom
- Post #8
- Forum: Exhibition, Genetics, & Breeding to the SOP
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Question on introducing all new chickens
With plenty of space (like a coop) several waterers and feeders and several things to hide behind I would try putting all the young together. There will be a bit a sparing, but since it is everyone for themselves I wouldn't expect it to get to bad. Obviously keep an eye on it in case one is a...- Yardmom
- Post #2
- Forum: Managing Your Flock
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Drake and Hen
Most drakes are fine with one hen. Ducks in the wild pair 1:1. Drake problems happen when they are competing for the attention of hens. If there are no other drakes to compete with they don't need to fight with other drakes or force them selves on hens that have not chosen them. Adding extra... -
Duck poop smell
20% protein is a good amount for ducks. I have not seen any research to support lowering the protein amount to off set the smell. Sorry, but keeping ducks means smells that are not always pleasant and messes. -
Considering 2 hens for urban backyard. Looking into breeds and between Buff vs. Muscovy. Thoughts?
Keep in mind that female Muscovies fly. Are you in -40 cold northern MN or is -20F a rare occurrence? Muscovies will not handle the cold as well as Mallard derived. In northern WI my brother kept his Muscovies enclosed all winter. Mallard derived were fine outside during the day. Mallard... -
Candling Muscovy Eggs
I don't worry about misting the eggs like in the article, but keeping humidity similar to chicks has worked for me. Since Muscovies take 5 weeks to hatch each stage can take a bit longer. I think I have had some over a week by the time veining was obvious.