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Ducks in the garden--what they will eat, what they will leave alone?
Thanks...today when I went out, I found that they left the petunias, osteospermum and alyssuim alone, but apparently really liked the taste of the sweet peas and the baby tomato and bell pepper plants, because there wasn't a trace of those left (well--a stem of the bell pepper). Right now we... -
Ducks in the garden--what they will eat, what they will leave alone?
Hello, We have four happy duckies to like to "help" me garden. Before I got ducks, I pictured them waddling happily through the garden, ridding us of unwanted pests and giving us some fertilizer--I hadn't counted on them ridding us of some of the plants as well! My question is--if you have... -
Best place to get pure breed Cayuga females?
All four of our ducks are from Metzer--Luna, our Cayuga, is a beautiful and healthy girl. I believe the Cayugas there are rated a bit higher than other breeds in terms of being closer to show quality. All four of our babies arrived healthy and on time--I was very happy with them. -
Eggs--Happy dance!!
I haven't posted in a while--these are our four girls, all grown up (hatch date was August 25). Two Welshies (Ivy and Harley), a Cayuga (Luna), and a Blue Swedish (Erin). A few weeks ago, I was thinking that they were 5 months old, but wasn't holding out hope for eggs till the days got... -
Today is the happiest day of my life! *tears*
They are definitely poop monsters. I am trying to manage the poop being generated by mine, and I only have four of them. Glad you have yours under control though! -
Coop smell? Advice?
I wish I could do that, but I would literally have to buy all the matter to compost. We have very few deciduous trees in our yard--we are in Southern California and have mostly palm trees/tropical foliage that doesn't shed. We do have one orange tree, a nectarine tree and a peach tree, and... -
Coop smell? Advice?
Hi, We have our duck coop nearish to our patio. My husband is starting to complain about the smell, so I thought I would ask for advice. When we built the coop, I thought I was being really smart by having a hardware cloth floor so that the duck poop would fall through the flooring and onto... -
Why is one duckling a different color?
Although...I would like to throw out there that many of the breeds such as the WH and Khaki Campbell are mallard-derived. So, random mutations happen, and can be continued through selective breeding. -
Crested Duck and Ducklings Thread
Just checking, but you are only getting one crested, correct? The reason I ask is because you should not breed a crested duck to a crested duck--it will result in a 25% overall mortality rate for the ducklings--the ones that are homozygous for the crested trait (living crested ducks carry only... -
Sneezing duck
My ducklings were sneezing for a while, too. Turns out they were basically inhaling their duck crumble--now that I have switched to pellets, the sneezing has stopped. I gave them some apple cider vinegar in their water as an immune booster, too, just to cover my bases. Make sure that their... -
cayuga duck thread
If you really want Cayugas, you might try buying them as ducklings instead of eggs. I got my Cayuga at Metzer Farms, and they have the ducklings through November 24 it looks like. They will ship as few as 2 birds (we ordered 4--our Cayuga, a Blue Swedish, and 2 Welsh Harlequins). -
Help with Strange Mandarin Duckling Color?!
Keep us posted as the feathers come in! Good thing in this case that ducks grow so fast--you will be able to tell fairly soon what he/she is going to look like! -
Mallard ducks
I don't know about the chickens, but since Mallards can and will fly I imagine you might need to clip their wings if you want them to stay all year. Our rescue Mallard started flying as soon as all her wing feathers were in--about 7-8 weeks. My husband is from Michigan--he tells me he is... -
Killer Raccoons
Has anybody read Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls? One of those traps was featured in that book. Glad to know it wasn't just made up for the story :) Ok, now I am kind of terrified. I think we might have coons in our neighborhood (one of our neighbors saw one). Once the babies... -
Irregular pupil in buff orpington duckling
Looks to me like a coloboma of the iris. If it is, it's pretty rare! https://www.nei.nih.gov/eyeonnei/insight/archive/0110.asp http://megoonthego.com/2012/07/unfinished/ -
Probably being paranoid but how do you know if a duck is a little sick, or very sick?
First, I would use a different water container. I used a ricotta cheese container, and later a cool whip tub, with a hole cut out of the lid for their beaks, and then placed THAT inside a heavy ceramic dish that they could not tip over and that would catch any spills from the container. Also... -
Welsh Harlequin
Our babies :) The one with the stripey beak is Harley (Quinn). The other WH is (Poison) Ivy. I know that they technically are not well marked, but I like that I can tell them apart since they are pets. In the bottom pic you can also see their flock mate, Luna, and our yet-to-be... -
SWEDISH Duck Thread!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here is our pretty blue swedish girl--she does not have a name yet (DD #1 says she is trying to get to know her before she names her LOL). We love her! She will be 3 weeks tomorrow. they grow so fast! -
cayuga duck thread
This is Luna--she is the lone Cayuga in our mini-flock of four. She is one of the calmest ducks, but she has appointed herself the guardian of everyone else when the kitties investigate lol.