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  1. willowbirdks

    Colors and genetics in ducks?

    Just wondering if anyone understands how coloring works in duck genetics. We have one very lightly marked silver Ancona drake, one heavily marked black Ancona drake, one black Ancona hen, and three very heavily marked black Magpie hens. The Anconas are from a good, pure stock. The Magpies are...
  2. willowbirdks

    Duck egg gone wrong?

    We are right at Day 28 with our duck eggs, and had two hatch out successfully last night. But this egg... He externally pipped at around 10pm last night, and hadn't made much progress since. He has developed a strange dark ring around the air sac, but he's moving and peeping. You can see that...
  3. willowbirdks

    Taking ducklings out of the incubator?

    So we are in the middle of day 28 with duck hatching in the incubator, and we had two babies hatch last night! There are still 16 more eggs in lockdown mode, all of which have externally pipped (except for maybe one). The two that successfully hatched are completely dry, and storming around the...
  4. willowbirdks

    Integrating ducklings?

    Hello all, just looking for advice about when how to turn my two flocks into one. I have some 4 month Anconas and some month old Magpies. Right now they are kept in a coop that is divided by a fence at night, and in adjoining runs during the day... Or more accurately, the big ducks free range...
  5. willowbirdks

    2 Ancona Drakes need a new home (Southern Maine)

    We have two beautiful black and white Ancona drakes (males) that need a new home. They are lovely boys, and good members of the flock, but we ended up with more males than females. The two ducks available are the two in the front of the pictures. 16 weeks old, hatched in April from good local...
  6. willowbirdks

    Switching to Layer Feed?

    So I have read before that hens should be switched over to layer feed once they start laying... My oldest girl is about 17 weeks, so still a little bit before we need to make the switch. But I'm just starting to think about logistics. For those that have laying hens and drakes living together...
  7. willowbirdks

    Ducklings and overnight temps?

    Hi all, just looking for a reminder about using the heat lamp overnight for ducklings... We have four Magpie ducklings, 2 and 3 weeks old. I'm remembering that you start at 90° and drop 5° per week, right? So that would mean we need to keep them at the warmer temp for the 2 week old? They have...
  8. willowbirdks

    Any gender "tells" at an early age? I want to pick females, which I know is the impossible dream! :)

    One of my husband's co-workers has recently hatched several clutches of Magpie ducklings, and he is giving them away. Great news for us! The ducklings are 2-3 weeks old, and none were vent sexed at an early age... So he has no idea which are male or female. I know there really will be no way...
  9. willowbirdks

    Unsupervised swim time?

    Hi all, sorry to be so full of questions at the moment... The ducks are just getting more settled into outside life and routines, and I have some questions that I'm still trying to resolve! We have a small pond for them to swim in, and at the moment it's outside of the predator-proof duck run...
  10. willowbirdks

    How big is your duck door?

    Hello all, just looking for some advice... I have perused the "duck house" forum at great length, and gotten some great ideas! But I'm looking for specifics that don't seem to show up on there. We have a duck coop built in our shed, which is where they have been staying for a few weeks now...
  11. willowbirdks

    What could be wrong with my duck?

    My Anconas are 3-4 weeks old, and all have been happy and healthy until today. We allow carefully supervised swim time and supervised outside time, but they spend most of each day in their duck coop. Plenty warm from the heat lamp, no drafts, ventilation through an upper window during the day...
  12. willowbirdks

    Duck House Bedding?

    So we've recently moved our ducks out to their permanent duck house... Just the indoor portion at this point, with carefully supervised time outside during the warmer parts of the day. Wondering what everyone uses as bedding for the indoor portions of your duck house? We have shavings down...
  13. willowbirdks

    Decreasing protein levels?

    Hello all, I have week and a half old Anconas that are currently eating a non medicated chick starter from my local feed store. My understanding is that next week they will need to change to a food with a lower protein content, 16% or so instead of 20%. However... I am still going to have quite...
  14. willowbirdks

    Hello from a newbie duck owner in Maine!

    Hi All, I'm Sarah, and my family and I just got 5 week-old Ancona ducklings. I've never owned any kind of bird before, although my husband did have chickens as a child. We've read LOTS of material on raising ducks, including threads all over BYC, and now we're trying to put it all into...
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