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  1. OzarkEgghead

    Mystery ducks

    I picked up 2 partially grown ducks from a lady about an hour away who decided she didn't care for ducks & wanted to stick with chickens. She was giving them away for free just to get them gone. She "thinks" they're "about 8 weeks old" & she "thinks" they're Pekins but she can't remember what...
  2. OzarkEgghead

    Sawdust as bedding?

    Hi y'all... I've raised chicks/chickens for a decade but this is my first foray into ducks. I have 9 absolutely ADORABLE Ancona ducklings that are a week old now. Initially, I started them out on a thin layer of soft hay bits that fall from the bales for our other livestock. It's very soft &...
  3. OzarkEgghead

    Is this feed ok?

    I've raised chickens for a decade & feel very comfortable caring for them. This May, I'll be moving into new territory by adding 7 Ancona duck hens & a drake. I plan to manage my ducks & chickens as one, mixed flock. Since I've never had ducks before, I'm still researching & learning what I can...
    • OzarkEgghead
    • Thread
    • chicken chicken nutrition duck duck nutrition mash mixed flock feeding
    • Replies: 4
    • Forum: Ducks
  4. OzarkEgghead

    Switching to ducks - do I have the space?

    Hello, everyone! Hope all who celebrate it had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I'm looking to transition from chickens to ducks. I've had chickens for a decade but I'll be a first-time duck mom. I'd like to do a mixed flock of 3 breeds...Pekin, Silver Appleyard & Ancona. My coop is a walk-in coop...
  5. OzarkEgghead

    Too-la-ROO-la-ree?

    I've had chickens for almost a decade now but have always ordered strictly pullets direct from the hatchery & have been lucky enough that the sexers got it right 100% of the time. I ordered Easter Egger pullets for the first time & the hatchery did advise me that their sexing for them is only...
  6. OzarkEgghead

    "Dogpiling" 1 mo old chicks

    I have 18 five week old Easter Egger chicks that have been out in the coop for about 2 weeks. I have them in my Great Dane's old dog crate that's 3ft wide x 4ft long x 45in high. I have provided them with two roosts...one lower, one higher. During the day, the seem quite happy & enjoy watching...
  7. OzarkEgghead

    Can these chicks move to the coop?

    I have 17 Easter Egger chicks that are 3 weeks old, are quickly outgrowing the brooder container I have indoors & generally making a smelly, dusty mess of my home. I'm attaching a picture the forecasted temps for the next 10 days....pretty much upper 90's during the day & mid-70's at night with...
  8. OzarkEgghead

    2 wk old chick developing scissor beak

    I have seventeen 2 wk old Easter Egger chicks I'm raising indoors. They all appeared normal at 1 day old. I've noticed one of them is only HALF the size of the others so I singled her out today & inspected her closely. I was shocked & dismayed to see she was already developing scissor beak. I've...
  9. OzarkEgghead

    Predator kills

    This may be a gross & insensitive question so I apologize ahead of time. A free-ranging dog got hold of one of my hens 24 hrs ago. I was able to chase him off & he dropped her but she was obviously injured...large areas of missing feathers, several cuts & unable to stand on or move one leg. I...
  10. OzarkEgghead

    Alternative feeds

    I recently met an old-timer who was expounding on his perceived evils of commercially prepared feeds. In his estimation they were of high cost & of low quality. More or less, he said people were wasting money. He could have come off as nasty or a know-it-all but he really was a sweet, engaging...
  11. OzarkEgghead

    Are heat plates really not for mail order chicks?

    I just placed my order with Cackle Hatchery & I noticed one of the things they make you agree to is to use a heat LAMP for at least the 1st 2 weeks. They say that mail order chicks need more heat than a heat PLATE can provide & that's why a lamp should be used instead. Is this true? Will a heat...
  12. OzarkEgghead

    Harvest hesitancy

    Hi everyone... I want to increase my self-reliancy & I know the time is quickly coming when we will have to depend on what we can raise instead of what's in stores for atrocious prices. My problem is that I'm an extreme animal lover. I connect SO much more with animals than I do with people...
  13. OzarkEgghead

    To duck or not to duck; that is the question

    I've raised chickens since 2015. I'm considering adding some ducks this year but, being duck illiterate, I have a few questions... 1) I'm interested in Ancona ducks. Are they an easygoing breed that would be a good choice for a duck newbie? 2) If I free-range them, will they coop themselves in...
  14. OzarkEgghead

    Three hen & a baby

    Ok, so it's actually one hen & 5-10 chicks. I just couldn't resist playing off the old "Three Men & a Baby" movie title. Anyway... After the losses I incurred in 2019 due to predation, I swore I wasn't gonna have chickens any longer...just too hard seeing the mangled carcasses of my beautiful...
  15. OzarkEgghead

    Lonely or in "henopause"?

    I started out Spring of 2019 with 13 hens. A few of the oldest passed away naturally throughout the year but, unfortunately, we got hit HARD several times by coyotes. By October, it felt like my coop was in the midst of the Agatha Christie novel, "And Then There Was None" because, of the...
  16. OzarkEgghead

    Help...pecking at wounds!

    I free-range my girls during the day & all has been good until yesterday when we had a brazen daylight raid by 5 coyotes. They killed & ran off with one hen & injured another before I could rescue her. They pulled out about 1/3 of the feathers on her back & left her with a few lacerations. I...
  17. OzarkEgghead

    Free ranging & introducing into established flock

    Hi y'all! I have an established flock of 9 hens, 5 Black Australorps & 4 ISA Browns, that are 2 years old. They free-range at will & always return to their roosts in the coop each night. I purchased 4 Dominique chicks 6 weeks ago that I estimate were 1-2 wks old at the time of purchase. I...
  18. OzarkEgghead

    Free range and scratch feed

    My chickens are permitted to free range from dawn to dusk 365 days per year, if they desire, and I feed table scraps & veggies from my garden. I also feed their dried shells back to them as grit & for calcium content & they clean up the whole oats my horses invariably seem to drop as they eat...
  19. OzarkEgghead

    Gluten-free commercial feed OR recipe to make your own needed. PLEASE!!!

    So my flock that I raised from day old chicks in October 2015 started laying in March...just in time for Easter eggs! Been loving having my own hens & the daily supply of fresh eggs that goes along with them...except......... I react to wheat - stomach/intestinal issues & an itchy, painful...
  20. OzarkEgghead

    Chick update & lots of thanks!

    Hey y'all... Seems like forever since I posted. Just wanted to thank everyone for all of the great advice you gave me directly when I asked questions, as well as indirectly through reading others' questions. The chicks I got in late October have survived my newbie chicken-mom fumblings &...
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