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Our QTing Duck is a Great Gardner!
We are currently QTing a silver appleyard drake to add to our wee flock of silver appleyards. We were concerned about QTing a drake by himslef, but this guy has turned out to be very social! We are QTing him in the room where we start all our seedlings, and so we are with him most of the day... -
Our New Boy is Home - Silver Appleyard Drake
As some of you read here, we lost our silver appleyard boy Angus a couple weeks ago (best guess based on exam, bloodwork and x-rays suggests testicular cancer). Angus, who was seven years old, was our only drake, which put a wrench in our plans to trade fertilized eggs with another local silver... -
Farm & Yard Mobile Chicken Coop / Chicken Tractor
Does anyone have the Farm & Yard Mobile Chicken Coop / Chicken Tractor and has made it work for ducks? I'm thinking some basic modifications to the "house" part would be easy. If this is a quality product, it sure looks like a great option to have around the farm for QT, recovering birds... -
We're Still Here (and a QT question)!
Hi, Friends. We've been a bit dark as of late (couple years, I'm afraid), as we've dealt with some extended family health issues that have affected farm life, but we are still here. For those of you that know us, we sadly lost out best boy Angus two weeks ago. FYI: He was almost eight years... -
Supervised Free Ranging is Not without Risks - Raptor Attack
People often ask how best to keep their ducks "safe." The hard truth is that you can't. All you can do is manage the risk. We manage the risk with a predator proof run at night and when we are away. Our next level of risk tolerance is the fenced pastures around the duckrun with plenty of... -
Hobbling a Bowlegged Duckling High on the Legs UPDATE: Slipped Tendons
Hi, Everyone. We are dealing with a three-week old duckling that is exhibiting fairly severe bowleggedness. We have another thread about this bird here with lots of videos. We have an appointment with our awesome avian vet but not until next Tuesday (she's on vacation). BRIEF BACKGROUND: We... -
Sluggish Five-Year Old Silver Appleyard
Hi, Guys. Last night we noticed that Stella, a five-year old silver Appleyard hen was moving slow. We see this from time to time, especially if a hen needs to lay, but our flock almost always lays early am. She ate and drank before being put in last night, although not with her normal vigor... -
Duckling Leg Injury DIAGNOSIS: Slipped Tendons
This 1.5-week old silver appleyard duckling has apparently injured its leg. Last night there was no issue. Both ducklings were running around and acting normal. This morning we noticed that Duckling #1 was favoring its left leg. We also noticed that the feed trough was in the middle of the... -
Egg Getting Stuck in Nurture Right 360
We recently started our first batch of duck eggs in our new Nurture Right 360 incubator. We had a problem at the outset with eggs getting "caught" on the side of the incubator. It turned out we had not cut a big enough hole in the shelf liner, so the turning tray was slightly askew. We fixed... -
Nurture Right 360 Incubator - Shelf Liner and Humidity Question
We are incubating for the first time this year. We had planned to bring ducks onto the farm, but with avian influenza, we decided to hatch our own instead. We have the Nurture Right 360 Incubator (new), and based on the advice of others, we added shelf liner. We started the incubator about 24... -
Avian Influenza Brainstorming
We're in Maine, and we've now had a couple confirmed cases of avian influenza in our county (both quite close). We currently only have five silver Appleyard ducks (1 drake and four hens). They have a predator proof 16'x8' covered run with an attached 4'x8' duckhouse. We use the deep litter... -
Account Upgrade
Hi, I'm getting an error when I try to upgrade my account. Does anybody know what's going on? Thanks!- 3bird
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- Forum: Announcements, Feedback, Site-Issues, & Guides
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Prolapsed Vent on Four Year Old Silver Appleyard Duck - Extended Care
Hi, BYC Friends. We've been flat out planting 300 seedlings, opening our gallery for the first time since 2019 and trying to keep up with all the regular spring farm chores, so we've not been on here much. Unfortunately, yesterday morning (Tuesday), we went out to let the ducks out and Mouse... -
Our Favorite Northern Artichoke - Tavor
When we moved to Maine from Southern California, we thought our artichoke growing days were over. As many of you know, artichokes usually need to winter over to produce a blossom (vernalization), but thankfully there are artichokes bred for northern climates...and, thankfully again, some of... -
We have Eggs Again! Do You?
It's a little later than usual, but as of this past weekend, our ducks started laying multiple eggs per day again! They are approaching their fourth birthday, and this was the longest break they have ever taken. We celebrated by making bagels... ...and enjoying bacon, cheese AND THREE... -
Possible Prolapsed Penis Cold Weather Advice
Hi, Guys! It is perfect duck weather today at Three Bird Farm--40s and rainy, and "The Waterpark" is full and open for business! Unfortunately, we observed that our handsome boy Angus was having some trouble retracting the proverbial penis--well actual it's his literal penis (the one our vet... -
Poor Martha Molted During our Coldest Winter Weather
Our dear sweet Martha, who is our smallest duck, has been molting during the coldest temps we have had all winter. It's been mostly single digits F at night and teen or low 20s during the day--so not dangerously cold by any stretch, but we still feel for her! She's been taking advantage of... -
Seeds Arrived and Time to Start Planting!
Most of our new seeds for 2021 arrived the other day! We'll probably plant the first seeds indoors in the next week or so as the snow flies outside. Thanks to the ducks (and a little help from us), the garden beds are ready for when the snow melts! :-) -
It's Tough Being the Only Drake in Town
It's hard being the only boy--you want all the girls attention, but then...well...there's all that attention and cluck-cluck-clucking! -
Penalty on the Play? The Instant Replay Review Shows Amelia Just Too Excited for Soup for Ducks!
With the upcoming Big Game on their mind, the ducks were playing for keeps with their soup this morning. Amelia claimed she was fouled, and at first we were inclined to throw a flag. But an instant replay review shows it was only her own enthusiasm for soup at play. No penalty was called, and...