I have a sweet Muscovy hen, a year and a half old, who needs a new home. I don't know why but my chickens have started attacking her, although they've lived together for over a year. She doesn't fight back so she gets severely pecked. They are currently separated but it's not a good long term...
"I'm curious about other people's reasoning for choosing to free-range. Is it from a moral/ethical standpoint, or is it more for better nutrition/health? Is it something else entirely? Reduced management costs perhaps?"
I've been free ranging for awhile now, but when I first had chickens and...
I was going to suggest 4 nesting boxes, although that may be futile if your chickens are like mine, and all decide to use the same one. I watched my neighbor's chickens for a week, he has 16 chickens and 4 nest boxes, and one nest box never had any eggs in it, two of them would have one or two...
Oh no, they have multiple swimming areas. They've got a giant kiddie pool that's big enough for all of them to jump in and swim around, plus a smaller rubber tub that's big enough for three ducks to get in at once, and a shallower area they can play and splash in, not deep enough to truly swim...
I meant to answer the question earlier about what kind of landscaping people had for their ducks...my ducks have annihilated my landscaping! They love tearing up wet grass, especially around all the downspouts. When they spend all their time doing this:
My yard now looks like this:
I don't think I've seen those magpies around where I am. We do, however, have an absolute ton of crows/ravens. I asked about them a while ago in this thread because they seem to hang around and I don't like them. The general consensus was that they're good to have around because they chase off...
My ducks did great this past winter and we had several stretches where the temp got into the negative 20s/30s at night and only warmed up to single digits during the day. They had a nice snug house with a deep bed of straw which they slept in at night but during the day they were out and about...
I think the pasty butt is pretty common at first because they have been through a lot of changes in their short lives, getting mass transported to the store and then going to their new home. Some people add apple cider vinegar to their water to help with that, 1 teaspoon per quart of water.
I love how chicken math got you already and your 6 chicks turned into 10! They are darling little fluffy golden babies!
A general rule of thumb is that however old chicks are in weeks, is the height they can fly in feet. So 1 week old they can fly a foot high, two weeks old two feet high, etc...
She's okay now but she took a few weeks to get back to normal. I'm guessing that her back/wing muscles just got severely tweaked in the fight. You know how ducks stand up and beat their wings? She didn't do that either. She's back to her happy self now though. I hope your duck gets better soon!
This might be unlikely for your duck depending on your setup, but my Muscovy was attacked by an owl last month. The owl flew into their covered run through the open door (we hadn't locked them up for the night yet because it was middle of the afternoon). If my husband hadn't happened to see it...
@BreInFlannel regarding looking for ducklings, I got my ducklings from Murdochs (in Kalispell). They had quite a few different kinds, Rouens and Blue Swedish for sure. Murdochs had a schedule for what days they were expected to get in which breeds of chicks, ducklings, turkeys, etc. It was...
The method that NFC posted is the one that works like a charm for me! I keep the eggs cold in the fridge until the pot of water is fully boiling, then add them. Apparently this "shocks" them, and then they get shocked again when you take them out of the boiling water and put in the ice bath...
I'm so sorry your duck is sad, ducks form such strong bonds that it's heartbreaking to see them suffer. Is there any chance of finding the missing duck? Any chance someone could have taken it inside when they saw it out in the cold? I accidentally stole someone's duck once. It appeared to have...
Try putting an unbreakable mirror where your remaining ducky can see it. It may trick her into thinking she's got a friend. I've seen people mention it work with great success.
That's great to have a resource like that nearby! Do they sell chicks also, or are you still planning to get yours from a hatchery?
Does your coop have an attached run? If so, what's that like? Chain link, chicken wire, or something else? Is it covered on top so chickens can't fly out or...