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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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Hi, I'm getting an error when I try to upgrade my account. Does anybody know what's going on? Thanks!

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 hard being the only boy--you want all the girls attention, but then...well...there's all that attention and cluck-cluck-clucking!

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...

It was in the single digits (F) this morning here at Three Bird Farm in Maine (negative numbers with the wind chill), but clearly Martha liked her soup. Can you tell how we knew? ;-)

Mouse, a 3.5 year old silver Appleyard duck, tore her left outside toenail sometimes this morning or last night. We noticed it while they were out free ranging, as it was continuing to bleed (and there is snow on the ground here). Our question is, what is the best way to cover the wound after...

We've been in really bad drought in Maine, but with some much needed rain (and now our first snow) "the Waterpark" is back in business, and our silver Appleyard ducks couldn't be happier!

Looking for some advice: Our two (married) girls have been together happily for two years. This afternoon when it was time to go back into their enclosure, Pal (female who is almost twice as big) started chasing Pen (smaller female) around the enclosure, cornering her and pecking her in a...