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  1. Yardmom

    Breed???

    If I'm understanding correctly you bought them from Rural King. Pretty good chance they Are from Hoovers. Check what Marans (mixes) they offer.
  2. Yardmom

    Duck food shelter?

    We put our duck food under the deck to protect it some. I think you have a great idea.
  3. Yardmom

    Question about Duck eggs/hatching

    The air Humidity is always changing, so your hatch conditions could still be changing. Other things that could be different would be nutrition of the adults. Also how many generations of ducks have you kept? Exploding means bacteria has entered the eggs.
  4. Yardmom

    Welsh Harlequins: hens or..?

    In some strains at this age the girls bills are dark and the boys bills are lighter. If one of the more yellow bills is quaking, their breeding might not be accurate for this. Feathering looks female at this point.
  5. Yardmom

    Mystery - missing three ducks

    Sometimes my broody ducks seem to start brooding at the same time. Broodies sometimes hide very well. Do you know where they have been laying?
  6. Yardmom

    Am I risking deformed ducklings with hen only incubating part time?

    This has happened in my Silkie coop even in freezing temps. (Daughter takes the broodies to fenced area at night). When we realized the eggs were viable at about 1/2 way we allowed the hen to finish brooding. These chicks are fine. Now grown. More recently I have one chick that this...
  7. Yardmom

    I want the pecking order to go back to how it used to be! Help!

    When one rooster overtakes another the loosing rooster will stay back for a bit. it takes time, but the other boy is normally aloud to rejoin in a lower roll eventually. How much time and what roll will depend on personalities. If you don't want to have the naturally dominant boy rule the...
  8. Yardmom

    What’s going on guys :/ foot injury

    What type of surface does she normally walk on? Any heat or black spots (other than coloring)
  9. Yardmom

    Call duck feather/wing question

    Are the feathers affecting her movement or is it just appearance?
  10. Yardmom

    Can a drake have too many hens?

    In the wild ducks form 1:1 bonds for mating season. The males at times will force other females to mate. These forced matings can be very ruff. In a domestic flock these forced mating happen with any female that is not an established mate of a drake. (A duck removed temporarily likely fits...
  11. Yardmom

    Brooding too long without ducklings

    Cell phone flashlight works well for candeling. Candeling is best in the dark, but sometimes you can tell in the light with duck eggs. Normally a duck will stop brooding once eggs are removed.
  12. Yardmom

    Drake and Hen

    My birds free range together (a few ducks currently head to a chicken pen at night) In my experience the drakes don't interact much with the roosters other than to push them out of the way for food. The only time I had real issues with drakes and chickens was when the chicken hens hatched...
  13. Yardmom

    Maybe I'm mistaken.

    Are you sure the chicks are Ermine? Im not familiar with the mutation, but less common mutations are often recessive. If they are recessive both parents have to have the gene. In order for my chicks to be mottled (looks like what you call Ermine) both the hen and the rooster need to have the...
  14. Yardmom

    Maybe I'm mistaken.

    I have backyard mixes with several color patterns. In the mottled chicks that are also barred I will see the white dot on the dark colored heads. When grown those birds at first glance appear to have a white base with random dark spots, but at a closer inspection you can see that there are...
  15. Yardmom

    Question on introducing all new chickens

    With plenty of space (like a coop) several waterers and feeders and several things to hide behind I would try putting all the young together. There will be a bit a sparing, but since it is everyone for themselves I wouldn't expect it to get to bad. Obviously keep an eye on it in case one is a...
  16. Yardmom

    Drake and Hen

    Most drakes are fine with one hen. Ducks in the wild pair 1:1. Drake problems happen when they are competing for the attention of hens. If there are no other drakes to compete with they don't need to fight with other drakes or force them selves on hens that have not chosen them. Adding extra...
  17. Yardmom

    Duck poop smell

    20% protein is a good amount for ducks. I have not seen any research to support lowering the protein amount to off set the smell. Sorry, but keeping ducks means smells that are not always pleasant and messes.
  18. Yardmom

    Considering 2 hens for urban backyard. Looking into breeds and between Buff vs. Muscovy. Thoughts?

    Keep in mind that female Muscovies fly. Are you in -40 cold northern MN or is -20F a rare occurrence? Muscovies will not handle the cold as well as Mallard derived. In northern WI my brother kept his Muscovies enclosed all winter. Mallard derived were fine outside during the day. Mallard...
  19. Yardmom

    Candling Muscovy Eggs

    I don't worry about misting the eggs like in the article, but keeping humidity similar to chicks has worked for me. Since Muscovies take 5 weeks to hatch each stage can take a bit longer. I think I have had some over a week by the time veining was obvious.
  20. Yardmom

    Duck ID

    Yes Silver AppleYards, but a few have a bit more dark wash than expected. Not sure if that would just be from something mixed in (maybe a few generations ago) or it is just the breed genetic quality (similar to hatchery vs show)
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