➡I accidentally bought Balut eggs: 2 live ducks! Now a Chat Thread!

[Kiki]

Were these some that went thru the temperature spike?

Yes.
I started with 43.
Pulled 10 clears,
3 very early quitters and lost 11 to the nightmare day.

 

[NanaKat]

Yes.
I started with 43.
Pulled 10 clears,
3 very early quitters and lost 11 to the nightmare day.

Then these should be some vigorous super Quailies!

 

[ShrekDawg]

There was just a titmouse, a hummer, and a chipmunk in the garden at the same time.

 

[dpenning]

I remember my drake, Noah, being a HUGE bully when I tried introducing Annabelle. It took forever for them to mesh as a group. Now he loves her completely and they are quite bonded. I have NO idea how her hatching ducklings are going to change things up. I'm hoping for the best and preparing to grab them to raise indoors just in case.
Hopefully there will be acceptance soon. Do they have the ability to see and forage alongside but no touch?

Somewhat but I'm going to build a run so it can be more. The three littles are in a 10 x 10 pen and I feed the bigs right next to the pen. The bigs hang out around the pen quite a bit during the day. I"m going to build a temporary run from the pen into the pond so the littles can find their way down to the water in a protected environment but I'll still be able to get them back into the pen until they are big enough or integrated enough with the bigs to follow their lead.

 

[dpenning]

Try applying some apple cider vinegar to toughen the skin and it acts as an anti-inflammatory...plus you will smell like a pickle.


I've heard quail can hatch in 100 degree heat! Keep us posted.


One of my littles escaped last year from the littles brooder and wound up outside in the grass with the free ranging ducks. It was not yet feathered and the duck hens ran buffer from the drakes. Found it eating grass like the duck hens and seemed quite proud of himself.
Once fully feathered, I put all 6 in with a few hens in a separate pen for a few days. Then added the group back to the flock. Going to do the same this time. Or if one of the duck hens hatches some soon, I'll add the Maggie babies.
Daphne's eggs were all quitters. The 4 other girls are still sharing two nests.

That is a good idea. There is one female that I think is being over bred. I may put her in with the littles in a few more weeks and see what happens.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Look at this little princess

(Yes I know the bed is a mess I think the sheet is too big ha fixed it after)

 

[debid]

(Went back and edited this to break it up a bit to make it easier to read. Sorry, yet another novel )

The littles have been becoming more and more brave. They went a little bit further out on the grass after a while (followed of course by an immediate retreat to their “safe zone” under the coop lol) and then they figured out how to get into the bigs run and around to the other side of the run in some pine branches my dad cut down and some tall grass. The bigs didn’t seem to mind but I didn’t let the littles eat the bigs food cause it’s still layer feed. Haven’t switched to a kind safe for everybody yet. Though they didn’t seem too interested.

Anyway, I think they would probably be fine for full integration as everyone seems fine with each other. The little Leghorn is so brave and runs right up to the bigs lol she even drank water with them (brought their open waterer outside) and even was scratching around right next to one of the bigs. She has no problems mingling. She’s BOLD and SASSY. LOL but not stupid. Knows when to back down and/or retreat. Speaking of which, that is my main concern with integration.

Now that they have been free ranging together more often (probably 3 or 4 days now, didn’t yesterday) and have been mingling a little more (at first they stayed totally separate across the yard from each other ha) their personalities are starting to come out and one of my Orpingtons is being a real B word. She has pecked them and even fluffed her neck and charged a little bit usually for no reason. Done it several times today and it’s making me a little bit worried. Even my head hens are fine with them. In fact, one of the head hens is the one the leghorn was foraging next to. I thought she was going to peck the little but she just looked at what she was eating a couple times (grass lol) and went on her way. They even sometimes move out of the littles way and almost seem a little scared of them some. They are all fine. Not even so much as a peck. Except this Orpington who is downright vicious. And it’s making me a little nervous. I mean, she doesn’t keep coming at them once they run away, which I guess is good, but still.

I understand some pecking and that their pecking order has to be sorted out but this one just is so mean for no reason. I know they have to be integrated at some point but they just still seem so little and I am worried she is going to hurt them. Or that they may get trapped in the nest boxes.

I have read you are supposed to put a board or something in the corners of the run so they can’t get trapped? So I think I am going to do that because she cornered one in the run and fluffed up at it/went at it and it made me nervous. But even with the corners blocked off I still worry they could get seriously injured or killed.

And I didn’t really get close ups of the chicks today but here’s where they were hanging out and where they usually hang out. They usually stick to that framed in area and right around it but they ventured far today ha also my other big concern has been that they wouldn’t be able to get up and down the ramp as it is pretty steep but Sweetpea figured it out immediately! She didn’t go all the way up but went like halfway and back down with no problems.

View attachment 1805932 View attachment 1805934 View attachment 1805935 View attachment 1805936 View attachment 1805937 View attachment 1805938 View attachment 1805939 View attachment 1805940 View attachment 1805941 View attachment 1805942 View attachment 1805943 View attachment 1805944 View attachment 1805945 View attachment 1805946 View attachment 1805947 View attachment 1805948

Forgive me if you already got great help, I didn't read past this message yet.

I've just recently finished the latest integration. I did shared range time and waited for the signs. Mingling and sharing water are good. Put a feeder (chick feed) out to share and see if they will share food. That's a major hurdle for some hens.

There is always a chicken or two that acts like your Orpington. It isn't their individual personality, the meanies here this time aren't even the same birds as last time (and those previous meanie hens are still here). It's whichever hens are at the bottom of the pecking order that feel the need to assert their position over the littles.

Everything will eventually simmer down. As long as no blood is being drawn, it's normal pecking order behavior. That doesn't make it easy to watch but it is a part of the process.

I put perches in the run. The youngsters especially go up for quiet time. I also installed an outdoor feeder right in the middle of the run because the littles were being chased if they were spotted "invading" the coop and that meant they couldn't eat freely. EVERYONE likes the outdoor feeder so that enabled the eating together step.

Then comes roosting together. The previous batch of chicks followed their brave leader to the adult roosts when I had everyone shut in the adult run until sunset. That was the easiest transition!

This batch, I had a deadline to meet so I had to push the last bit along. I left them until sunset and when they didn't go where they should, I put them there. Repeat. Note to self, deadlines suck. Get chicks in years we don't travel for both spring break and the end of the school year...

Good news is that they still managed even with a stiff arm push toward maturity.

 

[debid]

So I attempted to do an intro of Street to his new girls yesterday. It did not go well. I was hoping if I took the littles out for some pond time while Street and his big girls were eating they may get along. Not so much. Street chased the littles out of the pond and over the top of the dam. I thought They would be gonners but I waited a couple of hours and went out with my rubber boots and a net. Managed to catch the three littles and put them back in their cage. I guess I'll just keep working with them and not turn them loose until they are big enough to be their own little flock to integrate as they see fit. *sigh*

Ugh. I haven't done ducks but when I tried to give grown pullets to a rooster-led flock, it was the rooster that was the biggest problem. He chose the one he liked and wanted the other two GONE. He actually killed one and was horrible to the other (she was POL, for crying out loud, you'd think he'd want to mate her rather than drive her away?!)

I have no answers, I opted to remove the rooster. I hope your drake comes around.

 

[debid]

Yeah it feels horrible haha so gross and sticky. I think that’s the worst part. I hate it. Plus I read the ingredients and it’s got like all sorts of chemicals/colors/fragrance, at least the one I got, and that doesn’t seem like the greatest thing to be putting on lol but mostly it just feels gross. Even after it soaks in. Maybe the vinegar will be better.

I hope that you will remember the sunscreen next time.

My dad is in remission from Merkel cell carcinoma and since he has what they call an occult source (they didn't find the skin lesion, only the affected lymph node), he has a pretty high probability that it will eventually recur with a vengeance.

My kids are learning better habits than what I was raised with. Sunscreen every time and I buy the stuff with a physical barrier in it (zinc oxide or titanium dioxide) because that was what the dermatologist recommended.

 

[debid]

I just grabbed the sunscreen bottle we used on vacation. This one is "Banana Boat SPF50 Kids Sport". Active ingredients are 4.5% titanium dioxide, 6.5% zinc oxide. We like this kind. The No-Ad version kinda sucks from an application standpoint so I spent a little more for the one we like.

Most of the physical barrier ones are labeled for babies or kids but seeing baby or kid on the label doesn't mean they aren't the all chemical kind. You have to check the ingredients. It's annoying because the packages often look VERY SIMILAR.