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

[RUNuts]

Here are the meat box heroes at 4.5 week old. They have definitely entered their awkward stage, you can see some pink skin where their feathers have not caught up.

Wow! Your birds are so clean! And you have dirt. Amazing.

We've had 2 weeks of rain in the swamp and have morass and quagmire. The meat birds get less muddy. But they are still brown. They also prefer the standing water pools to the clean drinking water. Go figure.

This flock prefers to find their own place to sleep rather than the tractor that provides protection. I'm having to scoop them up and place them into the tractor nightly. Gets old. And their toes are sharper as they get weighty. But they wonder around and graze.

 

[Morrigan]

Wow! Your birds are so clean! And you have dirt. Amazing.

We've had 2 weeks of rain in the swamp and have morass and quagmire. The meat birds get less muddy. But they are still brown. They also prefer the standing water pools to the clean drinking water. Go figure.

This flock prefers to find their own place to sleep rather than the tractor that provides protection. I'm having to scoop them up and place them into the tractor nightly. Gets old. And their toes are sharper as they get weighty. But they wonder around and graze.

I have a shed that the meaties sleep in each night. Each morning when I let them out, I re-fresh the straw as needed, so they have a clean place to sleep. At the end of the season I have what I call Mount Creep (well, not quite Creep, but keeping it clean, lol), of dirty straw that gets slowly worked in the compost over the winter. The yard also has low roosting bars, which most of them use when it gets wet outside.

 

[Sara L]

He is a boy right?
View attachment 1552326 View attachment 1552327 View attachment 1552328

Yes, solid color on chest means boy.

I'm ready to do it RIGHT now. I just don't have a helper at the moment.
They pissed me off real quick.
That is what I needed.

I told you it would happen quick, they go from being happy to get along to little terrors in the blink of an eye. If you separate out the known males but keep them near the flock the males will start calling to each other, then you can see if the white chested ones do the male call. If they don't, they are either females or late bloomers.

When the one male was picking on Street, was he pecking, or trying to grab the back of the head? If he was trying to mount then Street is a girl. If attacking then Street is probably male.

 

[littleprairieheartsfarm]

This little handsome devil was dancing on me! 10 weeks old!
He totally meant no harm, and honestly thinks of me as a potential hen which is hilarious! He has no idea what’s he’s doing but man oh man he is his father’s son.

 

[Sara L]

This little handsome devil was dancing on me! 10 weeks old!
He totally meant no harm, and honestly thinks of me as a potential hen which is hilarious! He has no idea what’s he’s doing but man oh man he is his father’s son.
View attachment 1552376

He's so pretty!

 

[Kiki]

Yes, solid color on chest means boy.


I told you it would happen quick, they go from being happy to get along to little terrors in the blink of an eye. If you separate out the known males but keep them near the flock the males will start calling to each other, then you can see if the white chested ones do the male call. If they don't, they are either females or late bloomers.

When the one male was picking on Street, was he pecking, or trying to grab the back of the head? If he was trying to mount then Street is a girl. If attacking then Street is probably male.

I have only heard one, maybe two males making noise in the morning. And only before the sun rises. Are you saying that I should move the for sure males, that I don't want to keep, into a separate cage now so the other males make noise?

 

[Sara L]

I have only heard one, maybe two males making noise in the morning. And only before the sun rises. Are you saying that I should move two for sure males, that I don't want to keep, into a separate cage now so the other males make noise?

Yes, move all the ones you identified as male to a separate cage, so they will crow, any boys left in the cage should crow back or take advantage of the other males' absence to try and mount the females. Once the known males are separate, get something comfy to sit on and watch quail tv until you can identify by behavior whether the white ones are boys or girls. Once you know that you can put your keeper male back with the ladies and the rest can be culled.

 

[Kiki]

Yes, move all the ones you identified as male to a separate cage, so they will crow, any boys left in the cage should crow back or take advantage of the other males' absence to try and mount the females. Once the known males are separate, get something comfy to sit on and watch quail tv until you can identify by behavior whether the white ones are boys or girls. Once you know that you can put your keeper male back with the ladies and the rest can be culled.

Ok I get it now but they don't really make noise yet.
Just one does.
Do you think that this will force them to start fake crowing?
Almost sounds like the one is whistling.

 

[Sara L]

Ok I get it now but they don't really make noise yet.
Just one does.
Do you think that this will force them to start fake crowing?
Almost sounds like the one is whistling.

Yes, if they can hear/see the females they will start making noise. When they are first starting to crow they can sound weird, just like chickens.

 

[Kiki]