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

[Conan]

They are fat pigs who like to bathe in kitty litter. They are disgusting. But I love them regardless.

Aww, gross! They're monsters!

 

[ShrekDawg]

I second this.

How old do they have to be before they can have some? I’m just really paranoid they are going to get hurt or lost or something or get cocci or something. Cause they are so LITTLE. I thought they needed to just have their food and water and warm spot for a while lol idk

I. Just. Can't. Even.

Right!? Hilarious but also some of them were really cute lol

Aww, gross! They're monsters!

X2 LOL

 

[Conan]

How old do they have to be before they can have some? I’m just really paranoid they are going to get hurt or lost or something or get cocci or something. Cause they are so LITTLE. I thought they needed to just have their food and water and warm spot for a while lol idk

I give them the dirt tray first thing. It's part of the brooder. Gives them something to do and it's good for them. I usually dig out clumps of sod from the garden as well. They have fun with that.

 

[ShrekDawg]

I give them the dirt tray first thing. It's part of the brooder. Gives them something to do and it's good for them. I usually dig out clumps of sod from the garden as well. They have fun with that.

Okay! I will have to get them some dirt!! Wouldn’t want to deprive them!! Lol how old do they have to be to go outside for a bit? During the day and on nice days of course.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Kiki wants me to send her a NON YELLOW chick!!

 

[ShrekDawg]

These chicks might actually be helping me get on a more normal sleep schedule.... being a mother is exhausting.

 

[debid]

You know, some of us put chicks in coops. Outside. Where there is dirt and bugs and weeds and rain and the air is cold sometimes...

I let them have run access when they're about a week old. They aren't stupid toddlers, they have the same skills as the adults because they're instinctive.

And yes, I check droppings. Never had a single chick get sick or fail to thrive and they seem to have a great time being chickens

 

[debid]

BTW, it's hilarious to see a tiny chick sound the aerial predator alert and see every adult freeze and look to the sky with them. Can you imagine if baby humans were born already fluent in spoken language?

 

[NanaKat]

I live in a fully fenced subdivision and absolutely no outsiders get into my yard.
They are eating it all. I forgot to add that they also eat my cat's food. I caught them doing that the other day.
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Song birds can also go through lots of chicken feed. I went through a period where a 50 lb. sack of feed that would normally last 3 weeks was suddenly being gone through in 1 to 3 days. The culprits were starlings. I went down one night with a pellet pistol and cleaned out 83 starlings that one night. After a couple of weeks of eliminating starlings, the feed usage returned to normal.

I would agree with the other comments....cut back on treats. Because wild birds frequent my outdoor feeders, they assumed they could frequent any feeder including the chicken and duck feeders inside their coops.
Sparrows and starlings are the worst!
Barn cat helps with the mice.
I feed the ducks every evening now...and put up their feed when all have eaten. I put it back out in the morning.
Mice can go anywhere they can get their head thru.

The dreaded starling. My granny used to send us kids to the barn to knock their nests down. She loved her swallows and hummers, but she hated starlings.

Nasty birds! And they build nests in the barn, in the coop, on the truck engine and in my Purple Martin house. I am constantly tearing out nests and drowning those Starling babies.
I bait the voles/rats outside in the evening with corn and shoot them. Haven't use rest sot inside the coops....yet.

I give them the dirt tray first thing. It's part of the brooder. Gives them something to do and it's good for them. I usually dig out clumps of sod from the garden as well. They have fun with that.

The dirt and grass is great for the baby birds. Mthe you learn to dust bathe and pick out grains of sand for their crop and build immunity too.
I was horrified when my precious baby daughter wiggled to the edge of her blanket outside and stuffed a handful or dirt and grass into her mouth! The doctor just laughed and said that keeping a baby too clean could impede the biological immunity all babies need against bacteria in their environment.

These chicks might actually be helping me get on a more normal sleep schedule.... being a mother is exhausting.

Amen to that!

 

[Kiki]

How old do they have to be before they can have some? I’m just really paranoid they are going to get hurt or lost or something or get cocci or something. Cause they are so LITTLE. I thought they needed to just have their food and water and warm spot for a while lol idk



Right!? Hilarious but also some of them were really cute lol



X2 LOL

They can be hatched in dirt!

It's coccidiosis...not cocci.