2019 Spring Ducklings are here!

[SailorNoMore]

I have a question. Yesterday as I went to lock down the ducks at 5:30 I noticed two eggs in the run probably 30 feet from the door of the duck house. Both had a approximately 3/4" hole drilled into the egg. One had a little yolk left in it and the other had a embryo inside of it. My duck house door is 4" above ground level as I use a 2x4 for a bottom brace. How did they get two eggs over that hump and about 30'? I moved the camera that watched that area so I have no record of it. After looking at the different methods of grinding oyster shell chunks, I decided to go low tech. A motar & pestal will arrive Monday.

 

[Texag87]

I will probably go lo tech on oyster shell myself soon. Noticing they are not using the bigger pieces with almost a salad bowl full

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

My four ducklings are three weeks old today! I have posted some videos of them in my other thread (here). Those ducklings are the largest three week old ducklings i have seen eveeee! - Not that i have seen many three week old ducklings, but they are taller than the White Layers were at that age and they have super long and super strong legs and outrun some of the mature ducks (and me!).

 

[SailorNoMore]

WannaBeHillBilly, My four ducklings are three weeks old today! I have posted some videos of them in my other thread (here). Those ducklings are the largest three week old ducklings i have seen eveeee! - Not that i have seen many three week old ducklings, but they are taller than the White Layers were at that age and they have super long and super strong legs and outrun some of the mature ducks (and me!).

My Ancona are 7 weeks old and the wife and I discuss how they are bigger than their mothers. The drake that fathered them is still larger at the moment, but he has three fast growing sons coming along. The future shall be interesting.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

WannaBeHillBilly, My four ducklings are three weeks old today! I have posted some videos of them in my other thread (here). Those ducklings are the largest three week old ducklings i have seen eveeee! - Not that i have seen many three week old ducklings, but they are taller than the White Layers were at that age and they have super long and super strong legs and outrun some of the mature ducks (and me!).

My Ancona are 7 weeks old and the wife and I discuss how they are bigger than their mothers. The drake that fathered them is still larger at the moment, but he has three fast growing sons coming along. The future shall be interesting.

It seems that the »clean breed« ducklings we buy from the hatcheries are showing signs of over-breeding. I remember as a kid i had several aquariums in which i let the Guppies do their multiplying thing for generations and the fish were getting smaller and smaller, but also more and more colourful with each generation. Whenever i mixed fish from different tanks, the F1 hybrids were almost plain silver fish, three to four times the size of their parents.
I have observed similar developments with my ducklings and those of others. The first generation of mixed breeds is significantly larger and heavier than the parents. @Magnolia Ducks calls them the Franken Dux…

 

[Texag87]

A few more weeks to go but I believe one if not both of our pekin runners will be bigger than their mother.

 

[SailorNoMore]

Texag87 I bought a big TSC bag of oyster shells over a year ago and still have half of it. They do seem to be eating more as they get older though .......about the same as before but with 25% less hens.

My motar & pestle arrived from Amazon. It will be useful around the kitchen. It took more effort than I expected to reduce the oyster shell chunks to a powder and smaller chunks. I have what is called an engineers hammer, which I call a baby sledge. I think that using it and something just a little bigger than the head, as a bowl, made out of galvanized pipe, or cast iron, would have reduced the chunks to dust quicker.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Texag87 I bought a big TSC bag of oyster shells over a year ago and still have half of it. They do seem to be eating more as they get older though .......about the same as before but with 25% less hens.

My motar & pestle arrived from Amazon. It will be useful around the kitchen. It took more effort than I expected to reduce the oyster shell chunks to a powder and smaller chunks. I have what is called an engineers hammer, which I call a baby sledge. I think that using it and something just a little bigger than the head, as a bowl, made out of galvanized pipe, or cast iron, would have reduced the chunks to dust quicker.

Oyster-shell powder??? - My Ducks love to gobble down the chunks, the powder is usually left in the pipe for use in the garden. It seems they are not only using the oyster shells as a calcium supply, but also as some kind of additional grit. The girls usually walk into the house, grab some pellets, go to the waterer, grab some oyster shells, go to the waterer again, walk out and rip some grass off and gobble that down. Never ever had a problem with the Oyster Shells from Rural King being too coarse.

 

[SailorNoMore]

Here is a picture of one of my cats eyeing the newest addition to the flock of Ancona, she was a single hatch on Friday. We named her surprise.

 

[Magnolia Ducks]

Looks like the cat would rather you named her dinner.