A bunch of ducks and some chickens

[jonasquinn]

Thought I'd document my (relatively short) journey so far with birds, so I have a record of everything when my memory inevitably fails. This might be long, in multiple parts and quite verbose. And interspersed with some photos to make it seem more interesting.
A super short summary, tldr; got some ducks, got some chickens, got rid of a chicken, got more ducks, got more chickens, got more ducks

Prologue
Just over a year ago a close friend was getting some chicks to raise with his family. Which gave me the idea the get some birds of my own. I thought it would be better to get some ducks, they seemed they might be easier to look after and hardier (sidenote: When I was a kid, my parents got me one duckling (from who knows where). It died after a few days because we had no idea how to look after a duckling properly (no heat, stayed outside in the open). Dad (made up some excuse) blamed it on pesticides from neighbours. /end sidenote). I talked to family and friends about what I should do... Family said don't get any, ducks defecate everywhere all the time; Friends said don't listen to your family, if you want ducks you should get them and see how it goes. So, obviously, I ignored my family's advice and decided to get some ducks to see how it goes.

Beginning
I spent about a month or so browsing online classifieds, doing research and checking out the forums here. I settled on getting some muscovy ducks, as there was someone nearby selling some for a very decent price.

The OG 3 (left to right): Wanda, Siobhan, Emmylou. This is from when I just got them, end of November 2024, they are around 10 weeks old here. I cleared out an overgrown portion of the backyard and got a kiddie pool for them.

Initially (stupidly?), I fed them only bird scratch mix (random mixed seeds) (based on "advice" from the feed store) and veggie scraps. They didn't really like the seed mix, but obviously loved the veggie scraps. After talking to a friend who had muscovies when he was a kid, he "strongly suggested" I should get proper feed for them. So, I got some duck finisher pellets for them, which they greatly appreciated, they all seemed pretty happy.

I knew muscovies can fly quite decently and obviously didn't want them getting into neighbours' backyards and inconveniencing them. So, I tried to keep track of their flight feather growth to figure out when to clip them. I kept putting it off, having no first hand expreience, I didn't want to clip them too early. Well, about a month later, at the beginning of this year, they managed to fly up a couple metres and perch on the property dividing fence. Oh dear. (They were still a bit skittish back then) I didn't want disturb them, else they jump into the neighbour's backyard. So, I watched from a distance and waited... After what felt like hours and well after sunset, they finally flew back down. I locked them up in their coop and called my friend to come and help clip their wings in the morning. I went to check on them in the morning and they somehow escaped the coop and were chilling in the kiddie pool like nothing had happened. When my friend arrived we clipped their right wings and their flights of fancy were grounded. Thankfully, they were no longer interested in flying/perching high anymore.

More birds?
Things were going smoothly with the muscovies. However, the don't lay many eggs and these ones were still a fair way off from starting to too. One of the reasons for getting birds was for eggs. So, I talked to my friend with the chickens about his journey and how much upkeep they required. Seemed like it would be easy to add some chickens to the flock with minimal extra work required. So, I got a couple of isa browns, start of January 2025, about a year old.

Fatty in the front. Things did not go smoothly. At least I was getting eggs now though.

As soon as I let her out, Fatty did not like the run, she escaped and decided explore the entire backyard on her own. I wasn't able to find her that night, I assumed she escaped the backyard and disappeared. Surprisingly, out of nowhere, she came back to the run the next morning. Fatty was an independent woman, she did whatever she wanted. Mostly eating food all the time and chasing others away from the food she was eating. She didn't mind getting picked up, as long as she had enough food.

The pecking order was almost a triangle. Fatty would beat down on the other chicken, the other chicken would harass/scare the muscovies, and the muscovies would chase Fatty away. This was not ideal, I ended up rehoming the other chicken after a few days. The day I gave her away was when I realised she was the one laying regularly . Oh well, at least relative harmony was restored to the flock. (Fatty would not start laying regularly for a couple months.)

More ducks?
Bird maths and lack of eggs, I found someone selling some Khaki Campbells. They're supposed lay lots of eggs, right?

I got them start of February 2025. Anastasia on the left, Daniela on the right, about a year old. Looking quite raggedy when I first got them. The place I got them, there were about 30 of them, living in not so ideal conditions. All were supposed to be female, I got Anni first, yet I somehow ended up picking out a male second (when I got them home, I heard he sounded like a frog). I swapped him out for Dani. They decided to go through a full moult right after I got them .

Here the are looking much more regal. They didn't start laying until the middle of April, but they haven't stopped laying since. They lay pretty much every day, only taking a day off a couple times a month. There's been a few times where I didn't find any eggs for a few days, so I assumed they were taking a break to moult. Only to end up finding a new laying spot with several eggs. They have free range of the entire backyard, so collecting eggs everyday is hoping they laid in the same spot as the previous day. Otherwise, it's like easter every few days/weeks (egg hunting), depending on how they feel. Even now, they're still super skittish, honking and running away like their life depended on it, every time I get near them. But they're the best egg layers, so it's ok.

More chickens?
Since I got rid of the other chicken, Fatty was the only chicken, she didn't seem to mind. I was going to give her to a friend with a large flock in a rural area. But (maths ), I was convinced/persuaded/brainwashed to get another chicken or two to keep Fatty company.

Ended up getting two more in the middle of February 2025, from the same place I got Fatty. Chevelle on the right, isa brown, probably same line and same age as Fatty. Esmeralda on the left black australorp mix(?), unknown age (maybe 3 months?) when I got her.

I don't know if the copper leakage on her chest suggests she might be a sex link(?).
Esme and Chevy became best buds. Fatty kept doing her own thing as usual (so much for that plan), but had no issues with them. All the ducks didn't mind either. Esme was super skittish too, Chevy didn't mind so much.

More ducks?
For some reason (probably bird maths), I incepted myself into wanting a drake. After trolling online classifeds for a month or so, I found a nice looking guy.

Of course, having a serious math problem, I ended up getting his mate too. This is from when I got them in the middle of May 2025. Two silver welsh harlequins, about 7 months old at the time. Drake is Thomas Ferdinand, girl is Bernadette.

Much nicer looking than the khaki campbells .

Here's Bernie, being "forced" to sit on my lap to get photographed. Despite appearances, she's not happy about it.
Integration was uneventful, these two and the khaki campbells formed their own little clique quite quickly. It took a few weeks for Thomas to figure out what to do with the ladies. He had to watch Anni and Dani mount each other to get tips and tricks.

Recap
So, after getting my first ones December 2024, six months later in May 2025 I've got 10 birds. Three muscovies, two khaki campbells, two welsh harlequins, two isa browns and an australorp. I originally kept the ducks in a run a portion of the backyard because I didn't want to go egg hunting every day, but it was getting a bit small for that many ducks. I ended up letting everyone free range the entire backyard, so I have to go egg hunting whenever they change up their laying spots. Very luckily, where I live they don't have any predators, so I don't have to lock them up or worry about where they go. Most of the birds still return to the run every night. The chickens have a place to roost, safe from the elements, and the ducks usually just sit nearby all night.

End of first part. More parts to come until I reach the present.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Your ducks are so pretty.

 

[sourland]

Welcome to BYC, and well done on the duck/chicken math.

 

[jonasquinn]

Eggseggseggs and broody birds
Once the khaki campbells started back up in April, eggs were finally flowing. I started making choc-chip muffins, egg based ice cream and crepes to keep up with supply.

Siobhan laid her first egg at the end of April at just over 7 months old. She went broody after a month of laying. I gave her 3 chickens eggs from a friend, she ate 2 and gave up on the last one after two weeks. In her defence, she did decide to nest next to the kiddie pool, so she was getting splashed everytime anyone was in there. Not really set up for success.

Here's Esme a week before she started laying. Everything on her face got bigger and redder.

She started laying beginning of June, best guess she was around 7 months old. When she laid her first egg, best bud Chevy was so stoked for her, she was "singing the egg song" for around 10 minutes, letting everyone know. Esme went broody three(!) weeks after her first ever egg. I half-assed tried to break her, but she was more determined than I.

The other two muscovies were much slower than Siobhan, Emmylou started laying a week into June and Wanda a few days later, at almost 9 months old. I made them pose with their first eggs.

Emmy laid for close to 6 weeks, Wanda lasted 7 weeks.

During this time, Chevy got sick at the end of April, possible respiratory infection. I gave her an espom salt bath and she dropped out an egg yolk. Later that day, she laid a shelless egg, just membrane with everything inside. I started giving her calcium citrate supplements. She recovered and resumed laying a month later, but her eggs from then on were quite thin shelled and they were 85g+ monsters.

Surprisingly, even though everyone started laying heading into winter, there was no slowdown or stopping of egg laying throughout winter (other than going broody).

 

[jonasquinn]

Esme brooding
I did not expect her to get broody 3 weeks after her first egg. I tried taking her from her nest and putting her on her roost a couple times. First thing in the mornings, she was back on her nest. I tried putting her in a crate during the day and back on her roost at night for a couple days, that obviously didn't work either. I was too lazy to try any harder to break her, so I got some eggs from a friend with a rooster. I ended up grabbing 5 freshly laid eggs for her to sit on at the end of June. After candling a week later, one was not fertile (I ate it (it was fine)).

All four hatched a day early, around the middle of July.

Here they are a day old. My friend that I got the eggs from asked for naming rights. Left to right, Chupi, Chanel, Coco, Chuki. Chuki has a very slight reddish tinge. I did not get many decent photos of them, they move too fast. Sadly, Coco died at one week old. One night, it got out from underneath Esme and couldn't find its way back, got too cold. I found it just over a foot away from Esme and the other chicks.

Here are some of them with mum at over a week old.

Here they are at four weeks. Top one is Chuki.


Five and a half weeks here. Again, top one is Chuki.


Other than what happened to Coco, everything else was smooth sailing. Esme was a great broody mum, they had free run of the entire backyard during the day and I secured them in their nesting area at night. The ducks showed no interest in them and Fatty would occasionally remind them who's boss.

During this time, Chevy got sick again. She got sour crop beginning of August. I kept her inside while she recovered from that. Initally, she wasn't eating or drinking much. After about a week or so, she started feeling better and started eating and drinking more. So, I put her back outside, so she could hang out with the others. Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse rather quickly after that. Within a couple of days, she got quite lethargic and her comb was turning purple. I brought her back inside, but she passed peacefully, while I was giving her a warm epsom salt bath. I did a very basic necropsy on her and found some lash egg material and other growths from egg yolk peritonitis.

Esme was too busy brooding to notice that Chevy had died. She stopped brooding the chicks at around 6 weeks old and after that, I think she realised Chevy was nowhere to be found. So, she started "bawk-bawk-bawk"ing throughout the day trying to call for her. Previously she was quite quiet barely making any noise. Now she just does it all the time for any reason.

She resumed laying beginning of September, when they were 7 weeks old. Here they are not long after that. Chuki on top.


Thankfully, this time she laid for close to two months (pretty much every day), before going broody. I didn't bother trying to break her this time. I just kicked her off her nest for a few days initially until she got proper broody and refused to leave. So, beginning of November, I gave her duck eggs this time, just for fun to see how she would go at it. 2x Bernie eggs, 1 each from Anni and Dani (I think), and 2x Siobhan muscovy eggs. Turns out the muscovy eggs were actually Wanda's, so they were not fertile. I checked the remaing four yesterday and they were looking good. They should be hatching in a few days.

 

[jonasquinn]

Emmy brooding
I gave her six eggs from Anni and Dani to sit on in the middle of July, about the same time as the chicks hatched. One was not fertile, I suspect I got a muscovy egg mixed up with them. (Again I ate it and it was fine, even though she was sitting on it for a week.) All five hatched two days early, middle of August.

I made a thread about them in the duck forum with a bunch of photos. Some stuff is repeated.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...-campbell-duck-ling-s-very-pic-heavy.1679384/

Emmy resumed laying a month after they hatched. She only laid for two weeks before going broody again . I tried to break her this time, took her from her nest and locked her up. I didn't do a great job locking her up, she escaped and went straight back to her nest.

During this time, I noticed Thomas attempting to mate with her. He was unsuccessful most of the time, but I saw he managed to get the job done every now and then. I cracked one her fresh eggs and it appeared to be fertilised. So, near the end of September, I gave Emmy three of her own eggs. From the limited information I could find, it seemed like the incubation period would be between the 28 days for a regular duck and 35 days for a muscovy. So, after 3.5 days sitting on her own eggs, I gave her a couple from Anni/Dani. (Surprisingly,) all 5 hatched at around the same time, this time, just over three days early, near the end of October.

I posted about them in the above thread, with updates in later posts. Again, some of it is repeated.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...k-ling-s-very-pic-heavy.1679384/post-28898205

This batch was more adventurous, wandering around and exploring the backyard from day 1. One thing I noticed, (I think it was the same with the first batch,) they didn't seem to need heat after the first week or so, I barely saw them under Emmy, even at night. They just made cuddle puddles for warmth.

These guys were also more independent than the previous batch. They were basically doing their own thing from about two weeks old onwards, Emmy stopped hanging out with them during the day. One time, two of them were in the kiddie pool and a crow came down and started circling them on the edge of the pool. Luckily, I heard them chirping and chased the crow away. Emmy and the other ducklings were on the other side of the house, completely oblivious.

Not needing to really to look after them much, this time Emmy resumed laying just 3 weeks after they hatched, middle of November. Not even two weeks and she's already thinking about sitting again.