A New Beginning

[RichieNZ]

Hey there, I'm a brand new member! But I have been frequenting these forums and soaking up the vast knowledge you all share for over a month now.

I live in New Zealand and it is summer here, I am currently incubating some Pekin and Cayuga duck eggs

I used to raise ducks and chickens when I was younger, but have not done so for many years. I am very excited to be trying my hand at this stuff again!!

It is currently day 24 of their incubation. I'm using a JANOEL12 incubator and i got my eggs in the mail. Many had dislodged air sacs and it was thanks to much of the great info on here that I was able to help the eggs develop as smoothly as they have. Of the 13 eggs, 1 was infertile and 1 of the healthier looking eggs died at day 10 (its air sac was practically perfect). So 11 are still going strong I think and they are just beginning to show signs that they will be internally pipping soon.

I will upload lots of pictures and maybe even links to videos of them on Youtube (QUESTION: Is posting links to Youtube allowed?)

Just wanted to get a thread up and running and say hi

 

[b.hromada]

First let me say,

from S. Florida! So glad you joined us! It is so exciting, watching them "grow". Keep us posted on your progress too.

 

[Mr MKK FARMS]

 

[RichieNZ]

Hey!
So it has been a busy few days, and not just because these little guys have been hatching. But I finally got some good pics and wanted to share them with you all!

6 hatched in the end. Which I am more than happy about! 2 Pekin and 4 Cayuga.
My dog is very taken with them, and at this point its hard to tell who they've imprinted on: me or him!

I'm keeping them in a box that is kept inside a larger dog cage, so they have that added barrier between them and the dog and cat while I'm not around. So far things are going well, except the last duckling to hatch was pretty sticky (from membrane) and is still a wee bit.

The oldest 4 are very active, and while the younger 2 seem fine (eating, drinking, pooping) when I get them out for a bit a of socialising, the older 4 run around while the younger 2 just stand and wobble around before going to sleep.

Should I be worried or is that totally normal for some to be a bit slower? They've all been out for over 2 days now.

Hope you like the picture, I took them on my iphone and tried to use filters to make the Cayugas a bit more visible. They DO NOT photograph well being so dark haha.

 

[TwoCrows]

Very cute!

 

[RichieNZ]

Got everyone outside today for the first time. They really loved it. They met the chickens, and Sid (the biggest duckling who is a pekin and CLEARLY a boy) even tried to attack them which was very comical. In the end he got scared, and the chickens just looked at him funny.

They tackled their biggest obstacle yet: a step! I filmed the whole thing, the cayugas (minus the runt) got up easily but Sid and Dreamer needed help. The runt (who i named Mokiso) didn't even try - but she seems to be getting more active. She kept up with the others on their travels which is an improvement! baby steps

I raised a duckling once before, and it literally followed me everywhere. These guys seems a bit more independent. They don't all come running after me, but they kinda randomly seem to end up wherever i am. Bit of a weird observation - but has anyone else had this? They seem to respond to my whistling. I'm thinking maybe they have splint imprinted on myself and Aoshima, my friendly little Westie.



That's Sid at the front in this pic. He's definitely the leader!




This is Dreamer, who I think/hope is a girl. I base it off her demeanor I guess. She's alot smaller than Sid too, but larger than the Cayugas. Which makes sense because their eggs were huge compared to the Cayugas!




Dreamer and Sid hanging by the water.

Having so much fun with these guys - and it makes me so proud seeing my dog being such a good companion to them. Still wont leave him unsupervised though! He is after all just a baby himself.