Okay, so this morning I had a weird dream that my future father in law came over to visit and yelled at me for raising ducklings and calling them a bad investment. I rebutted by telling him that we had lost so many chicks but only one duckling so far. After that I woke up and went out to check on all the birds. First thing I find in the duckling tank are 6, trampled to death, muscovy ducklings. It was ironic, spooky, sad, and ticked me off. They were only a week old, and cost me 18 dollars! It wasn't their siblings faults though, they had splashed the contents of their waterer all over the tank resulting in muddy, slippery circumstances. As a result I switched them back to a smaller waterer until I can get them in to new digs. I am down to eleven ducklings now and have an increased sense of paranoia surrounding them. On the up side though, I vented to a friend who told me that her ex would give me 15 of his ducklings for free! I said yes right away and pick them up in about a week. She wasn't sure what type they are but I know the'll have a place here on the farm. Finally at bed time tonight I picked up random ducks in the barn and listened to their cries. The eight older ducklings are almost 7 weeks old and I could distinctly hear the sounds of male and females. It was very reassuring to my heart as a parent to hear my babies so healthy and happy. I know I can raise feathered children even with sad setbacks.
Starting out is always hard. Last year I have 84 baby muscovys and lost over half in one month until I made up my own feed ration. They weren't getting any animal protein, I believe, from the commercial feeds. I now add pond fish food to the diet and havn't lost any since.