Jelibaen
Songster
This year has been insane for me, and we are only 3 months in.
In January I had a mink get into my coop. Killed 7 in one afternoon. Injured 5 more. I ended up with 3 ducks in my bathtub for 3 weeks being tube fed medications. One of them had to stay in the tub for another 4 weeks cause we found out she had spinal fractures in her neck.
February I had one of the previously injured ducks get into the water bucket and injure her leg. Had a brief scare where we thought we may have to amputate, and then she got better. During this time, that last duck I was talking about ended up falling and broke her neck the rest of the way, so we had to put her down. Bringing the mink attack to 8/19 ducks.
My geese have been attacking each other. One is bonded to the ducks instead of the other goose.
Work has been insane. Life has been insane.
And yet... today I had 18 ducklings hatch out of 22 eggs I had set. They were pipping a full 5 days early and still weren't due until tomorrow night. 81% hatch rate. I think the best I ever did was like 50%. All healthy, peeping babies.
Later this week I'm going to pick up a dozen purebred ducks (anconas, cayugas, buffs) to replenish my flock from the losses in January.
Spring is here. The sun is coming out.
Things are getting better. So here's some baby ducks to make your day a little better too.
In January I had a mink get into my coop. Killed 7 in one afternoon. Injured 5 more. I ended up with 3 ducks in my bathtub for 3 weeks being tube fed medications. One of them had to stay in the tub for another 4 weeks cause we found out she had spinal fractures in her neck.
February I had one of the previously injured ducks get into the water bucket and injure her leg. Had a brief scare where we thought we may have to amputate, and then she got better. During this time, that last duck I was talking about ended up falling and broke her neck the rest of the way, so we had to put her down. Bringing the mink attack to 8/19 ducks.
My geese have been attacking each other. One is bonded to the ducks instead of the other goose.
Work has been insane. Life has been insane.
And yet... today I had 18 ducklings hatch out of 22 eggs I had set. They were pipping a full 5 days early and still weren't due until tomorrow night. 81% hatch rate. I think the best I ever did was like 50%. All healthy, peeping babies.
Later this week I'm going to pick up a dozen purebred ducks (anconas, cayugas, buffs) to replenish my flock from the losses in January.
Spring is here. The sun is coming out.
Things are getting better. So here's some baby ducks to make your day a little better too.
I'm glad after the sad days, things are looking up for you! Your baby ducks did make my day better, even though it's early in the morning.
