call ducks-purpose?

[Robert Blosl]

So glad you caught your ducks.

Yes you have a great set up for call ducks and they got to be the happiest ducks in the world.

Talked to the pair of Gray Calls and they are ready to go to Colorado. Your kids are going to be happy. bob

 

[chikky]

Glad the "escapees" are home safe and sound

 

[KateBeauchemin]

My first hatchling from my mother-in-law and sister-in-laws stock...

Skid... she adopted 9 others when they were only a month younger then her. She was a born mother even before she got her big girl feathers in...

Wish the skid marks stayed on her... They didn't, they hid under her wings.

Calls are great, and have such great personalities.

 

[BlackBrookPoultry]

My blue call duck hen sat on 12 eggs this May and hatched all 12 of them! Unfortunately, she had bred with my only mallard drake and 9/12 were mixed.

I ended up only keeping 2 of the ducklings. And then the mink killed everyone . . . So much for my good broody.

 

[dinahmoe]

Quote:
cute little things.i love the name Skid

 

[dinahmoe]

Quote:
sorry you lost them.
hope you killed the mink.
next time you can send the mixed my way.

 

[BlackBrookPoultry]

I can't catch that dang mink! I can see his tracks in the snow most mornings too. He comes back looking for another meal quite often. And now the coyotes have moved in. I'm trying to decide if I want my husband to shoot them. This may sound wierd but I love having fox around, we have red and gray, but the coyotes will kill them or drive them out of here. And I have goats and am afraid of them getting killed.

 

[dinahmoe]

Quote:
doesn't sound weird.i have a fox that comes up and i don't want to kill him.my chcikens are very secure at night so that helps.i can even here a bark at night from it.it is a red fox.my husband doesn't like it because it kills the wild rabbits.now the coyotes i would kill because they will definately get the goats.i think a fox is too small to bother them unless they are babies or pigmies.i know the predators have to eat but i wish they would just eat other wild animals.i don't like to kill anything but i would .

 

[KateBeauchemin]

I have enjoyed evening walks and seen mama fox and her babes out in the woods and by our huge sandhills out back, never once has she been up front. I have had coyotes in my yard at 10am 30 ft. from my door. Mama silkie was on inside of fence yelling at it like there was no tomorrow, she had youngin's right under her. Such bravery. I have let me hubby open season on them.

We have an old eggery and swamp across the street, so we are infested with raccoons. I have had more problems with coons (and neighbors free roaming dogs) then anything. But a secure barn will keep them at bay. I also got an outside dog, that seems to have helped tremendously! I lost so many the first year because in the summer i free range my woods and sometimes the roos and their girls like to find alternative places to sleep and enjoy the evening air.

I will build duck pen like Ft. Knox in the spring, electric wire and all on the outside and top covered and a strain of wire up top as well. Good luck to you in the future, it's real disheartening losing my little pets...

 

[BlackBrookPoultry]

We've built a new predator proof coop but I don't have a covered run. I let mine free-range during the day. Up until the mink incident I didn't have a problem. I would lose 1-2 ducks or chickens to the fox every year. But that little sucker squeezed into a tiny crack in the duck house (which is now the goat house). I have a dog running around outside all day and some nights. He had been diagnosed with anaplasmosis and lyme disease this fall and I had him in the house for a few days. It didn't take long for the mink to catch on that he wasn't out there. It's heartbreaking to wake up to that. Especially when they just suck the blood and leave the bodies for me to clean up. Knowing that my poor ducks were trapped in a house that was supposed to keep them safe while they all got killed one by one is the worst feeling. I had one drake survive out of the 13 that were in there. It was a long recovery (he lost a lot of blood) but he's doing good now. He has new friends and seems content.

I love call ducks!