Chickens for 10-20 years or more? Pull up a rockin' chair and lay some wisdom on us!

[Clay Mudd]

Hmm... seems like even Walmart has duck here. I'd certainly expect Kroger to. (But sometimes I'm wrong...)

 

[JenellYB]

Supermarkets like Kroger often carry them in their freezers. However,supermarkets, no matter the company, vary their merchandise according to area...you might have a better chance of finding one with frozen ducks in a more 'upscale' area than a poor one. Also, around Holidays like Easter and Christmass many carry them that might not carry them year round. A supermarekt in an area with a signficant asian population might be more like to carry them,as well. Also, specialty meat markets near asian communities...or just take your sweetie out to dinner and nice Chinese restuarant and order the Peking Duck or Duck with orange sauce.

I have a feeling I will too, but where on earth do I buy duck? All we've got is Walmart. Kroger is up the road a bit but I still dunno that they would have it.

 

[babymakes6]

I have a feeling I will too, but where on earth do I buy duck? All we've got is Walmart. Kroger is up the road a bit but I still dunno that they would have it.

Try Craigslist. I imagine a farm-raised duck would be much tastier than one from Walmart or Kroger, even if you could find it. You can probably find someone local with an extra drake that they don't want.

 

[JenellYB]

Hey,lots of parks and school grounds have those pretty ponds, lot of them have ducks, too!

Try Craigslist. I imagine a farm-raised duck would be much tastier than one from Walmart or Kroger, even if you could find it. You can probably find someone local with an extra drake that they don't want.

 

[kuntrygirl]

I have a feeling I will too, but where on earth do I buy duck? All we've got is Walmart. Kroger is up the road a bit but I still dunno that they would have it.

You could always call around to see if they have duck at your local stores before taking a trip there. We have a store in our area that sells ducks and the going rate is about $19.00.

 

[kuntrygirl]

I have a feeling I will too, but where on earth do I buy duck? All we've got is Walmart. Kroger is up the road a bit but I still dunno that they would have it.

You could always call around to see if they have duck at your local stores before taking a trip there. We have a store in our area that sells ducks and the going rate is about $19.00.

And the Asian stores will certainly have duck.

 

[unkadan]

I have a feeling I will too, but where on earth do I buy duck? All we've got is Walmart. Kroger is up the road a bit but I still dunno that they would have it.

call them and ask for the "billing" department

 

[gardendufus]

I realize there is a raising chicks section, but I would really like the advice of some of the OT's.

I have 1 week old chicks (4-all standards) in a 3 X 3 brooder (just a 4 sided OSB box) inside a brand new 8 X 10 coop, with no other chickens in it. I'm not sure how long this brooder size will accommodate the chicks. Also, in order to get the breeds I wanted, I have sort of a staggard delivery on my chicks. I have 2 more coming 3/23 and 2 more coming 4/6, which means that when I get the last of the 1 day olds the first will be 5 weeks old.

I've been thinking how to handle this and my gut tells me it might be ok to take 1 side of the brooder box off, make it a lid (with some venting) with the heat lamp at the enclosed end of the 3 sided box, and basically let them all have the run of the coop. I'm thinking the younger chicks will stick pretty much in the enclosed area nearest the heat lamp, while the older ones will have more room to roam and less reason to pick on the smaller ones. I would keep food and water both inside the semi-enclosed area and out in the larger area of the coop. All the chicks would have access to the heat lamp, but because of their ages, probably will not be jostling for the warmest spots?????? I hope I made this clear.

Do you think this will work? Temps here in CO have been running as low as teens (at night) and as high as 70 (rarely) during the day. The chicks I have have been fine, and even the first day were staying away from the warmest areas and hanging out in the 70-80 degree areas of the brooder. (Well, maybe on the FIRST day they hung out at 85-90).

If this won't work, will I need to build a second, larger brooder to handle the older, larger chicks, or do you have another method to handle varying ages. Oh, should I mention that my 4 older chicks are BR and BA's. Next to deliver are Welsummers, and the last to deliver will be Golden Laced Wyantottes. Maybe the personalities/traits of these birds would make a difference.

ETA: Maybe another heat lamp on the opposite side of the coop for the larger chicks?

 

[eggdd]

are there still OTers posting here?

 

[Cass]

I realize there is a raising chicks section, but I would really like the advice of some of the OT's.

I have 1 week old chicks (4-all standards) in a 3 X 3 brooder (just a 4 sided OSB box) inside a brand new 8 X 10 coop, with no other chickens in it. I'm not sure how long this brooder size will accommodate the chicks. Also, in order to get the breeds I wanted, I have sort of a staggard delivery on my chicks. I have 2 more coming 3/23 and 2 more coming 4/6, which means that when I get the last of the 1 day olds the first will be 5 weeks old.

I've been thinking how to handle this and my gut tells me it might be ok to take 1 side of the brooder box off, make it a lid (with some venting) with the heat lamp at the enclosed end of the 3 sided box, and basically let them all have the run of the coop. I'm thinking the younger chicks will stick pretty much in the enclosed area nearest the heat lamp, while the older ones will have more room to roam and less reason to pick on the smaller ones. I would keep food and water both inside the semi-enclosed area and out in the larger area of the coop. All the chicks would have access to the heat lamp, but because of their ages, probably will not be jostling for the warmest spots?????? I hope I made this clear.

Do you think this will work? Temps here in CO have been running as low as teens (at night) and as high as 70 (rarely) during the day. The chicks I have have been fine, and even the first day were staying away from the warmest areas and hanging out in the 70-80 degree areas of the brooder. (Well, maybe on the FIRST day they hung out at 85-90).

If this won't work, will I need to build a second, larger brooder to handle the older, larger chicks, or do you have another method to handle varying ages. Oh, should I mention that my 4 older chicks are BR and BA's. Next to deliver are Welsummers, and the last to deliver will be Golden Laced Wyantottes. Maybe the personalities/traits of these birds would make a difference.

ETA: Maybe another heat lamp on the opposite side of the coop for the larger chicks?

I'm not an OT, but seem to have a knack for winding up with multiple age chicks each year. sigh. What you are discribing will work well, but I would put the second heat lamp in there until the oldest chicks are 4 weeks (or fully feathered, whichever comes first) to keep the older chicks from being tempted to crowd the younger ones on cold nights.

If possible I would put up a piece of chicken wire or hardware cloth to keep the smaller chicks contained/away from the larger chicks. If not possible, just let them wander as they will.

(I type fast so I'll tell you why I would do that) I had 2 birds die from "failure to thrive" and an OT told me that they didn't thrive due to a spinal cord injury sustained during shipment. One was a hatchery duck and one I personally transported in a box in my car (for 3 hours, poor baby) with other chicks. 9 made it, one didn't. It seems that they all gather together and the smallest/weakest one can get pinched into a corner with it's neck in an odd angle or stepped on by a larger bird and injured. However it happened it wasn't an obvious injury casing any visiable problems, they just didn't grow and died at about 4 weeks of age. (I cried cuz I couldn't save them, save yourself the grief if possible)