Crash course in Mapie Ducklings, They are cuter than chicks!*pics*

[Cuttlefishherder]

So we have been looking for a solution on how to shut up a panicking peeping chick that has been driving us nuts since we got her and her buddy(We love them dearly but she is sooo loud). We tried every thing and came down to the final opinion that if we got them a third little chick buddy that she would feel more secure. Our favorite feed store had a partridge Cochin that was really cute and calm so we figured that she would be a good companion to our little panic button. When we got there they had a new batch of ducklings, Magpies and the sign read that they lay lots of eggs and have a good meat quality. We said we were only going to get a cochin and we came home with that and three ducklings.

It got funnier and kind of sad from there because our two little panic buttons are mean. The cochin is a whole month older than our two little chicks and she is terrified of them! They chase her around and pull on her little foot feathers!We had them all in one box temporarily but then out two little chicks(they are only 2 weeks old!) started targeting the little black spots on the ducklings feet and were dragging the ducklings around! So we went bought a HUGE storage bin (you could fit two or three kids in it) and made a divider out of chicken wire, so that the crazy chicks could be on one side and the ducklings could be safe on the other, but the cochin was not happy with the two crazy chicks and is now living peacefully with the ducklings.

Any who, any one with some good Tips for raising these little guys? We were already planning for geese at the end of this month so we had the basics because we are also planning on Moscovies. We just didn't expect ducks so soon lol

The crazies on their side of the tub lol

 

[Back on the Farm]

I had two pekins in with my 8 chicks... all was fine for about 3 weeks. I recently moved them apart - their brooders are next to one another and they can see/talk to one another. The only reason I moved the ducks into their own brooder is because they were making the original brooder soaking wet. The chicks didn't like a soaking wet brooder and I hated cleaning it out several times a day. At first I was cleaning out the duck brooder several times a day - but finally gave up to only once a day because within 15 minutes of getting it cleaned out - they soaked it.

They have now figured out how to tilt their water container just enough to get the water to drain out so that they can play in it. Thank goodness they are almost 5 weeks old - otherwise I'd worry about them getting too wet. They are ducks and have a love of all things wet.

I'm waiting on a chicken coop, should be here on Tuesday. As soon as it arrives - they are all going outside

They are currently in my root cellar (I live in a very old house) and my house, including the cellar smells like a barn - the manure pile part of a barn.

I'm playing with the idea of having the ducks have their own part of the run and then I can put them up in the coop at night for protection from predators or building them their own pen next to and including the spring house. The spring house has been flooded for years, so it is like a small pond. I've got time to make up my mind. I don't think that they would like to be seperated from their chicken friends.

My Godmother raised her first flock of chickens with one duck and everything was fine. Somehow she had a duck included in her chicken order. I think the duck thought he was a chicken not a duck.

Enjoy your ducks... they are so cute.

 

[dumb_cluck]

Can you spell "Valium"?

Chicks and ducks and geese, oh my! I would keep them separate.