Duck Addicts Anonymous (DAA)

[Quatie]

My Pekins were from TSC. I feel like they have a ton of issues partly because they tend to be the ones you find are TSC and other feed stores. So they end up being people's first ducks. No matter how much you research to prepare for ducks, you are never truly prepared for them. Pekins have a steeper learning curve. They need more naicin. I never see mine dunk her head in water except when she swims. I had the same problem with mine as ducklings and needed to give them baths to keep nares and eyes clean. There is just a lot more to learn with Pekin

But if keeping my original flock is going to be this difficult, maybe Muscovy would be a better choice.

I will say Muscovy are delicious. The males are huge, but they are pure muscle. I so far have had only one minor issue with my Muscovy. My drake had an inflamed penis and issues keeping it in, which was really unfortunate for him. One of my female Muscovy grabbed it one time and pulled. We seperated him after that. She still tried to grab it when he would mate the other females. He eventually ended up on the table. I have contemplated getting some ducklings and hoping for drakes. Keep the drake I like for breeding and eat the others. But they can potentially live up to 20 years.

 

[Quatie]

@HeatherKellyB @Quatie Speaking of Pekins with limps, after suffering through like a 9 month bout of bumblefoot and trying to get the scab to go away, the day it disappeared completely, my pekin Penny hurt her leg and stopped walking. Well, she uses her wings to gain balance and limps around a few steps at a time, but it's been two months now and she's not getting better. When she comes out of the coop in the morning I pick her up and place her by the food and water. She moves around a tiny bit in the run, but mostly sits. I carry her out to the pond to swim a couple times a day, then put her in a little corner in the tractor - she has to be fenced off from the other ducks because she gets picked on by my younger ducklings and then she tries to get away and I'm worried she'll hurt herself more. She still eats and enjoys swimming, and doesn't seem unhappy (how do I know?), but her quality of life is definitely not super great, and I have no idea what sort of pain she's in when she tries to walk. How long do I keep going this way with her? I just don't know...she has other issues too - she's always had strange scabs on her body, since she was young, and I can feel them whenever I carry her around, sometimes they stick out on her neck. I don't think it's anything that hurts her, it's just odd. I've thought about euthanizing her, but just don't know when the time is right. She's sweet and I do love her, but don't want her to suffer.

@CoriM sorry to hear about your girl. It can be difficult to know when to put an animal down. If they have will to live, I tend to keep them going best I can. I usually can see in their eyes if they have given up or not. I also tend to give pain killers to ease their last days.

 

[Jenessa_096]

I had two duck this spring both were drakes and I really want some call ducks this spring. Although they are hard to find, I want to keep a drake because my big drakes were trying to mate my chickens. My mom really doesn’t like ducks They are a lot of work but I love them.

 

[WVduckchick]

I got a couple pics of Quasi this morning, thought I’d show you all how much and how well she has grown. Still the tiny visible bald spot under her eye, but it doesn’t seem to bother her at all.

 

[shawluvsbirds]

I got a couple pics of Quasi this morning, thought I’d show you all how much and how well she has grown. Still the tiny visible bald spot under her eye, but it doesn’t seem to bother her at all.
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That is still unbelievable! She sure has thrived.

 

[Painted Calls]

I got a couple pics of Quasi this morning, thought I’d show you all how much and how well she has grown. Still the tiny visible bald spot under her eye, but it doesn’t seem to bother her at all.
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Wow!!! Hard to believe how far she's come. Great job Nat!

 

[Daphne_loves_mealworms]

It made it up to 33 degrees Fahrenheit today, which is essentially a nice day in winter and 30-50 degrees warmer than it will be for most of January and February. I filled the “winter pool” and invited the girls out. Nope. Not happening. I told them it’s going to be a long winter if they don’t toughen up and leave the barn!

“Just drop some mealworms and leave”, they said. So I did.

 

[Painted Calls]

So I took away their pool last week/week before last. It's been freezing overnight and staying pretty cold during the day. Starting yesterday, we've got a small heatwave moving through until Friday. I gave them their pool back. They were super excited!

 

[HeatherKellyB]

So I took away their pool last week/week before last. It's been freezing overnight and staying pretty cold during the day. Starting yesterday, we've got a small heatwave moving through until Friday. I gave them their pool back. They were super excited!

Duck pile! Silly Lidus, that's not the goal. Lemme show you Now to fill the pool back up since they splash out half of the water.

 

[Painted Calls]

Duck pile! Silly Lidus, that's not the goal. Lemme show you Now to fill the pool back up since they splash out half of the water.

It drives me crazy. I scrub it out and rinse. Then fill it. 30 seconds in and I need to refill.