Duck Duties

[flossyfelix]

Our duck duties are apart of our morning routine every day! We feed & water, change the pool water, clean up the poop, & play for a few mintues! I have my little helper & it's 1 of our most favorite times of the day! What are your daily duck duties?

Hadlee-Grey, My helper!

Playtime!

Flossy & Felix back in their house, because their still grounded!

 

[Bills vs Beaks]

Same...Cept I gotta do it alone
And every so often I move their electronet fence, a whole afternoon job

they mess those pools up so fast, no one except a duck owner understands

 

[flossyfelix]

Same...Cept I gotta do it alone
And every so often I move their electronet fence, a whole afternoon job

they mess those pools up so fast, no one except a duck owner understands

Seriously! Sometimes in a matter of minutes! & since they're grounded it's like it's worse, so they can come out more often while I clean it! Lol.-- so this electric fence you speak of... is it just for ducks/chickens? Where could I purchase one? I think I'm interested in one! It doesn't hurt them?

 

[Amiga]

Ah, duck dooty!

Early morning, it's visit in the night pen, bring treats, check food bucket levels and refill if needed.

Later mornings, it's go for a walk, refill swim pans and day pen water buckets, check day pen bedding and refresh as needed, set out food, play, head count, lock up.

Afternoons (sometimes earlier), it's spot pick bedding in the night pen, replace as necessary, scrape wet sawdust and poop from watering stations, dump, rinse, refill water, refill oyster shell dispensers as needed, collect eggs.

Then it's late afternoon walkies, move food to night pen, get everybody into the night pen, head count, and night-night.

Did I miss anything?

When the cold weather socks us in, early morning is dump, rinse, refill water buckets in the night pen, bring treats, top up feed, come back an hour later and redo waters again. That first hour the big water pot is used by the Runners for washing up. Then we go for walks during the day, unless it's too screaming cold. But days it stays well below freezing, we don't leave the ducks outdoors for very long at a time. Some in the flock are not very cold-hardy.

 

[flossyfelix]

@Amiga how many ducks do you have??

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

My duck routine looks like this...

Morning: haul FF buckets out to the barn and fill up the rubber food bowls. If it's not too cold (iffy lately), fill the kiddie pools up. Fill pails with water - two for the adult ducks and one for the duckling group. If very cold, haul 5-gal buckets of warm water out to fill pails. Open the adult coop pop door and the duckling enclosure (the ducklings are almost 6 weeks old and with mom) and let everyone out for the day. If they're laying (they're not, right now ), collect eggs.

Afternoon: check the adult coop and duckling coop; turn bedding and refresh, as needed (needed more often in duckling coop). Did a complete change-out in the adult coop this week for the upcoming cold weather - layer of pine pellets below a thick layer of pine shavings. Bring treats sometimes - scratch, seeds, etc.

Late afternoon and evening: feed everyone, close ducklings in duckling run for feeding. At dusk, herd the adult ducks into their coop (they're Muscovies, so it's like herding cats). The ducklings (Pekin/Runner) will go into their coop on their own, so just shut their door for the night. Dump the pools and pails. Collect the food bowls and put them in the barn. Almost forgot: refill and mix up FF.

That's the routine...but there are definitely "non-routine" days when the unexpected happens. And this is the "duck" part of the routine only!

 

[Amiga]

Sixteen. They are small ducks, though.

 

[TroyerGal]

Seriously! Sometimes in a matter of minutes! & since they're grounded it's like it's worse, so they can come out more often while I clean it! Lol.-- so this electric fence you speak of... is it just for ducks/chickens? Where could I purchase one? I think I'm interested in one! It doesn't hurt them?

We use Premier1 fencing. Works good for ducks

https://www.premier1supplies.com/c/fencing/

 

[Bills vs Beaks]

We use Premier1 fencing. Works good for ducks

https://www.premier1supplies.com/c/fencing/

Yep me too, with a solar charger