cayugaducklady
Chirping
This is my first fall/winter with ducks. I'm curious how everyone shifts their routine now that the time has changed. It is dark when I get home from work now so my girls are losing their main forage time.
Time changed Sunday. I started putting them out for forage and splashing time right at the crack of dawn. The first two days they rolled with the time change. Today they were adjusted much better.
I'm at a loss for what to do at night, though. They were happy clams eating night crawlers last night but after about 5 minutes they became nervous
Typical schedule:
4:30-5:00am get up at some during that range
5:00-5:30am start coffee wake up/fast chores/dog cuddle time/ etc.
5:30-6:00am finish coffee/start cooking /packing work lunches & breakfasts/chores, feed/water dogs
5:30-6:00am- as soon as I see daylight I walk ducks out from pen to foraging area. empty clean and refill water pans, check food pan for wet feed/ refill, check for eggs (wishful thinking since they're not laying yet) fluff bedding, walk the outer edges of pens & look for intrusions/damage etc. refill feeders etc.
6:XX-7 walk/hike with dogs, let dogs patrol duck pen & duck area (my dogs are working terriers & rodents are KOS), put dogs back inside
6:XX-7am walk ducks back to their pen, spend a few minutes hand feeding/ talking to ducks, double check that i turned the water off, fix hose to drain,
7am finish getting ready for work,leave for work.
5:00-5:30pm get home from work. practically dark.
Check food pan clean/refill as needed, check water pans, empty/clean refill as needed, check for eggs, check bedding inside dogloo, etc.
This is where I'm not sure what to do with the ducks. It's actually easier to see them in the dark than I thought.
Friday Saturday and Sunday they can spend practically all day out side of the pen in a foraging pen or free foraging in the yard.
Our yard is not fenced and probably wont be any time soon due to terrain and cost. There's no way we're leave them outside unsupervised while we're gone.
I thought about picking up some omlet fencing to make "paddocks" that they can use with direct supervision while im doing their ducky chores. I know they're not predator safe and would never leave them alone in them.
Ducks and dogs cannot be together, ever. Which is too bad because i'd love to take the ducks foraging in the woods while I'm with the dogs.
On the wish list for next season is a duck tractor complete with movable pond. I have enough yard space to dump the pond frequently and not cause wet spots in the yard.
So, how do you all handle the time change? How does your duck schedule shift to accommodate the shorter daylight hours?
Time changed Sunday. I started putting them out for forage and splashing time right at the crack of dawn. The first two days they rolled with the time change. Today they were adjusted much better.
I'm at a loss for what to do at night, though. They were happy clams eating night crawlers last night but after about 5 minutes they became nervous
Typical schedule:
4:30-5:00am get up at some during that range
5:00-5:30am start coffee wake up/fast chores/dog cuddle time/ etc.
5:30-6:00am finish coffee/start cooking /packing work lunches & breakfasts/chores, feed/water dogs
5:30-6:00am- as soon as I see daylight I walk ducks out from pen to foraging area. empty clean and refill water pans, check food pan for wet feed/ refill, check for eggs (wishful thinking since they're not laying yet) fluff bedding, walk the outer edges of pens & look for intrusions/damage etc. refill feeders etc.
6:XX-7 walk/hike with dogs, let dogs patrol duck pen & duck area (my dogs are working terriers & rodents are KOS), put dogs back inside
6:XX-7am walk ducks back to their pen, spend a few minutes hand feeding/ talking to ducks, double check that i turned the water off, fix hose to drain,
7am finish getting ready for work,leave for work.
5:00-5:30pm get home from work. practically dark.
Check food pan clean/refill as needed, check water pans, empty/clean refill as needed, check for eggs, check bedding inside dogloo, etc.
This is where I'm not sure what to do with the ducks. It's actually easier to see them in the dark than I thought.
Friday Saturday and Sunday they can spend practically all day out side of the pen in a foraging pen or free foraging in the yard.
Our yard is not fenced and probably wont be any time soon due to terrain and cost. There's no way we're leave them outside unsupervised while we're gone.
I thought about picking up some omlet fencing to make "paddocks" that they can use with direct supervision while im doing their ducky chores. I know they're not predator safe and would never leave them alone in them.
Ducks and dogs cannot be together, ever. Which is too bad because i'd love to take the ducks foraging in the woods while I'm with the dogs.
On the wish list for next season is a duck tractor complete with movable pond. I have enough yard space to dump the pond frequently and not cause wet spots in the yard.
So, how do you all handle the time change? How does your duck schedule shift to accommodate the shorter daylight hours?
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