i have been losing ducklings at night with no sign of illness the day before. are there diseases that transfer between ducks, chickens and pheasants? i have never had trouble with chicks like this.
ok. background. purchased a pair of bantam ducks from a good breeder. the male spent most of his daylight hours chasing a brown chicken. the eggs this spring weren't highly fertile when i was collecting them to eat. i put a few under a bantam hen and two pipped. one never made it all the way out on his own and needed help drying off and warming up. he died at day 2. the other did just fine. after a week i bought 7 more ducklings to make 8 total. the first day they got under the hen and did adopt each other. they went thru the night fine. the next night i found 2 flat in the corner. the third night i found another in the morning. today i found the biggest one from the first hatch dead in the corner. they are on flock raiser and gamebird starter. two feed dishes and two waters. i took out the shallow crock and left the chick waterer today. but i assumed that if they get cold they would go back under the hen. they are on straw flooring and get a sprinkle of chopped greens. there are mice but no rats. they don't have any bites or impacted crops. they all know where the food and water is especially the older one that had grown well. they change has been when i finished up the bag of flock raiser and used the gamebird starter. i plan to change the bedding and put down fresh straw, keep the waterer they can't swim in until they are bigger. any suggestions greatly appreciated.
ok. background. purchased a pair of bantam ducks from a good breeder. the male spent most of his daylight hours chasing a brown chicken. the eggs this spring weren't highly fertile when i was collecting them to eat. i put a few under a bantam hen and two pipped. one never made it all the way out on his own and needed help drying off and warming up. he died at day 2. the other did just fine. after a week i bought 7 more ducklings to make 8 total. the first day they got under the hen and did adopt each other. they went thru the night fine. the next night i found 2 flat in the corner. the third night i found another in the morning. today i found the biggest one from the first hatch dead in the corner. they are on flock raiser and gamebird starter. two feed dishes and two waters. i took out the shallow crock and left the chick waterer today. but i assumed that if they get cold they would go back under the hen. they are on straw flooring and get a sprinkle of chopped greens. there are mice but no rats. they don't have any bites or impacted crops. they all know where the food and water is especially the older one that had grown well. they change has been when i finished up the bag of flock raiser and used the gamebird starter. i plan to change the bedding and put down fresh straw, keep the waterer they can't swim in until they are bigger. any suggestions greatly appreciated.
