Ducklings with Cracked Feet...

[Buttercup Chillin]

Bleenie, I bet they'll be fine after your efforts to change out their bedding and bath them and all.

What i don't understand is all the talk of wet duck house floors and having to use special treatments to dry them out. Are wet duck houses related to weather or diet?

Right now, I have 10 Muscovies in the rather small duck house, and the floor is not wet even with all the 12 week olds. They have water in there at night but not food (wet around the water dish at times, as they walk through it if startled). I feed my ducks outside of their house and pen, their choice of grower food or layer food depending on their age and a basin of what is really scratch grain. They also get greens and other food scraps or treats. They eat what they decide to eat, I notice that more grains get eaten every other day or so. Their poo is slightly firm and is not spashy or sprayed all over the place since I have been letting them have the grains and not just tossed for scratch. When we first got ducks I was about to give up on them, cause of the mess and the smell. This helped me deal with them a lot. But even when I feed them in the duck house there isn't that big of a mess. Have I just gotten used to it?

Is it that Scovies are neater eaters than other duckies. I don't see how that can be. In wet weather it is another story so I watch to see what others are doing. Right now my only answer is to scatter a thin layer of hay and clear it out once the weather clears. And yes, I pick up after them each morning but I don't change out bedding (wood chips) every day or even every week. Depends on the weather.

I know people say not to give them grains but I had to do something to try to stop of splotches of poo, that just can't be normal.

 

[Bleenie]

My muscovy ducklings are MUCH neater than the other breeds. So far the mules are more like the Muscovy as far as water mess is concerned. The 3 goslings are what is making the brooder really wet now, lol. The top brooder(before the goslings) was very dry all the time, of course about an inch around the water was damp from dripping when drinking, but that's it and poo mess.

I have a 2 level brooder and my mixed breed ducklings are on the bottom because they are so messy with the water, they like to fill their mouths up and splosh it everywhere...sometimes i swear they carry it to the far side and spit it out all over, lol. the mutts seem to poo more too, not sure what thats about. the mixed breeds have been living outside on nice days to help reduce the mess.

As far as diet goes, i noticed when my older babies eat more grain that their poo is firmer but if they free range a lot that day it's much more watery and icky looking. i think the watery-ness just comes from the water-filled greens they munch on in the field and all the small bugs they eat don't have a lot of 'substance' either.

 

[chickboss]

Quote:
Oh yeah, I totally agree with Bleenie. Muscovies are by far neater. The neatest out of the eight or so breeds we have brooded this year. Very easy compared to the Mallard derived breeds. They can flood a brooder in two seconds flat even if they have to suck up the water and spit it to do it. It is like a goal for them to create their own pond whenever possible. UN-FLIPPEN-REAL! It is actually kind of fun to watch, they are very intense about it for such adorable little fluff balls.

 

[Buttercup Chillin]

So, maybe I don't want Cayuga's after all. I was almost ready to give in to DS's desire to have Black Cayuga's.

After I posted, I went out to water down a shade area, cause its hot here. Why I can't remember that I have an open Duck house, I don't know. Of course my duck house is dryer. Its more like an aviary, its covered on six sides with hardware cloth with a roof over that. Have to keep them cool in the summer, in winter I tarp the sides.

When I first started giving them grain, they didn't eat much so I didn't notice much change. Then I just set out a basin for them and let them decide, after a while things got better. Now the only time their poo is loose and watery is when they have Kale or Collards, if I can get them to eat collards, so I buy Romain a lot cause I can't grow it for some reason.

Bleenie, how are the feet? We need to know these things, just in case. It could happen to us.

 

[Bleenie]

They are much better today..the goslings have been keeping the bedding soaking wet too, lol. My biggest Muscovy baby had the worst cracks, very deep, they are looking very minor now. i think the Stall dry really dried up their skin and caused the small cracks to be REALLY prominent.

The muscovy & mule babies didn't love their bath all that much but it was kinda cold in the kiddie pool. the goslings were all over the place, lol.

 

[Buttercup Chillin]

Great, was hoping for that. Makes sense the biggest was the worse. His weight would push it into the webbing farther.

Glad to hear they are doing better and will be OK.

 

[katharinad]

Glad to hear they are doing better. I almost tried stall dry and decided to stick to the pine shavings and then your post came along. I'm glad I never did buy it. Plus pine shavings are very cheap our here. I live in Ponderosa Pine country with tons of tree processing plants out here. Another thing you could have put onto their is feed is lib balm. Just came to my mind.

 

[VelvetDragon]

Bag balm is awesome.