dreamofwinter
Songster
Every day is a great day with ducks. Even the ones like yesterday where you wake up to find it's 8 degrees and the crested duck has covered her head in (now frozen) mud...
I knew it wasn't hurting her, but it was encouraging the other ducks and the chickens to try to pull her feathers. The duck ladies hadn't had a good bath in several weeks anyways, and with most of winter yet to come I wanted to do something nice for them... so I recruited my kiddo and my hubby, and we each picked up a duck and carried them upstairs to the big cast iron tub. They loved their swim time (first time ever in the tub) once they got over being carried upstairs. The hardest part of it all was the carrying, since my girls are not fans of being picked up and handled. If only they could climb stairs on their own they would probably have followed me in. Oh well! And I totally forgot to get any video, darn it.
They've learned to go into the chicken coop rather than their own duck (dog) house, and seem to be enjoying sleeping in there. I suspect it's much warmer since there are 10 additional bodies. Humidity has been fine in there still (I have a monitor) and everyone seems to be happy.
My question, though, is when should I be seeing eggs from these girls? I have a White Crested, a Cayuga, and a Blue Swedish, all born June 1. No signs of eggs anywhere. I live right on the 45th parallel, so our days have been super short - hasn't affected the pullets (one week older than the ducks) but maybe ducks are more sensitive to day length? Or are they just maturing slowly?
I knew it wasn't hurting her, but it was encouraging the other ducks and the chickens to try to pull her feathers. The duck ladies hadn't had a good bath in several weeks anyways, and with most of winter yet to come I wanted to do something nice for them... so I recruited my kiddo and my hubby, and we each picked up a duck and carried them upstairs to the big cast iron tub. They loved their swim time (first time ever in the tub) once they got over being carried upstairs. The hardest part of it all was the carrying, since my girls are not fans of being picked up and handled. If only they could climb stairs on their own they would probably have followed me in. Oh well! And I totally forgot to get any video, darn it.
They've learned to go into the chicken coop rather than their own duck (dog) house, and seem to be enjoying sleeping in there. I suspect it's much warmer since there are 10 additional bodies. Humidity has been fine in there still (I have a monitor) and everyone seems to be happy.
My question, though, is when should I be seeing eggs from these girls? I have a White Crested, a Cayuga, and a Blue Swedish, all born June 1. No signs of eggs anywhere. I live right on the 45th parallel, so our days have been super short - hasn't affected the pullets (one week older than the ducks) but maybe ducks are more sensitive to day length? Or are they just maturing slowly?