Hottentot and Ringed Teal Ducks

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

yep that's all sounding good.
And yes that is floating catfish food at the zoos.
I wouldnt put the wire on top though if I read that right, the elatic nature of the netting is by purpose, it is much easier on them when they fly up and hit it, the wire will just stop them the net will bounce them.
As for feeding, once in the morning, like I said in a few days, you'll be able to guage just how much they eat, for two hottentots, it wont be much. 5 gallons use to feed a aviary of 300-400 birds for me of various species, sizes etc, teals eat the least of all, just watch and figure how much they eat in a day, and just give it to them once, will make life easier on you, if it's rainy, put the food bowl in the shelter that day and toss any wet leftovers when you get in.
Yes 1 bag will last forever on the feed with just a few teal, and guess what, just so you know, Mazuir is a divison of Purina, pretty much any speciallty feed for exotics is made by them, they are a great feed company, I have used them for decades for all my livestock. And there is not much difference at all in it and purina layena or gamebird chow, the seaduck diet is the only one that's REALLY different, but only needed for eiders, harlequins, scoters, old squaw, stuff like that
Get you some rest, you got this!!

 

[HottentotTeal]

The reason i wanted to put wire on the top is because of cats jumping on it and trying to get in or claw through the netting.

I can always pick up more clasps and link them to drop the netting down further several inches. I am planning to make the ceiling higher than i wanted originally, so maybe i can just get 3 or 4 claps per corner and link all of them in each corner. That should give the ducks about 8-12 inches of room for the netting to give, since it would hang that much lower from the ceiling. Once I get everything built, I can test it out and see what else i can do.

I'm just afraid of having just netting up there with all the cats around the neighborhood.

One of them just pooped in our backyard last night and my dog ate some of it when i took him out at lunch to check on the blueberry and blackberry bushes.

Also, it looks like one of the cats was SLEEPING IN THE CLEARED DIRT AREA FOR THE DUCKS LAST NIGHT!!!!

When I took my dog out this morning, he starts making these tracking growls/whimpers and he only does it when he has smelled one of the neighborhood cats sleeping nearby or in the area still and when he is hot on the trail.

 

[HottentotTeal]

my elbow is really sore from when i cleared out all the dirt, mulch, and shrubs from last week, so i took the day off.

We went to several small garden places today and I finally found a place that sells the Muhly grass, so i bought one pot and they said they sell it all year round.

I also bought a perching stone mushroom.


Edit: forgot to mention the local feed store i also went to this morning sells Purina and the Mazuri feed, so it looks like i can take my pick with those when it comes time.

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

Yep sounds good, yes any Purina dealer can get you tha Mazuri, like I said, Purina makes it, so it comes from the same suppiers.
As for the wire on the roof, that makes sense now if cats are a probely definately do something like that if they can jump on top, I have lost more waterfowl to dang house cats over the years than any wild animal

 

[HottentotTeal]

I saw in the watering thread that someone mentioned the rubber feed pans for water.


I was thinking of buying a couple of the following rubber feed pans/bowls for water and food from here or Tractor Supply:

http://www.pet-dog-cat-supply-store.com/shop/index.php?page=shop-flypage-6976


Product Dimensions L x W x H (inches)
15 gallon - 26 x 26 9.75
6.5 gallon - 18 x 18 x 8
6.5 gal w/hooks - 18.5 x 19 x 9
3 gal - 17.5 x 17.5 x 4.5
8 quart - 14.5 x 14.5 x 4.5
4 quart - 11 x 11 x 4
2 quart - 8.5 x 8.5 x 4


It looks like the 2 or 4 quart will be plenty, but i'm afraid of getting the 4 quart for water because they may jump in it. Heck, they may jump in the 2 quart as a pool.

What do y'all think?

I was thinking I could use 1 for food and 2 for water, just in case they try to use it as a mini-spa.

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

I would use the smaller ones and place them as far away from the pond as possible, they have a bad habit of running back to the pond to "drink" down their food and get it all in the water causing you to have to clean the pond more often

 

[HottentotTeal]

ok, so would the 2 quart be ok for food and water or should i find something smaller, like a dog bowl?

My only concern was finding a bowl that is deep enough for them to get their bills in the water and the rubber bowls all looked to be at least 4 inches deep.

 

[Matapatos]

If you have a pond, you don't need to have a water bowl for them... Not sure if its better on them to have a smaller, seperate bowl for water, but mine just drink out of the pond and I'm sure yours will too. BBB will know more about this than I will...

 

[HottentotTeal]

I figured i could set a bowl next to the food, so they don't make a mess going back and forth when eating. Plus, I am not sure how dirty the water will get in the pond.

The smallest rubber feed bowls they sell at that site and TSC looks like 2 quart, though, so i wasn't sure if that is too much or not enough for 2 of the little ducks for the entire day.

If it was too little, I thought i could set out 2 of the 2 quart bowls for water.



Also, an update on my supplies:

I just went to an aquarium store a short while ago and found that they carry some very smooth rocks. They have various sizes, so i bought several the size of my palm and 2 or 3 about 3 times bigger than that.

I will have to go back and buy about 2-3 more sets of the rocks to line around the pond.

They sell the rocks by weight. I picked up about $53 worth (3$ per pound).


They also have wood pieces that you can put in or around water, so i may pick one or 2 up for the ducks to perch on.

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

Quote:
That's true, I never gave mine one, but in a small set up, it could help with cutting back on pond nastyness. they loose a lot in the water when wetting it down, then it sours and makes a mess over time, but you will have that anyway, Like I said eariler, just place both it and you food dowl as far away from the pond as possible and MAYBE, it'll cut back on the pond mess, no guarentees though