I have no idea what I am doing

[shawluvsbirds]

I have a question...is a dark brown, terribly smelly diarrhea normal once every day for a duck? The rest of the time her poop seems to be normal. She is eating purina flock raiser crumble and does go outside daily to forage. I have the list of all the treats to give but she doesn't seem to like any of them lol so it's primarily just the purina and what she eats outside.

She is probably finding worms to eat. . worm poo is gross but they love to eat them Lol

 

[Steven Mazzo]

This happens on days when she doesn't go outside too though

 

[biophiliac]

Nipple waterer sounds like a great idea inside

This one is recommended for not leaking,

Well, i'm on day 29 now and things are going swimmingly! the Mother Heating Pad is turned down to 3 now and I've hiked it up to about 7 inches in the front, 5 in the back. Some birds sleep under it at night, some on top and some off in the corners with their pals. the fact that they are sleeping at night seems to be helping them, in part since I don't have to pull the food, they are not frantic in the morning when I go to check on them. None of the cuts and scrapes on them that I've seen in the past, presumably from their sharp claws as they climb over each other when I withheld food and then went to feed them in the morning. They are really putting on the weight, running with more of a thud, but still running from end to end of the pen. I spoke with the developer of this waterer today because I've been so impressed with how well it works, is BPA free, UV resistant to reduce algae growth, has a top cap on the lid for easy, in place filling, and most importantly, doesn't leak. I ordered more nipple from him so I can swap out the other nipple waterers I have that do leak. the guys name is Leonard Wogsland, he's in Pensacola Florida, the best price I found on these waterers was $19 here: http://www.atwoods.com/poultry-feeders-watering/cheery-chicks-chicken-kooler-35-gallon.htm I purchased some additional lids that have a hose attachment for direct filling, which I'm going to set up. This guy recommended using this deicer as the fall turns to winter: https://www.amazon.com/Allied-Preci...-fkmr0&keywords=heated+bucket+poultry+drinker I asked him how it is that his vertical waterers don't leak like the others and he said that there are several companies that make the nipples and only one really decent one, the one he goes with. He had an amazing story about how he came up with the design, that it literally came to him in a dream and he woke up and set to work. at one point he had 250 stores that carried them and then through some under handed stuff with larger distributors he lost the contracts, which is a shame because I hear about people switching to the horizontal nipples because of the leak issues, when it's really not an issue of design as it is poor production quality, according to him. anyway, I'm sold, and he was a really nice fellow to talk with, shared lots of interesting gems about all this.
View attachment 1142426
Here I have a close up of one of them, you can see how much more they have feathered out in just one more week! I'm starting to think about when I will remove the MHP and let them go without heat. I figure another week or so though I'm fairly confident that if I put in a box for them to huddle in that they'd be able to go without heat at this point just fine.


View attachment 1142427
Ending week 4 with them still running around, full of pluck and nice and clean sure feels good and that's without restricting the food any more than darkness is doing on it's own. It always seems to feel a bit out of control at some point and then I feel like it's high maintenance to keep things from going down hill the last few weeks leading up to harvest time. I'm curious to see if I can keep things more together as we approach harvest date. so far things have stayed dryer and their droppings are still firm even with the high protein count. fingers crossed over the coming weeks! View attachment 1142428

 

[biophiliac]

She is probably finding worms to eat. . worm poo is gross but they love to eat them Lol

Do ducks produce a cecal poop like chickens?

This happens on days when she doesn't go outside too though

Now that's unfortunate if it happens in the house.

 

[DwayneNLiz]

sorry not helpful here i dont ever see duck poop
unlike my chickens they tend to poop in the stream or the woods by the stream

 

[shawluvsbirds]

This happens on days when she doesn't go outside too though

Hum. I don't know then. . you'll have to ask the duck queen. (That be ravyn)

 

[Miss Lydia]

@Ravynscroft poop expertise is needed. But I thought @casportpony was the poop inspector general??

 

[shawluvsbirds]

@Ravynscroft poop expertise is needed. But I thought @casportpony was the pool inspector general??

Well that is true. . cas is the expert on poop lol

 

[Miss Lydia]

poop inspector not pool inspector although she may do that too in her spare time especially with water fowl. lol

 

[shawluvsbirds]

Someone should make an article on duck poo. I see duck poo questions a lot! I guess I don't pay that much attention to their poop. But mine are outside.