I have two questions??????

[tia]

First question is... how short can you clip ducks nails? Are they kind of like dogs. I noticed my ducks nails need clipped - but don't want to hurt them.

Second question is when females molt and quit laying eggs... do they start up again after molting or wait until the next season? These are runner ducks and started laying last December. Does the male stop mating when molting? I guess that make three questions - doesn't it? (oops 4)

 

[dieselgrl48]

You can clip duck nail's if you want.I raised duck's 5 year's prior to this year and never had a need to clip.But I free ranged day and they had a trained sleeping area at night so were never really penned so they were allowed to go to pond and do most thing's naturaly.All duck's vary when they lay egg's.I found mine to be less productive in late summer and fall and they would then pick up later fall through summer.I have picked up and hatched Numerous duck egg's in winter month's here.I guess it depend's on the duck's and the climate.

 

[nettie]

My ducks all seem to pick the egg laying right back up after molting... I'm three down, three to go.... Poor Vinny is in the middle of a molt and looks CRAZY! lol. I'm not sure if my youngest two will go through another molt, since they are about 6 months old... We'll see.... Then again, Victor just finished like his fourth molt of the year... I swear that duck likes to have the best looking feathers.

As for clipping, I recommend filing their nails down with a Pedipaws or a dremmel. YOu can take off small amounts without going to far as easily. They can bleed if they go a little too far. If that happens, clean off the nail and put some cornstarch on it. With your f/w runners, you should be able to see the quik inside of the nail easier then darker colored ducks. Mine's nails are usually 1/2 in to 3/4 inch long.

Vinny Duck looking crazy during his molt....

 

[tia]

Thanks for the information... mine are in a pen, but outside some of the time. I have one of those pedipaws things, so I will try that. I love the picture of your duck. Mine are pretty ugly at the moment. I had one f/w runner molt earlier, but the other 5 are doing it all together... so there are feathers every where. : )

 

[ScaredOfShadows]

Tia, I have 7 ducks that are about 18 weeks now (I'm not 100% sure- close to that tho) and they are 5 magpie and 2 buff orphington ducks...I know atleast 4 are starting a molt. I seen a pile of feathers the other day and was like

thinking something had gotten one of my magpies....but everyone come up for breakfast, and rubbing the buff orphington, he's getting in his male plumage and so I realized they are all going into molt together apparently. Its crazy.

It depends on the ducks, but I wouldn't see why they wouldn't quickly pick up egg laying again after a molt.