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[randallt1]

 

[randallt1]

Thanks for all your replies and welcomes. When I was researching ducks, the main message that kept coming through was that as long as you cover the basics, it really doesn't matter what your system is as long as it works for you and your ducks.

I'll try to post pics of the set up going forward so you can answer my questions with some better understanding. Here's a little more info for now so you can get a better picture.

* They eat Dumor layer pellets as their main food apart from 10-12 hours of free ranging.
* They share 1-2 cup meals at 8:00 am, noon, mid afternoon and 6:00, then a little snack before they go to bed at 10:00. They have set this schedule on their own by coming up on their deck and letting us know.
* They lay two eggs a day.
* I have tried both straw and fine pine chips in their coop. It seems the chips are much cleaner, the smell is controlled better and I have seen no evidence of any choking or discomfort.
* The coop's floor is un-treated wood decking with half inch spaces which lets soiled, heavy chips fall though to the ground under the deck. After a month of daily additions to the coop, I have a healthy pile of poopy chips to take to the garden from under the deck. I do a deep clean and chip replace once a week including a light bleach scrub and hose down. During the week, I hose down their deck a few times a day.
* I tried the fancy and expensive water feeder device for months. Too many. Now I use a big glass bowl that stays on their deck. I wash it it warm soapy water twice a day. They do love their water bowl.
* Gladys, the avatar, loves to be petted. She'll come up and rub her head on your leg like a cat.
Amelia? Not so much but she will sit with me and Gladys and my cat and dog and eat from my hand.

Thanks again for your replies,
best
randall

 

[iluvsedward]

All you "Welcome to BYC"ers stole my line!!
Anyway~




May your time here be worth while!!

 

[Amiga]

Wow, that's a welcome banner!

 

[KBG204]

 

[randallt1]

Marvun22, yep they clear out the kiddie pool in about twenty seconds once they get started together in a clean pool. I'm working on a little pond and am looking forward to some advice. I think I have a pretty good plan, looking forward to sharing it and getting some ideas as I go.

 

[gryeyes]

Welcome to BYC from California wine country in the Western Sierra Foothills.

Love the video!! Happy ducks, indeed.

I'm going to have a pond built later this year: 10 feet wide, 15 feet long, two feet deep rectangle. Gonna build the form out of wood, line it with carpet remnants over the bare earth,, then put down the pond liner over that. I want a drain built in, so I just have to open a ball-cock valve to drain the pond for cleaning. I picked up a superMax pond pump a year or so ago... And have ideas for filtering the water, but those ideas are still a collection of other ideas shown by other BYCers, not yet solidified.

I've got 24 Cayugas, 1 call drake who has taken a Cayuga "wife," and two Toulouse ganders (plus around fifty chickens). The waterfowl have two kiddie pools and a 300 gallon stock tank. The ducks don't mind swimming in circles (neither do the geese) but I'd like them all to have more water space. Sometimes the waiting line to get into the stock tank is too long... Especially if one of the ganders has taken over the tank.

 

[randallt1]

 

[Miss Lydia]

that is just too cute.

 

[ChampionAlex]

Welcome