Just ordered 13 ducklings from Ideal

[Mom2Cool]

ohmyword I just ordered 3 Khaki Cambells, 4 Cayugas & 6 Domesticated Gray Mallard Ducks all St. Run all from Ideal Poultry. They were all available to be shipped out on 5/5 & so I picked that date figuring it would be that much less time for me to freak out about them traveling in too hot/cold/wet weather or being mishandled by postal workers etc. Of course I've still a few days to freak out & I guess it just hit me what I did in that I ordered 13 ducklings....

LOL Anyway crossing my fingers they all show up and are happy healthy etc....

 

[Bleenie]

My fingers are crossed for you too. I get nervous with shipped eggs, I'd lose my mind waiting for ducklings!!

 

[chickboss]

That's how I felt when I ordered my first four Kahkis. And when I decided I liked them so much that I placed an order for 10 more Kahkis and 5 Pekin! And when I brought home 10 Muscovies instead of 6. And when I put 15 call duck eggs in the incubator. LOL. I hear ya!

I think I need runners next. Or an electrical shock everytime I picture my beautiful menagerie of ducks on my green spring pasture. LOL. But it's okay, one of these days I will run out of money for fencing, and will have to stop.

How many ducks do you have already?

 

[Mom2Cool]

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I know, I'm trying to keep my mind occupied with all I've got to do to prepare for them arriving i.e. getting the brooder set up, finding the heat lamp etc. and I figured it would be easier to do this over a couple days. I was happy to find I could order them so quick like this because I'm not sure I could handle ordering them & then waiting for email confirmation they're shipped etc I'd be crazy. They're suppose to be shipped out today I'm not sure how I'll ever sleep tonight.... Just this short period of time I'm freaking out.

 

[Mom2Cool]

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OMG you're not an enabler, you're an encourager.... LOL I only have 2 ducks right now & they're 2 Silver Applyards they're darling sweet but predators is what reduced my 4 ducks to 2 & they're such social animals I was a bit concerned that I'd end up with just 1 lonely duck & so I thought I'd add to the group. I do have the chickens about 13 hens, 1/2 of them are buff orpingtons the other 1/2 speckled sussex & a buff Orpington Roo. 2 of my orpington hens had just hatched chicks totaling 5.

The ducks are ok in the yard with the chickens & they eat in with them or aren't afraid to do so but the ducks sleep & swim together & the thought she'd be on her own well it was enabling..... LOL now I'll have some lil ducks swimming in the tub.

I'm hoping it takes care of that need for more....

 

[Parrotchick]

I just ordered my first ever mail order animals on Saturday. I got five ducklings from Ideal (3 runners, 2 crested Pekins), sent out Sunday and received by me yesterday (Tuesday) morning in Maryland. I really didn't expect them so soon, so there was no time to spazz and fret. But they are really active and curious and I think glad to see me after 2 days in a box (which I guess isn't so bad after a month in an egg). Weather wise, at least for the mid-Atlantic, this seemed to be a good choice for a week to order birds. I wish you the best of luck with your duckies and hope it works out as well for you as it did for me!

BTW, I went to my small town post office on Monday to tell them the ducklings were coming in the next day or two, and left them my home number. But when they arrived at 7 am, the p.o. called my cell, which I didn't hear. I didn't get the message until 9 am! And when I got in my car, it had almost no gas, so I had to make another stop. Talk about running around in a dither!

 

[chickboss]

LOL, I know, I'm horrible.

The order of 15 is due today, and I'm pretty excited. Any idea what's been getting your ducks? I take it they free range. I would completly free range mine, but I have 3 big dogs just waiting fot the chance to have bird for dinner. They are lucky I love them. You are going to have a pretty little flock going on there with the new ones, how fun! I have lots of chickens to, and have my very first pip from some of my mutt eggs this A.M. Very exciting. We have 11 Partridge Rocks and 5 Buff Laced Polish Crested comming with the ducklings, so that will be lots of fun! Runners aside, I think I am DONE for this year! Well, I think I am anyways. (JK) I plan on doing some hatching for some neighbors so that will be fun. It's going to be a nice summer, watching all the birds get big.

 

[chickboss]

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I was freaking out because we had a short in our phone line and I didn't know if I would even have a phone to be called on! I live 10 miles out of town, which isn't so bad, but was planning on driving to the P.O. every A.M. til they got here. LOL, I am sure glad they got the line fixed!

You should post some pics of your babies! They sound cute!

 

[Mom2Cool]

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The last 6 speckled susssex I received I got through the mail from Ideal & I was impressed with my post office. Prior to them I had hatched my own from shipped eggs & the hatch rate was a great one but I has SO many roos.... & at the time I was having an issue with a fox (which the electric fence seems to have taken care of) I had just 2 SS hens left & I really liked them so I'd ordered 6 from Ideal because I could have them right away & not have to wait & work on hatching etc. Anyway so I'd been accustomed to eggs arriving through the mail & I wasn't sure of prior treatment but when they got to my post office they handled em with kid gloves. When they were delievered I don't think I expected them for another day & so was taken off guard a bit, when the post office just called me. I had actually just set out to go down there to tell them to look for them but I was waiting for the post office to open & they were calling me a 7 am telling me the chicks were here..... LOL They were really on top of it & appreantly they're use to chicks coming through their office & they know they need heat etc. & actually take care to keep em out of drafts etc all the things we worry about.... I think my biggest fear was they would just hand them over to the mail carrier because truth be told she's not the sharpest tac you know? It was great & the chicks all made it here in great health... I hope this experience is the same.... But yes all the running around in a dither I think that's all that pent up anxiety like the kind that has me now rambling.... LOL

 

[Mom2Cool]

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15 due today you MUST be excited! And yes everyone is going to have to post pictures..... My birds don't free range as in acres & acres or rather the yard is enclosed & then we have the upper corner enclosed for a garden & inside that there's the chicken coop with an enclosure & another area inside the garden area cornered off with the duck house & a baby pool for the ducks. That's where I started the ducks out last year when they were still too little for the ponds etc. I wanted to be able to lock them in at night so I knew they were safe & with them in the enclosed area it was easier to catch them to put them in duck house at night. I didn't see the attack it was very early in the morning & I think I had decided the night before to just let them be bcause it was a warm nite etc. so at first I thought maybe it had been a raccoon that attacked because there was a duck that was dead & had been for a while but then I'd seen the end of an attack later on a chicken (also left dead) & it was a hawk. Actually now that I think of it 1 of the last 2 ducks last winter was again attacked by the hawk because a *screen door was open*.... Over the winter I kept them in a more secure enclosure because the pond was frozen over. Believe it or not it was my *golden retrievers* who saved this duck...... LOL But it made me realize that if the dogs hadn't been on top of it there would be just 1 duck left & a hawk can happen just so fast & their quiet etc. The duck survived & healed within days, I've never seen anything like it... But the hawk is pretty easy to ssee their attacks because they can't just fly away with a duck they'll kill & eat it right where they are, they go for the face first etc. After I lost the 1st duck of the 4 I had it was the same attack that had another one left blind in 1 eye & so she was kind of easy prey after that. But the last 2 have done very well now & are flourishing now. We had also had an issue with the chickens with a fox & they had picked off 2 pullets & that's when we found where he was coming through between the the split rail fence & the electric fence that's attached to the top of it (there was a gap) & so we plugged it. So after all that yes we knew it was a hawk that got 2 of the ducks...

Ok I just have too much nervous energy & I think it's making me ramble on & on here in replies.... LOL Good luck to us all & remember pictures of what we all have & get....