Kentucky people

[shelleyd2008]

A heat lamp should be fine, as long as they are draft free and dry. I wouldn't put little bitty babies out this early, but few week olds should do just fine.

I'm so glad it is warming up!! I have some stinky ducks that are getting the boot!

 

[shelleyd2008]

Yeah, they should be fine. I have some that have been outside since they hatched. They were with the hen for 4 weeks, then they were in the brooder. They are now about 2 months old, and doing just fine.


I'm up to 4 on my millies!!!

With 2 more pips!

 

[Mojo Chick'n]

DUCKIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Mojo Chick'n]

Ok, post office called me at 5:45 this morning - anyone who knows me would be amazed that I woke right up and jumped out of bed to run into the cold and get duckies. I am not a morning person - never have been.

I got 21 ducklings, two are tufted, one wants to be tufted, but the tuft is sort of all over it's head

It's gonna be hard to choose just a few to keep. I had said I was keeping 8 of them, though, so that will probably be plenty. What do ya think, 2 males and 6 girls? or should I up the male ratio? I could keep 9 of them, three males and 6 girls. That would make it 1-2 ratio.

I have yet to do chores outside, but no one out there expects me so early

so I have time to get out there and turn chickens loose and feed donkeys.

The black ones are easy to sex (if the feet thing is true) because most of those are females with nearly totally black feet. The blue ones are harder to figure, and there's so many of them, it is hard to figure, too. One has spots on it's head, I will probably keep that one, just because he's the odd duck.

I'm happy all of them arrived alive and healthy looking. One is more quiet than the others, so I'm keeping an eye on her, but she is eating and drinking ok. Boy are they spastic!!!

Well, I think I'm gonna do chores, and come back in and stay warm for awhile. Hubby got up long enough to look at the duckies (I think he was almost as excited as me, but he won't admit it) then he went back to bed for a couple hours.

be back in a bit.

meri

 

[shelleyd2008]

2 males and 6 girls would be plenty. Like bantam chickens, you can keep up to 5 females per male, so 2 males would ensure fertility.

The one with the crest all over it's head is probably double crested, which is hard to get. Usually they die before they hatch if they are double crested. Just make sure, if you want some cresteds, that you keep only the crested females, or only the males, or you would need to keep the crested males and females seperated. Crested x crested is usually a lethal gene.

I was wondering what you were doing up so early!!

I had forgotten about your babies! My brain isn't working quite right yet this morning! Looks like you have a good number of blues too! Try to keep males and females of the blues, cause if they would breed, there is a 25% chance the offspring would be splashed. I'd tell you the blue genetics, but I'm not sure if my brain can wrap around it right now! It's pretty complicated! I should write it down, since many of my chickens are blue or splash! Congrats on the new babies!!

 

[shelleyd2008]

Well, I woke up to another millie baby! This brings my total to 5 of 12, so far. There is another pip that has made a little bit od progress since last night, but just a little. The last one to hatch is pretty sticky though. The hygrometers read 70+, but the chicks are hanging out by them. I'm thinking I'm gonna drop some wet paper towels in there real quick. Obviously the humidity is low, or that one wouldn't be sticky. I'm waiting for my mailman to call too. My EE eggs should be here this morning, and Gertie is waiting! She has one egg and a golf ball under her, she needs something to sit on!

 

[Mojo Chick'n]

Yeah, I've been reading on the crested (and looking at pics of adults) they just look weird

and that lethal gene sort of sucks. I doubt I'll keep the crested ones.

That's cool that I only need 2 males, I didn't want them fighting too much, and I worried that three might fight more than two (I know that's true with human boys

two get along fine, throw in a third one, and there is trouble before long.)

I put puppy pads on top of the bedding stuff, they got the bedding pellets wet and were trying to eat them. I'll take the puppy pads out in a day or two when they realize what the food is and what the bedding is.

Should I take the food out for periods of time? They are eating like there is no tomorrow - I am not sure if they'll stop when they ought to or not

I finally got them here all healthy and alive, I don't want to kill them.

 

[Mojo Chick'n]

Quote:
My last batch of babies it took them over four days to all hatch - they just came out one by one, took their time, but once they started to actually pip, they popped out pretty fast - just they took their time to pip.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Mojo Chick'n :

Yeah, I've been reading on the crested (and looking at pics of adults) they just look weird

and that lethal gene sort of sucks. I doubt I'll keep the crested ones.

That's cool that I only need 2 males, I didn't want them fighting too much, and I worried that three might fight more than two (I know that's true with human boys

two get along fine, throw in a third one, and there is trouble before long.)

I put puppy pads on top of the bedding stuff, they got the bedding pellets wet and were trying to eat them. I'll take the puppy pads out in a day or two when they realize what the food is and what the bedding is.

Should I take the food out for periods of time? They are eating like there is no tomorrow - I am not sure if they'll stop when they ought to or not

I finally got them here all healthy and alive, I don't want to kill them.

Personally, I think it is better to keep their food filled. They eat a lot, and you don't want them to not get what they need. Just make sure you keep their water filled, they need it to wash down the food. You just need to make sure their feed doesn't have to high of protein in it, or it can cause their wings to grow wrong.

Male ducks don't really fight, but if there are too many males for females, they can hurt or even kill the females during breeding season. I worry about mine, cause I'm male heavy atm! They breed in the water, and they hold the female's head under the water. If there are too many males, they can drown the females. They shouldn't be able to eat the pellets, but it wouldn't hurt to keep them on the pads for a while. Just don't use shavings! I put some in with my young ones the other day cause their bedding was pretty wet. It was late, and i didn't want to clean it out then. They started eating the shavings as soon as I put them in there!

 

[Mojo Chick'n]

I wonder if hubby would let me keep them all

actually, once they get bigger, I'll probably be glad to see some of them go.

I want to keep a variety, so I need to figure out if my splashes are boys or girls, I want some of each color.

now, genetics goes ...

blue on blue = 50% blue 25% black and 25% splash
black on splash = 100% blue
black on black = no idea
splash on splash = no idea

so, I want a good mix - and at least a black male and a blue male with splash, blue and black females. I'll have to see what the splash babies are (boy or girl).