Kleos ducklings

[Kleonaptra]

Here they are!!






I am just so completely over the moon! Not just to finally have home grown ducklings but the last duck out is obviously the child of my precious drake Wist.

The littlest, Leelus baby is named Stormy. Big yellow one I assume is the child of my pekin Syanne and has been named Que. The last obviously has Wist for the father but Im not sure about the mother. He is in my avatar with Varia, his favourite female, but the little duckling has the same patterns on her feet as the muscovy Regina. I thought she was too old as she has laid a few soft shells, but her and Wist are the oldest and spend a lot of time together. What are the odds seriously - that alone time in the shed for Wist and Gina resulted in a live viable egg - that I picked it for incubation instead of eating it AND that hatching all worked out. Im not sure what to name her yet.

I also have 3 drakes and 3 babies!

I checked the eggs in the bator and all the remaining ones - even the 2 I thought were live - were dead silent and smelly. The smell had leached out of the bator and was ponging out the whole laundry. So I cut my losses and tossed them. Got the bator cleaned out and Ive got another 14 to set in a few days.

Thanks so much to the entire BY community - I have waited for this day for 7 years!

 

[JadeComputerGal]

Congratulations! I hope you'll post more pics as they mature so we can see how they're coming along!

 

[Buck Oakes]

Here they are!!






I am just so completely over the moon! Not just to finally have home grown ducklings but the last duck out is obviously the child of my precious drake Wist.

The littlest, Leelus baby is named Stormy. Big yellow one I assume is the child of my pekin Syanne and has been named Que. The last obviously has Wist for the father but Im not sure about the mother. He is in my avatar with Varia, his favourite female, but the little duckling has the same patterns on her feet as the muscovy Regina. I thought she was too old as she has laid a few soft shells, but her and Wist are the oldest and spend a lot of time together. What are the odds seriously - that alone time in the shed for Wist and Gina resulted in a live viable egg - that I picked it for incubation instead of eating it AND that hatching all worked out. Im not sure what to name her yet.

I also have 3 drakes and 3 babies!

I checked the eggs in the bator and all the remaining ones - even the 2 I thought were live - were dead silent and smelly. The smell had leached out of the bator and was ponging out the whole laundry. So I cut my losses and tossed them. Got the bator cleaned out and Ive got another 14 to set in a few days.

Thanks so much to the entire BY community - I have waited for this day for 7 years!

Yay! you just experienced how a female duck can have multiple eggs from different males!, isn't that exciting, because then you get so much diversity and can ( but not recommended ) interbreed the babies when they get older to make a show quality duck ( again not recommended since they are still half siblings)

 

[Kleonaptra]

Congratulations! I hope you'll post more pics as they mature so we can see how they're coming along!

Most definitely will! Still cant believe Regina and Wist had a baby. Regina doesn't let the call males near her. I guess for Wist being shy and polite paid off!

 

[Kleonaptra]

Yay! you just experienced how a female duck can have multiple eggs from different males!, isn't that exciting, because then you get so much diversity and can ( but not recommended ) interbreed the babies when they get older to make a show quality duck ( again not recommended since they are still half siblings)

I actually believe all babies have DIFFERENT parents. I have 3 drakes, 2 call, one wild and 6 girls, 2 call, 3 big pekin or cross, Regina the moscovy. I thought Gina was too old, and Ive had the wild drake for years and never gotten a baby.

I believe egg one is call female and drake. I was tracking the girl so I knew they were her eggs.

Egg 2 is pekin cross call. I get 3 eggs a day regular from these girls and I know them well.

Egg 3 looked like my regular pekin eggs. But the colours of the mask are all Wist, its certainly his baby. He's pictured in my avatar with his favourite female, a pekin cross. I thought it might have been hers, but the babies feet and beak have the exact same markings as the Muscovy. She's the only one with skin markings.

So that leaves 1 call and 2 pekin crosses that did not have babies this time. I will say, for having 6 girls, today was the first time ever I have gotten 6 eggs!

 

[JadeComputerGal]

So that leaves 1 call and 2 pekin crosses that did not have babies this time. I will say, for having 6 girls, today was the first time ever I have gotten 6 eggs!

Isn't it the beginning of mating season with spring starting? That would explain all of them laying at the same time, but I can't remember when mating season is expected to start.

 

[Buck Oakes]

For here its like april - july (sometimes August, depends) so in Australia it would be like september - december maybe? right?

 

[JadeComputerGal]

Not sure, and it depends at least in part on the breed. Mating season for Call ducks starts in February, which would be the equivalent of August in Australia (I think). Kleo's area of Australia should be in spring now, about like April in the eastern US.

 

[Kleonaptra]

Oh man you will not believe the day Im having.

Yes, its spring, and this time last week at this time - 1am - we were sucking ice blocks and moaning how it was too hot to sleep. Since the big storm that dropped snow on the mountains, its freezing!

My heat lamp packed it in about mid day. I paniked a bit, but they were in the laundry where its very warm. I put them on a hot water bottle and sent my partner out. All the farm stores were closed and arent open tomorrow - Sunday - so he went to a pet store and got me a reptile lamp. My old light was about 20yrs old so I thought ok, fair enough. We go to this pet store all the time and their bird expert was in and she said people use these lamps for ducklings and chicks all the time. They loved it and it kept the whole box nice and warm. When night fell and the temp dropped I brought them inside. Lucky I did, and lucky I obsessively check them.

MY NEW LIGHT HAS JUST BLOWN!!

Ive got them on a hot water bottle and Ive set the bator to 31 degrees thats celsius for me. I honestly have no idea what to set it to but they will have to go in there tonight. Ive taken everything out so its just a big bowl hopefully they wont be too cramped.

On another note, the pet store had no un medicated starter. Im giving them layer pellets, mixed with water very mushy, and I make a fresh egg and biscuit mix 3 times a day. Im hoping this will be sufficient. Since my partner has to go in tomorrow anyway to swap the light, Im thinking I should get some meal worms or something. They are looking for bugs.

Little Stormy is not eating. Que is an absolute pig and stuffs her face, actively trying to keep the others out of the food. Abbey eats plenty but is much daintier than Que, but poor little Stormy just potters about, occasionally dabbling the water but never going to the food. Everytime I put food in I pick her up and put her beak to the edge of the bowl and make sure she gets a good mouthful. Im not sure what else to do for her, she was so plucky at first but seems to be going downhill now.

 

[Kleonaptra]

Just to update my babies survived the night in the bator, Stormy didn't seem to mind it at all but the 2 bigger ones were a bit cranky.

Im on my 3rd heat lamp now. Apparently these reptile lights are very temperamental, so Im still obsessively checking.

Saw little Stormy have a big feed of egg and biscuit, yay!

Made a little mini pen, partly for them to go fossiking in later this week and partly for my pure bred pekin. Shes been plucked bare on her neck and tail and I wanted a spot she could relax.