Mama Duck Attacked!!

[MamacatPatch]

I would love to see pix and/or videos of YOUR babies!!!

Our house is usually about 70 degrees [thanks to the AC!] so I left the 100 watt light in there just in case. Many time, they still lay under it.

 

[katharinad]

I'm not that high speed with videos. Have to try the cell phone for video. We have a small USB plug which allows us to download from the phone to the computer without having to pay the phone do. I've been using it for photos, but still have a digital camera too. Here is a picture from last week.

Sunshine and Shadow in front and babies in aviary. The older ones were not to happy about the competition. They are better now, but I will wait longer before they are allowed together. Sunshine and Shadow are about 5 weeks older.
The babies:

Babies taking a bath:

Katharina

 

[MamacatPatch]

Oh my gosh what beautiful duckies!!!!! What FUN!!!!!!!!! Looks like you have a nice setup outdoors there! Do you have a pix of the setup? I might need some ideas!!

 

[katharinad]

http://www.davitt.com/ducky/
You can see our building process on this site. The lean on building has 2 rooms in it with concrete pavers for flooring. We had to do it that way because our inground sprinkler system runs below it. Had a pipe leak last year so it worked out well for us. The pavers are covered with rubber floor runner, which are textured and give the ducks a grip. They are easy to clean, pull out, and hose down. The out side run is 16' x 10' it will be to small for all of them. The aviary is attached temporary to the run and will be removed once they are larger. We will move it to another location. We will also build another run behind the shop with new housing. We plan on making the run about 1/4-1/2 of an acres with access to the meadow. We have 22 acres so we can play with as much space as we want.
Katharina

 

[MamacatPatch]

That is really cool! What a GREAT idea!!!

 

[katharinad]

Well the old greenhouse was bad. The cheap roof had holes from falling pine cones and it got too hot in there. We only used it for storage in winter. It came handy when rebuilding it. We stripped it down and reworked it. We did reuse the storm windows by putting them outside and inside to create an air chamber in between. The ducks love it, because they can just sit behind it and see what is going on. We insulated the walls and ceiling, and added electricity from the shop. Now we can heat it when needed with an oil filled heater. It's save and I never had a bird that got burned from it. They know how close to get. It was a lot of work, but we did it ourselves.

Just found an interesting magazine in the store. It's published by Hobby Farms and is called Ducks. It's a one time special edition and really good. Here is the link:
http://www.shopanimalnetwork.com/product.aspx?cid=85&pid=837&mid=3
Katharina

 

[MamacatPatch]

In case anyone is interested, here's the miracle 'quad squad' in their shed.

 

[katharinad]

They are really big already. It seemed that they were just born, and now look at them. I'm so glad it worked out well for you.

 

[chikky]

Great video! They are so sweet. I'm glad this ended up so good for you.

 

[Jkioneil]

Such a happy ending! or begining! i love this story!!!