Mariah & Kylie - my pekin ducklings!

[toowoombapekins]

another small update
took some photos a couple of days ago
Kylie & Mariah are now 42 days old

Karen is giving their daily treat of peas. They absolutely love peas, almost nibble our fingers off!
We also find the peas are a good way to train them. Latest training exercise was to encourage them to drink from their new waterer and eat from their new feeder. As we all know ducks are very cautious of any changes so they didn't know what to do with the waterer and the feeder they were scared of the protective hood. So we kept dropping peas in both the feeder and waterer, and eventually their craving for peas overcame their fear and they started using the feeder & waterer. We had to go away for a couple of days, so we wanted to makes sure they would use them. After about half an hour we were confident in taking the old drinker and feed tray out

 

[Miss Lydia]

another small update
took some photos a couple of days ago
Kylie & Mariah are now 42 days old

Karen is giving their daily treat of peas. They absolutely love peas, almost nibble our fingers off!
We also find the peas are a good way to train them. Latest training exercise was to encourage them to drink from their new waterer and eat from their new feeder. As we all know ducks are very cautious of any changes so they didn't know what to do with the waterer and the feeder they were scared of the protective hood. So we kept dropping peas in both the feeder and waterer, and eventually their craving for peas overcame their fear and they started using the feeder & waterer. We had to go away for a couple of days, so we wanted to makes sure they would use them. After about half an hour we were confident in taking the old drinker and feed tray out

Precious pic.

 

[veronicasmom]

That is so cute! Jealous of two things. Your babies are eating out of her hand and she is in shorts!!!!!!! Yesterday's high temp here was 14 degrees. Blech.

 

[toowoombapekins]

yes it's still quite warm here, we just came out of a really bad heatwave last week.
It's one of the reasons why I decided to adopt my ducks around Christmas. Summers here are hot enough that the ducklings really needed no additional heat. Winters here do get quite cool, (not cold enough for snow, but we do get frosts and the wind chill can be very cruel) but by then I will have the big duckhouse built, with more room and shelter from the elements.

 

[toowoombapekins]

another update as promised!

Kylie & Mariah 69 days old today, they are now fairly much all white. Not too much fluffy down left, wings are developing with big feathers and they sure do QUACK & HONK!! now lol

Kylie and Mariah doing what they do best (apart from pooping), being cute



Kylie showing off those big new feathered wings!



A picture of their current house. Too cramped for the big ducks now and they still have some growing to do. They love it when I let them out to play, can't stand see them cramped up. Not too much longer girls!



Construction has started on the new house, it has almost 3 time the floor area and high enough for me to walk inside.



Hopefully it will turn out something like this, with the addition of a hinged internal wall toward the back of the house so they have a place to hide away from the upcoming winter nights




They have definitely outgrown the original chicken coop I bought them. Not to mention it only takes them one day now to fill the entire coop with poop! I have to change the straw and the little pool every day. Unfortunately they do have to spend a lot of time in the coop as I am away at work most of the day, so I only manage to let them out for a run around the backyard and a swim in the bigger pool for an hour or two in the afternoons when I arrive home from work, and also we let them out a bit on the weekends. But we need to be there to supervise, just in case of predators and also they won't let us leave them alone anyway, they will protest quite vocally and come running after us! So most of their time is spent inside their coop.

So a few weeks back I purchased a bigger poultry enclosure. It's a good size, without being too big (I haven't got a huge yard). It's big enough that we can walk inside and store their food and straw bale inside on a shelf. It also looks nice in the backyard, provides better heat insulation than the cheaper tin poultry sheds. I also plan on building in a hinged petition inside so they can hide behind it in the colder weather, and being hinged will make it easier for cleaning. I also plan on eventually building a fully encaged area around the new house (including caged roof) so I can leave them run around outside when I'm not home. Hopefully they will spend a fair bit of time outside which should keep the coop a bit cleaner.

 

[subhanalah]

Thanks for the update! They are lovely!
Not much longer and hopefully you'll have some eggs to eat!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Sounds like a real nice place your building for them they'll love being able to run around outside too and being safe.

 

[toowoombapekins]

the new duck house is more or less finished - just have a little more painting to do
The girls shifted in a few weeks ago, they seem to have taken to it well. Lots more room for them to play compared to the old one (they spend a lot of time locked up because I have to go to work all day). And it's a lot easier for me to clean.
Can't see it real well in the picture, but I built in a extra wall at the back of the house and gives me a shelf above to store the food and other duck related stuff. It gives them a place to hide away from the weather in the colder months. I made the wall out of tinted polycarbonate, so they get their privacy but still get some light through so it's not too dark. I mounted the polycarbonate onto a wooden frame that attaches to the shelf above with hinges. That way I can swing it up and hook it to the wall with the slide lock when I'm cleaning the house out, rather than trying to get behind the wall. It is secured shut with cupboard door magnets.

Future plans is one of those solar powered shed lights so that if I get home late from work in the winter months when it gets dark early, I can see what I'm doing to clean out their water etc.
Also want to fit a drain through the floor for their water tub - saves me dragging it out all the time to empty it. I want to start trialing a filtration system with an external reservoir in the hope that I can get the water to last for a week when we go away. At the moment, it doesn't even last a day.

Their old coop has now been moved away so I can clean it up and hopefully sell it to someone with chickens - that's all it's really good for. Shame because we spent ages painting 4 coats of stain on that thing!

 

[Going Quackers]

the new duck house is more or less finished - just have a little more painting to do
The girls shifted in a few weeks ago, they seem to have taken to it well. Lots more room for them to play compared to the old one (they spend a lot of time locked up because I have to go to work all day). And it's a lot easier for me to clean.
Can't see it real well in the picture, but I built in a extra wall at the back of the house and gives me a shelf above to store the food and other duck related stuff. It gives them a place to hide away from the weather in the colder months. I made the wall out of tinted polycarbonate, so they get their privacy but still get some light through so it's not too dark. I mounted the polycarbonate onto a wooden frame that attaches to the shelf above with hinges. That way I can swing it up and hook it to the wall with the slide lock when I'm cleaning the house out, rather than trying to get behind the wall. It is secured shut with cupboard door magnets.

Future plans is one of those solar powered shed lights so that if I get home late from work in the winter months when it gets dark early, I can see what I'm doing to clean out their water etc.
Also want to fit a drain through the floor for their water tub - saves me dragging it out all the time to empty it. I want to start trialing a filtration system with an external reservoir in the hope that I can get the water to last for a week when we go away. At the moment, it doesn't even last a day.

Their old coop has now been moved away so I can clean it up and hopefully sell it to someone with chickens - that's all it's really good for. Shame because we spent ages painting 4 coats of stain on that thing!

That is really nice, well done. Gosh those birds have grown.. first time with Pekin, i have half a dozen.. in my house.. i am afraid if my weather doesn't improve they'll be on the couch with the dog soon.

 

[Miss Lydia]

toowoombapekins, that is an awesome house for your girls, you should be very proud and i am sure they like it. Thanks for sharing and for the inspiration for others who are thinking about starting their duck houses.