Hawaii girl
Hatching
- Jan 6, 2021
- 2
- 0
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Aloha. I free range five hens of different varieties in my backyard, and about 5 months ago my children convinced me to get a pair of Muskovy ducklings. I haven’t yet figured out how people free feed their birds. The minute my birds step away from the feeder, at least 20 wild birds swoop in. Step feeders don’t work because mongoose and rats hang out there to attack. Anyhow, I’m worried that I’m starving them. I feed them all two scoops of organic scratch and peck twice a day, and give greens and herbs as treats for the ducks. They all run out like they’re starving, and I have to monitor them because they all peck at each other. If I’m not there, I don’t think they will allow the weakest links to eat. The chickens are half their size but they do most of the bullying of the ducks. The male duck also bites the female if I don’t stand guard to make sure they each stay at their own feed bowl. So, any advice on that would be great. The next problem I’m having is that the male duck won’t let the female duck in the kiddie pool. For some reason she insists on following him around all the time anyway, and they always nest together, so maybe she likes being bullied. He viciously attacks her near the pool if I’m not there, and neither of them are willing to swim in the ocean for some reason. Our bay has less wave action than most lakes, and I know the ocean is accessible because we have Hawaiian Koloa ducks and Mallard ducks that have been coming up and down our boat ramp to forage in our yard for years. They only stopped once our ducks got bigger than them. None of our birds have clipped wings either, so you would think they could just fly in and out if they wanted to. I need a bird counselor, LOL. I don’t really know what I’m doing. Any help would be great. Thank you.
