My duck question

[farmin4myboys]

I have the two pekin, one mallard and 3 Indian runners that were suppose to be here today but now I have to wait till tomorrow. ( this is worse than waiting for Christmas morning when I was a youngster) Any suggestions on how and when to make the introduction of the young runners.

 

[jdywntr]

More info is needed.
How old are the Pekin and Mallard? What sexes are they?

If you have a male Pekin, you run the risk of him injuring one of the females as they are so much smaller. Most people recommend, if mixing small and heavy breeds that your heavies are female and your male small.

 

[farmin4myboys]

Both the Pekins and Mallard are about 2 yrs old. My mallard is a drake and I am not sure he will stick around for our next winter as he has become very friendly with a wild female. I am not sure what sex my Pekins but are or how to tell them apart I do usually get an egg a day and there have been times I got two but very seldom. One does appear slightly larger than the other but not significantly larger. The duck house is 14x16 so I believe they have enough room. I will be getting two female runners and one male. All the ducks are able to free range and go to our large pond all day and only house at night. By the way thank you for your help I am concerned about this upcoming mixing and would welcome any and all advice.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Both the Pekins and Mallard are about 2 yrs old. My mallard is a drake and I am not sure he will stick around for our next winter as he has become very friendly with a wild female. I am not sure what sex my Pekins but are or how to tell them apart I do usually get an egg a day and there have been times I got two but very seldom. One does appear slightly larger than the other but not significantly larger. The duck house is 14x16 so I believe they have enough room. I will be getting two female runners and one male. All the ducks are able to free range and go to our large pond all day and only house at night. By the way thank you for your help I am concerned about this upcoming mixing and would welcome any and all advice.

Are the Runners just day olds? if so then slowly bring babies out to meet the rest of the flock, they will look at these new babies as intruders and may hurt them,. even kill them since the babies are so tiny, If I am introducing new members to the flock I use temp fencing the plastic poultry fencing works good for this, that way all can see each other and get use to each other but no one gets injured. also a large dog crate works well for meeting while your waiting for your Runners to get large enough to be outside full time. and of course supervised visits where they are all eating snacks and not focusing on each other helps with intergration. Remember pics.

 

[farmin4myboys]

They are day old and will be brooding in a different building with some chicks. I have a different batch of chicks & guineas with the older ducks now and did in fact do just as you suggested and divided the coop but used plywood on the bottom and plastic chicken fence on top I may want to change that out so that they can see eachother after reading your suggestion. Once the 1st batch moves to the big coop. THANK YOU!
As far as the pictures yeah I think unfortunately I am taking more of the animals than I did of my kids or at least close to as many.

 

[Miss Lydia]

They are day old and will be brooding in a different building with some chicks. I have a different batch of chicks & guineas with the older ducks now and did in fact do just as you suggested and divided the coop but used plywood on the bottom and plastic chicken fence on top I may want to change that out so that they can see eachother after reading your suggestion. Once the 1st batch moves to the big coop. THANK YOU!
As far as the pictures yeah I think unfortunately I am taking more of the animals than I did of my kids or at least close to as many.

I know all my photos now are of my animals. my grandkids take up a very small portion.

looking forward to seeing pics of the lil ones. Seeing each other will help a lot with integration.

 

[farmin4myboys]

One more quick question:
I just read that incubated ducklings don't have the necessary oils so should not be allowed to have water to play in but it didn't tell me at what point they can. I didn't do this with my last batch but probably just got lucky. When can I give them a shallow dish to splash in?

 

[Speceider]

you can give them supervised swims anytime. The earlier, the better.

Clint