My Love Affair With Ducks...

[Mimi13]

So, you do like ducks!
Well, some ducks, at least.

Yes I believe he does.

 

[Mimi13]

If they do start laying and you foolishly decide to allow them to reproduce, I suggest you leave the child rearing to Ralphie Dux, he will teach them to be a boon to mankind.

I don’t think I’ll start duck reproduction. Not yet anyway.

 

[duluthralphie]

So, you do like ducks!
Well, some ducks, at least.
[/QUOTE

Ralphie Dux are not common dux.

It’s like calling a diamond a piece of coal, both might be carbon, but one is refined.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

And I once thought chickens just “did it all the time.” Haha! Definitely not compared to ducks, I’ve found out. It’s good to know that my girls won’t drown. (I have read where some females in the wild do drown due to being raped by many drakes.)

Wild Drakes are far more hormonal than domestic drakes! Yes drowning can happen, usually it happens in those man-made ponds in the middle of gated-communities where the spoiled brats fatten the ducks with bread and attract way more ducks than naturally would live there.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

The way they are all acting now I swear they are scoping out a nesting site. They LOVE the dog house I made for our ancient catahoula that’s on his last leg, poor boy. He is about to turn 13 and he’s deaf as a door nail. With all this heat he is usually either in the big coop under the poop board or where the ducks stay...because of the fans I have going. That’s why the ducks are looking for another nesting spot I think. They never know if their spot is gonna be occupied or not. I haven’t done anything about him going in their lot honestly because I didn’t think he’d really be here this long. I’m gonna have to think of something to keep him out, but I don’t know what.

My plans are to move the dog house up the hill (currently on my back deck) once Tuff dies. I built it for him so I could provide a heated space for him during the cold. But I obviously built it with something else in mind since I put hinges on one side of the roof so I could raise it. And I put a front porch on it. It really looks like something ducks would live in. I still have not made final plans for the duck area, but I think I’m gonna make something on the hill next to where they are currently located. Right now they are insisting they are hanging out on my deck as evidenced by this picture I just took. View attachment 2259737
They are mucking up the dog water, eating my flowers, and pulling up my lily bulbs and decimating the entire stalk. My poor old girls (chickens) no longer can hang out on the porch. The ducks have definitely taken over.

ETA: I also meant to mention that the feed they’re on is 20%, but I can give them a little cat food too. Their recent behavior prompted me to look up when Ducks begin laying. Most everything I read had a timeline similar to chickens so I thought I had a little bit of time since they are almost 17 weeks old now. I guess I need to go ahead and give them access to oyster shell.

Bwahahaha! They are now out there rattling against my back glass door. (I have a reflective film on the door to help keep the sun and heat out of the house.) When they stand at the door all they can see is themselves and the out of doors.

They will take over everything if you don't show them clear limits! - My ducks are not allowed on the patio, not even when the screen-door is pried open! It took a while, but they have accepted that rule now and even teach it to the younglings. Also the work-platform is taboo! As i said: Ducks are very similar to dogs and they need some kind of education to learn what they can do and what not. However, when it comes to edible, tasty plants, no education will keep them away from tomatoes, peppermint, peppers, etc. only a fence will do.
At the moment i am creating giraffe-ducks! The sweet potatoes are growing like weeds and they love to eat the leaves, but i fenced in the raised bed, so they are stretching their necks through the fence more and more every day to reach further and further inside… I guess in two or three months Blanca will be able to grab the cat-food at the front porch without moving her @SS out of her bed in the duck-house.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Two things learned here:

1) I’m amazed that ducks will eat thistle. Thistle?!? With all the needle-like leaves? I have tons of it in the pastures. I am constantly digging up the plants trying to eradicate the hateful stuff. Maybe I can feed them some. (We have thistle and what I call ‘bull nettle’ here.) That’s what my granddaddy always called it, bull nettle. I need to look it up and see if that’s its real name.

2) The wing activity. That is amazing that it seems to be a ‘younger duck’ activity. I actually like to see it - the whole group semi-flying up the hill, around the yard, just on a whim’s notice. How do they do that? They must have little non-audible cues that they all know, “We’re gonna take flight now and head over to the other goodie patch in the yard!”

Yes they eat thistles, mostly the flowers and the seeds - long, flexible necks are such an advantage! Mine also eat the leaves and the stems of the softer not so spiny thistles, i have a lot of milk-thistles here. For sure they will try only once to eat @Texag87 bull-nettle.
And yes, i have pulled plenty of thistle spines out of duck feet in the last two years. The thankful look in a duck's face after you set her back down and she carefully tries her now pain-free foot is worth all the work!
Listen to your ducks voices! - They have so many different vocalizations that i am sure they have some kind of a language and can communicate experiences to each other.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

I don’t think I’ll start duck reproduction. Not yet anyway.

I don't let any duck, younger than at least one year have ducklings, better wait for them to be two years old!!!
Last year Katharina was one year and three months old and she was a good Momma and excelled in all tasks from egg to young duck.
Pinball on the other hand at an age of one year and four months somewhat screwed up after her ducklings had hatched and she left the duck-house with them. Fortunately Smaug (2 years old) adopted the little ones and cared for them.
The more experienced ducks are much more successful in raising ducklings. Can replace experience only with more experience.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Ralphie Dux are not common dux.

It’s like calling a diamond a piece of coal, both might be carbon, but one is refined.

So you take a dux, apply heat and high pressure and turn it into a Ralphie-Dux?!
Tried that and the result was always duck-stew…

 

[jaykayhuff]

I don't let any duck, younger than at least one year have ducklings, better wait for them to be two years old!!!
Last year Katharina was one year and three months old and she was a good Momma and excelled in all tasks from egg to young duck.
Pinball on the other hand at an age of one year and four months somewhat screwed up after her ducklings had hatched and she left the duck-house with them. Fortunately Smaug (2 years old) adopted the little ones and cared for them.
The more experienced ducks are much more successful in raising ducklings. Can replace experience only with more experience.

I read somewhere that taking their eggs away (if they are trying to go broody) for the first time ever could discourage them from trying to be mama's ever again... but you’ve had no issue with this? Seems like a lot of people do this but they all have older ducks.

 

[jaykayhuff]

@Mimi13 What age are your ducks at now? I remember you were just a couple weeks ahead of me. Have you seen your girls displaying any interest in mating or laying yet? I’m coming up on 16 week olds on Monday so tomorrow they are getting shifted into new living quarters and I’m adding the oyster shell to their diets... I’m getting way too excited over the possibility of eggs soon!!!