My New Duck Pen

[Scott]

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Ya know, I think the best photos I ever saw of call ducklings were those of yours. The one sleeping on its mom's wing was priceless. I saw where you sold a pair to a fellow BYCer. They seemed very happy with them. I can not wait until mine start laying this coming spring.

 

[Feathered Wings]

Quote:
Ya know, I think the best photos I ever saw of call ducklings were those of yours. The one sleeping on its mom's wing was priceless. I saw where you sold a pair to a fellow BYCer. They seemed very happy with them. I can not wait until mine start laying this coming spring.

Same here i can't wait till this spring when my whites and my 2 pair of grey start laying.
I really enjoy these little ducks so much they just have the greatest personality.
Do you know how many setting they will have in a year?
I was hoping to let mine set instead of using a incubator I've heard they are hard to hatch.

I'm looking for some East Indie's i hope i can locate a breeder or just run across some.
The man that had the East Indie that won Grand Champion bought the duck from a poultry auction as a pet for his daughter.

 

[Scott]

As far as I know, Call Ducks are not prolific layers. I've read estimates of anywhere from 30 to 100 eggs per year. I think your tiny show quality Calls would probably lay on the low end of that spectrum. In fact, I've read that many show quality Calls are sterile... the consequence of breeding them so small. I'd imagine that your average pet quality would lay on the high end of that spectrum. You will get more eggs in a season if you take them from the hen and hatch them yourself or using a surrogate hen. That's what i plan to do: gather all the duck egg and let my cochin hens hatch the ducklings. One of my cochin hens hatched and raised my white calls. If you let the Call hen hatch her own eggs, I'd imagine you'd only get two or three clutches a year. I'd rather keep my Calls busy laying and let my cochin hens do the chore of sitting and rearing the ducklings. That is my plan anyway.

As for the BEIs, I've got a half dozen scheduled to hatch on November 5th. If all goes well, I should have some hatching eggs available this coming spring.


Quote:
Ya know, I think the best photos I ever saw of call ducklings were those of yours. The one sleeping on its mom's wing was priceless. I saw where you sold a pair to a fellow BYCer. They seemed very happy with them. I can not wait until mine start laying this coming spring.

Same here i can't wait till this spring when my whites and my 2 pair of grey start laying.
I really enjoy these little ducks so much they just have the greatest personality.
Do you know how many setting they will have in a year?
I was hoping to let mine set instead of using a incubator I've heard they are hard to hatch.

I'm looking for some East Indie's i hope i can locate a breeder or just run across some.
The man that had the East Indie that won Grand Champion bought the duck from a poultry auction as a pet for his daughter.

 

[Scott]

Here are some updated photos of my new duck pen. I just need to get the house/shelter area painted and shingle the roof. There are also photos of my white call ducks and my mandarin duck pair.

Click here to see the photos.

Oh, and here is a video.

 

[Scott]

Here are a few photos of my duck's raised pen. Decided it would be easier for people to view them if I posted it here, instead of having to follow a link. I just got them in it this week. They had previously been living in the chicken house. I still need to paint and shingle the actual house section.

edited.

 

[Scott]

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Yeah, the steel straps work well for support.

 

[gryeyes]

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I SCORED at my Lowes - had a floor manager as my personal shopping assistant. He found all the fittings (I had to go from ABS shower drain kit to 1/2 inch PVC pipe with a ball cock valve), cut the first section of 2 inch ABS pipe into two short pieces - one for a spare, and the rest of that 2 ft pipe for anything else I wanted to do with it - without charging for the cuts, and put all the bits together for me.

I think my plan to build a small duck pool intrigued him.

Now I just have to get the concrete retaining wall brick thingies, and some pea gravel, and I'll be all set to build this pond-with-a-drain for my 2 Cayugas. I want to make it raised, because I simply cannot dig in the adobe clay in my back yard. Plus, the duck pond will match the two, raised goldfish ponds I built last year.

Scott, thank you so much for the pictures and description of your duck pen & pool!

 

[Scott]

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You're more than welcome. Glad you found all the parts you needed. There is actually some better photos of my set up over here.

 

[Scott]

Alright, a few of you had asked for photos of the mandarin pen. Its not complete yet, but here are some "during construction" photos. As you can see, the covered shelter is two stories. The upper level includes four nest boxes. The lower section is a communal area where feed will be offered. All I really need to do is add the cover and back panel.

 

[CityChicker]

Wow! That is looking good, Scott. I can't wait to see how your Mandies do in that. That is pretty ingenuous how you did the nest boxes. Do you know if anyone else raises them in raised cages? I bet they will do great in that. Good job.