New to the duck scene

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Redrook

In the Brooder
Aug 22, 2019
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Hello all. This is my first post so excuse the lack of knowledge!

So my experience with animals has been the regular dog/cat affair, but my boyfriend started raising ducks in his backyard. They quickly won me over and I decided to add some of own to the flock. I ordered 4 female Cayuga day-old ducklings - soon to be arriving in a couple weeks - and I'm trying to be as prepared as possible.

My boyfriend has 3 Pekings (one duck and two drakes), about two years old now. They get along surprisingly well given the ratio. He unfortunately lost a few of his ducks early on, hence the weird ratio and me wanting only females. He has been feeding them all a calcium enriched feed from Tracker Supply. I'm worried that since she has stopped laying and the drakes don't need it, that the feed isn't the best for them right now. My solution was to find regular feed and give the girls access to oyster shell supplements when they start laying.

Also, any tips on how and when to introduce the new ducks into the flock? We have a fenced in yard with the duck house and fenced in run in the middle. We let them out to forage in the yard and have since added a kiddy pool they can wade around in (super messy clean up constantly, but worth it).
IMG_20190608_162800.jpg

MVIMG_20190812_102743.jpg

I've ordered a couple guide books about ducks already and will be reading up a bit, but I'd like to know what you guys recommend.
 
They'll want a bigger run long term.
The Cayuga will be as big as the Pekin likely.
Also keep in mind you'll want to keep them close but separated between feathering & bringing them in to the run.
You can probably comfortably keep them indoors/in a tub until around 4-5 weeks and then you'll want them out of the house and getting their energy out.

Also you're going to want to have a night light for the area... Keep the predators away from the ducklings. I learned the hard way.
 
Be sure to get the Non medicated chick starter for the cayuga ducklings. You should also separate them from the pekin' s as well until they have feathered in and can stick up for themselves, there will be some pecking order going on. When you do introduce them take it slow put each one in one at a time.
 
Since you have tractor supply get some Purina flock raiser which is good food for both boys and girls. Then for the oyster shells, I took a medium-sized soda bottle, cut it in 1/2. Drilled some holes in the bottom of the bottle for drainage and drill a couple more holes near the top and used them to wire it right to the fence. The girls will eat the oyster shell as they need it and since there are drainage holes in the bottom it won't fill up with rainwater.

One more thing you should have on hand that you can get at TSC is B-complex vitamins. You have big ducks and sometimes they have leg problems because of their weight. That vitamin is what they need to fix that. Even my little runners sometimes get "shaky" legs and as soon as I see that happening I start putting some on their food and in a few days, it's cleared right up. It's a niacin thing. They need a lot of it! This is what the bottle looks like: same thing, just different label design
IMG_0251.JPG


Another thing, they are going to need a bigger run as someone has said as well as a bigger house. Also since you don't have a huge area, I'd get some kind of netting for over the top so you don't loose any to flying predators.

A kiddle pool makes a very good brooder that you can keep in the garage. They grow very very fast so what I did was stand cardboard up all along the sides of the pool brooder so they couldn't get out.
 
Flyinbolts said:
Also if you want super friendly duckies make sure you have some mealworms or some sort of treat to hand feed the little ones. Well... I needed them with my cayuga - they were quite feisty and still don't come to be as readily as my swede or runner even though I held them all a decent amount and such.
Click to expand...
:welcome
 
Redrook said:
Hello all. This is my first post so excuse the lack of knowledge!

So my experience with animals has been the regular dog/cat affair, but my boyfriend started raising ducks in his backyard. They quickly won me over and I decided to add some of own to the flock. I ordered 4 female Cayuga day-old ducklings - soon to be arriving in a couple weeks - and I'm trying to be as prepared as possible.

My boyfriend has 3 Pekings (one duck and two drakes), about two years old now. They get along surprisingly well given the ratio. He unfortunately lost a few of his ducks early on, hence the weird ratio and me wanting only females. He has been feeding them all a calcium enriched feed from Tracker Supply. I'm worried that since she has stopped laying and the drakes don't need it, that the feed isn't the best for them right now. My solution was to find regular feed and give the girls access to oyster shell supplements when they start laying.

Also, any tips on how and when to introduce the new ducks into the flock? We have a fenced in yard with the duck house and fenced in run in the middle. We let them out to forage in the yard and have since added a kiddy pool they can wade around in (super messy clean up constantly, but worth it).View attachment 1886264
View attachment 1886274
I've ordered a couple guide books about ducks already and will be reading up a bit, but I'd like to know what you guys recommend.
Click to expand...
:welcome
 

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