No brooder bedding?

[Enigmius]

They sure are pretty. @DuckyDonna had a black Runner who has turned to chocolate.

Really? Wow! Thats amazing!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Oh I guess I forgot I was thinking all were black. I only got 2 blues from my hatches this year all the rest were black. 1 blue. Drake the other didn’t make it to hatch. Are you going to keep all the ducklings that hatched.

 

[Enigmius]

Oh I guess I forgot I was thinking all were black. I only got 2 blues from my hatches this year all the rest were black. 1 blue. Drake the other didn’t make it to hatch. Are you going to keep all the ducklings that hatched.

Sorry you lost one of your blues.
Well, it all depends on how many end up being boys. I can tell I have at least one. When I pick them up to get them out of their safety pen in the coop, one of them has a more whispery-sounding voice when compared to the others. It should be too early to tell, but I'm pretty certain that it is going to be a boy. But just because all the other ones sound similar now, doesn't mean I won't have more. Ugh. They are all so cute, giving some away might be difficult, but if I knew they were going to good homes it might not be too bad.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Thanks. I know I had only 6 duckling hatch and 5 were drakes. I did find great homes for 4 thanks to @CrystaBub. Runners are pretty popular so if your faced with that decision hopefully yours will get great homes too. It’s very hard to give them up.

 

[Enigmius]

Not to purposefully change the subject, but I have a question that I’m sure you’d know the answer to. Since my other ladies are older I have oyster shell freely available in a bowl. Do you think this will be a problem for the ducklings? Would they be tempted to eat it too early?

 

[Miss Lydia]

They may give it a taste but I keep it out and have never seen any duckling or chick eating it.

 

[Enigmius]

They may give it a taste but I keep it out and have never seen any duckling or chick eating it.

Thank you!

 

[CrystaBub]

Thank you!

Same here as @Miss Lydia - I keep it out and it hasn't been an issue at all.

 

[PATOS]

I moved 6 of my babies into their outside brooder(inside the duck coop). The other two moved from the bathtub into the baby pool.View attachment 1853963

looks great!!!! hugz from CHILE!!!

 

[Enigmius]

Well, I have tried a couple times to integrate the flock, but every time I let the young ones out of their see-me-dont-touch-me pen to join the three chocolate mommas in the larger coop/run, the mommas try to attack them after about 15 minutes. It was so bad that one of the mommas, Elvira, nipped at the wing of one of the youngsters whilst Morticia ganged up on it and pulled feathers out from its neck. I grabbed the two and held them down like one would do to an out-of-control drake, but this didn't seem to take. I even put Elvira in time out for a bit(in the youngsters pen whilst the youngsters were in the rest of the coop with the other two mommas.. No avail. I'm about to do the inverse, which is make a pen for the three mommas, and allow the youngsters free range in the coop/run for a week, and then let the mommas out to join the youngsters. Do you think that might work? I'm at a loss here.