Not again 😣

[Miss Lydia]

We're hoping so too.

 

[BelovedBirds]

Solid shell!!!

I'm going to let her fast again today before starting her "new diet".
In the original plan it was 3 days no food, but I don't really want to let her go that long

 

[Miss Lydia]

Can't get any better than that!!!

 

[BelovedBirds]

One of my girls has been part-time broody since she started laying 8/9 months ago. All of the sass, keeps the eggs warm at night/morning, but none of the daytime sitting. She's probably the most irregular layer I have as well.

Has she molted recently? I was reading through 'Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks' when I saw the below section, figured you might be interested in reading. Dave Holderread recommends force-molting prolific layers every 10-12 months to give their bodies a break.

View attachment 3493882
View attachment 3493884

(Page below isn't entirely relevant but describes the artificial light set-up he references discontinuing on '1st day'. Basically, you'd want her getting less than 13 hours of light a day from my understanding though.)

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I want to make sure I understand this all, once we're continuing food, is it just purely oats until the 15th day?
I don't think I'd do it quite this long, because I'm worried about the long term effects of such limited nutrition. But I want to make sure I understand this schedule so that I can adapt it

 

[DuneDucks]

I want to make sure I understand this all, once we're continuing food, is it just purely oats until the 15th day?
I don't think I'd do it quite this long, because I'm worried about the long term effects of such limited nutrition. But I want to make sure I understand this schedule so that I can adapt it

Yeah, that is correct. As written Day 4-14 would be oats free choice. I doubt I'd go as long either. I don't know if you decided on changing her feed, but you could probably do half that if so, maybe even less.

And without any mention of foraging, I would let her do as much of that as she wants. I think the directions assume you've been following the book's advice up to that point and have an adequately sized space with a variety of plants, insects, etc that they'd ideally be getting a lot of necessary nutrients from.

 

[BelovedBirds]

Yeah, that is correct. As written Day 4-14 would be oats free choice. I doubt I'd go as long either. I don't know if you decided on changing her feed, but you could probably do half that if so, maybe even less.

And without any mention of foraging, I would let her do as much of that as she wants. I think the directions assume you've been following the book's advice up to that point and have an adequately sized space with a variety of plants, insects, etc that they'd ideally be getting a lot of necessary nutrients from.

I could definitely encourage foraging, she is housed in a nice sized pen, there's a log area and stuff, plant pots, where there's always spiders and slugs etc around.
But I can free range her daily to let her forage more if necessary.

Do you think changing her feed would be a good idea? I definitely can if that would be okay, I just don't want to shock her system with a sudden change is all. If she'd be okay, I could change the feed.
If I did end up giving her the usual feed in the reccomended ration, I'm thinking free feed only oats for about a week or so? Just a little less than the book says.

 

[DuneDucks]

I could definitely encourage foraging, she is housed in a nice sized pen, there's a log area and stuff, plant pots, where there's always spiders and slugs etc around.
But I can free range her daily to let her forage more if necessary.

Yeah, I think it would be a good idea to let her forage as wide a variety as you can.

Do you think changing her feed would be a good idea? I definitely can if that would be okay, I just don't want to shock her system with a sudden change is all. If she'd be okay, I could change the feed.
If I did end up giving her the usual feed in the reccomended ration, I'm thinking free feed only oats for about a week or so? Just a little less than the book says.

What kind of change did you have in mind? In the directions the feed referred to on Day 1 would be a 14-16% maintenance/layer ration depending on the time of year, and then on Day 15 starting back up with an 18% grower, so I suppose a change in feed could be in line with that. I think a week or so of oats would work fine.

 

[BelovedBirds]

Yeah, I think it would be a good idea to let her forage as wide a variety as you can.



What kind of change did you have in mind? In the directions the feed referred to on Day 1 would be a 14-16% maintenance/layer ration depending on the time of year, and then on Day 15 starting back up with an 18% grower, so I suppose a change in feed could be in line with that. I think a week or so of oats would work fine.

I believe their feed is 18%, I might double check that
The only other duck feeds I can access will be similar to that

I might just stick with their usual feed, and do just oats for a week or so.
And then after I reintroduce their food, it's continuing free feeding oats, and add the measured amount of their food in a separate dish, right? Until the 42nd day when I wean her back onto a normal feed routine? If I leave it that long.

I need more coffee. I'm dumb in general, and also tired lol.

 

[Canadian Wind]

I need more coffee. I'm dumb in general, and also tired lol.

 

[BelovedBirds]

I can't tell if this is for drinking a ton of coffee, or....