NY chicken lover!!!!

[Desiree Brown]

Does anyone keep there ducks in with chickens or are they housed seperate

I keep my ducks n chickens together. I bought them together and kept them separate but my 2 ducks would just hide in the corner and never did anything. So as a experiment I put some chicks with them and they were happy and quacking. I took the chicks out and they went back to the corner. So I would arrange play dates everyday until I could get them on the same food. But my ducks were only happy ducks when they were with chickens. They had there own place in the coop on the floor. This summer I'm going to build them a nicer spot with a roof so they are safe from chicken poo.

 

[Desiree Brown]

He

I did not know this.  How do you deal with it ?   If I build them a hoop should it be without a floor. Where the heck is Stony when you need him.  He's probably got a great set up.  Someone call him and tell him to get back here.   Maybe he's on the Duck thread. I go look.  

It's so wet here I bet I could build a 4 panel coop and dig a small pond in the middle of it.    

he has a blog page on FB. I think he is on that still. I forgot what it's called but I follow it. He posted on that that he was taking a break on BYC and he said you know where to find me... So maybe FB??

 

[Cass]

Does anyone keep there ducks in with chickens or are they housed seperate

I keep mine together. I have 18 chickens and 3 Muscovy ducks in the same coop and run. I DO NOT suggest it. You think chickens stink? Ducks got it all over chickens. And their poop is wetter so it increases the humdity in the coop. And they are MESSY. I NEVER had my water bowl freeze to the floor until I got the ducks.

Now, my favorite Christmas gift is a certificate for a duck house (some assembly required) to be built to my specifications this spring. NEVER AGAIN will my ducks live in the chicken coop. (I have had to do a total clean out of the coop three times this winter so far....last winter, just chickens, I cleaned it out ONCE during the winter...but I can't stand the smell and the poop is so large it freezes and makes it impossible to close the door)

 

[Lynzi777]

The "Duck Huddle"
"Alright everyone listen up, the minute she's done shoveling a path to pond, that's our cue to make a run for it"

 

[Cass]

I need a Toyota Highlander. "It's got a bin for your chicken" Cracks me up every time. (Watch the toyota muppet commerical closely at the very beginning.)

 

[Pyxis]

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Lots of snow over here, but at least this time I didn't have any runaway cochins. I spent a good long time shoveling out the chicken run, and the birds were happy about that. Honey's son, whom I have decided to name Drone on the suggestion of Pharm, is still getting along well with his father, so things are looking good for him to stay. It also looks like one of the barred EE chicks is a roo and I believe I will keep him to make more barred EE's. And I got a special Valentine's present today - a brown egg! Now I have two layers in my coop, and whichever leghorn is laying hasn't missed a single day since she started.

I also made bacon today so the chickens are getting a special treat tomorrow. Start with birdseed, add mealworms to taste, a splash of ACV, and stir it all up in bacon grease and you get this:

A delicious chicken treat high in protein that smells like bacon and must be hidden from dogs.

 

[Tough Old Bird]

A dog rehomed here ... had some nervous pee issues .... do what you are doing .... take out often and praise when going outside. Just a little cluck of the teeth and a quiet word of shame when they do it inside ....

my dog shaped up and hasn't made a mess in the house in 3 years - but she was housetrained before ... she was just scared of the new place.

Hope it is not a physical problem.

Love her eyes.

Thanks, Metella, for sharing your experience and advice. "Blaise" seems to have a little of the nervous pee problem, but not so much and not to where I'd assume it was anything else but a young pup getting acclimated to a new environment. It's the amount and frequency of her need to urinate that is what troubles me. She is definitely getting the concept of peeing outside = good, and peeing inside = not good. She even jumped up and put her front paws on the mudroom door asking to go out. But if you miss her cues, even for a minute, she wets the floor. No poop accidents in the 2-1/2 weeks we've had her. So it's a "pee thing!"

Tough Old Bird- Here is a pic of my ducks!

Oh, Finny! They are really sweet looking! Very cute! Thx for sharing!

I have a blue heeler. Lily

She is the best dog I have ever had. She trained so easy and still loves to learn. She is a rescue & mixed with something but we can't tell what. I take her camping & she is off leash & stays on the site with command. Very good girl.

She has a leaky bladder. She was born with it. My vet has put her on Proin tablets. She gets 1 tablet a day. It is very rare she leaks unless she misses a pill for a few days or her bladder is over full. The only reason I could tell she had a problem was that she licked her privates a lot & you could see urine drops. And when she gets up there is a wet spot. But the Proin has alleviated it. And the meds are relatively inexpensive which is nice

Lily sounds (and looks) adorable. What a good girl. I'm glad you found the answer to her problem and get some help with the Rx.

Are there Cayugas in Ny in the wild? Just drove by a river that had some black ducks in, then again they could have just been black ducks, not necessarily Cayugas...

Weather is crazy in these parts, snowing, sunny, blizzard, snowing...geez! Halfway to Buffalo....

TOB - congrats on your new adoption! Love the eyes! Good luck with everything!

Lynzi, I saw a Swedish duck (the black and white kind) on Otisco Lake last year. In that case, I guess it was someone's pet that had escaped. It was hanging out with the wild Mallards.

I got an egg!!!!

Sure, it was frozen and cracked, and sure, I accidentally leaned over with it in my pocket when taking care of the chicks and crushed it, but I got a big white egg, my first one in months. One of the leghorns is a good girl.

You made me chuckle Pyxis!

I can surely relate to the occasional frozen and cracked eggs, but most especially the pocket victim, as I just did the very same thing last week! I hate to lose even 1 egg, but I guess we just have to laugh!

The hardest part and what still is the hardest part is the separation anxiety. Luckily we have another dog who helps control it but if we have to separate them for any reason it's a disaster and very stressful. He gets very over the top hyper as well and has some bladder issues if you don't let him out regularly. He spent the first year and a half of his life locked in a crate in a kitchen so wasn't socialized very well. He's a border collie mix and uses his mouth way too much because he never learned that mouthing isn't the proper way to get attention. Due to the lack of socialization he is also fearful of a lot of things. If something falls behind him he FREAKS out and hides. He's a work in progress even a year and a half later...

Hi AQHA. I know there's a window of time when pups are young (just like kids) where they need socialization and someone to teach them manners and boundaries. It's much harder when you're getting a more mature dog, and perhaps a 6-month dog old dog in and of itself wouldn't be so much trouble to train (like my pit mix Micah), but when an animal has been kept in a crate its entire life, you are working at a real disadvantage. Kudos to you for taking on that challenge, and I get how hard it can be with this new dog of ours. My other two were cake walks compared to her. Your dog being a border collie mix puts you at both advantages (smart and quick to train) and disadvantages (high strung and requiring stimulation). These rescue dogs are definitely works in progress. Best of luck as you continue to work with your guy!

I grew up with border collies, always had one on the farm. Loved the intelligence and trainability. But I also know they need constant exercise and entertainment, or else they make up their own games. And that doesn't fit with our home-work life balance. Harvey the Humane Society dog has worked out well for us. His shedding is currently driving me nuts in the house, but he has been a good boy.

Someone down the road from me has a border collie. It's tied up frequently. It used to try to lunge after cars as they passed, and even though I knew it was tied, it would startle me. These dogs need "jobs" or someone who has a high level of activity to keep them engaged. My friend has 3 Blue Heelers; she does agility with the two younger ones. They love it.


TOB

 

[dragonlord483]

Ive seen some giant poop from my 7 chickens but never see hardly any from my 5 ducks

 

[Desiree Brown]

I keep my water outside so no mess. I have a heated dog bowl and I have it plugged in at my garage. Just outside their run door.but I've noticed it gets the chickens out side and keeps them active. At first I had to put straw down but now I don't even have to do that. And keeps the ducks happy in the summer I don't need the heated bowl.

 

[JLaw]

Seems like everyone is having a good time i had some good luck today will post when i gethme after work.