Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[OneMountainAcres]

Speaking of Orpingtons, Here is Braiden, our Crele Orp

And for anyone who was following my CX outcross group, Here are the 3 left from the original attempt at it. Freckles (the big pullet) has been squatting lately and I've seen Blanco (roo) trying to attempt things with the ladies.

Freckles

Blanco

Blanco and Gloria

All 3

Here are some of our newer ones. We used a different roo. The two bigger ones are 5 weeks (the biggest is over 2 lbs now) and the smallest is 3 weeks old.

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

It should be ok if you do that I would think.

Thanks! I’m going to give it a go.

I see your lovely BR turkeys are behind some fencing in the pics above. Do you house your turkeys separately? My egg production has gone down quite a bit in the past couple of weeks. A couple of days, I got 6 eggs, but it has been 1-3 eggs for the past week. I did see the turkeys eating an egg one day this week, but this weekend I have checked several times to collect eggs. I was thinking maybe the turkeys were stressing the girls out, because of the cold weather and everyone being lumped together.

As I’m typing this, I wonder if it stress from the fox attacks too. Nothing like a predator running around to discourage making little ones...

 

[OneMountainAcres]

I see your lovely BR turkeys are behind some fencing in the pics above. Do you house your turkeys separately?

Yes, I house mine separately for 2 reasons. 1, My main coop just isn't big enough for turkeys AND chickens and 2, the turkeys wander too far and the neighbor doesn't appreciate them getting in to his yard so I have to keep them penned up. Occasionally, I'll let a few out to free range (some let themselves out daily) and they all get along with each other but I have to watch to make sure they stay in the yard. I can't wait to someday get more land where we can just let them all roam all over!

 

[dheltzel]

I owe everyone some duck and duck pen pics. First, the whole thing:

Closeup of the 3 doors (I want easy access everywhere, can't be climbing in there)

Inside the covered area. Black rubber feed pan. Green heated waterer on right, fillable from this door.

The whole breeding group.

There are 3 color variants in this breed controlled by a single, partially dominant gene, much like the blue (not lavender) in chickens. The normal color is called a "green head" and both sexes look like mallards (there are 2 females and 1 male of this color in the pics). If they get a single copy of the "blue head" gene, the males get a blue head and the females have a uniform tan head (1 pair of these in the pic). If they get 2 copies, they are called "Silver heads" and are the equivalent of splash. Female silverheads have white stripes in their heads and males heads are sort of steel blue. There are 2 silverhead females in the group, but no males. I have a backup pen with a silverhead and extra bluehead males.

 

[AnneInTheBurbs]

Yes, I house mine separately for 2 reasons. 1, My main coop just isn't big enough for turkeys AND chickens and 2, the turkeys wander too far and the neighbor doesn't appreciate them getting in to his yard so I have to keep them penned up. Occasionally, I'll let a few out to free range (some let themselves out daily) and they all get along with each other but I have to watch to make sure they stay in the yard. I can't wait to someday get more land where we can just let them all roam all over!

Haha, that's my problem too. Roaming turkeys. I have decided to build them a nice large pen in the spring so I can safely confine them, and not be shot by my neighbors. I have thought of letting them free range when I am home as well.

I owe everyone some duck and duck pen pics. First, the whole thing:

There are 3 color variants in this breed controlled by a single, partially dominant gene, much like the blue (not lavender) in chickens. The normal color is called a "green head" and both sexes look like mallards (there are 2 females and 1 male of this color in the pics). If they get a single copy of the "blue head" gene, the males get a blue head and the females have a uniform tan head (1 pair of these in the pic). If they get 2 copies, they are called "Silver heads" and are the equivalent of splash. Female silverheads have white stripes in their heads and males heads are sort of steel blue. There are 2 silverhead females in the group, but no males. I have a backup pen with a silverhead and extra bluehead males.

Awesome ! Thanks for the update. That looks like a great set up. Do ducks not need quite as much winter protection as chickens? It would appear to me that they do not. No long comb or wattles, fattier bird, their natural cousins in the wild doing fine etc.

How early can they be sexed? I am so excited! I am have so much building to get done this spring... Thankfully, I got my hours cut back at work so I have more time for projects.

 

[dheltzel]

Haha, that's my problem too. Roaming turkeys. I have decided to build them a nice large pen in the spring so I can safely confine them, and not be shot by my neighbors. I have thought of letting them free range when I am home as well.

Awesome ! Thanks for the update. That looks like a great set up. Do ducks not need quite as much winter protection as chickens? It would appear to me that they do not. No long comb or wattles, fattier bird, their natural cousins in the wild doing fine etc.

How early can they be sexed? I am so excited! I am have so much building to get done this spring... Thankfully, I got my hours cut back at work so I have more time for projects.

You've seen the way I construct my aviaries for the turkeys and peafowl. I went cheap, but absolutely predator proof by using 2x4 welded wire all around. If you paint it black it will look better and probably last longer.

Ducks are awesome when it comes to enduring winters. Being genetically derived from mallards that are native to here and even further north, nothing much bothers them. We are warned about drafts with chickens, and frostbite. Neither are a concern with ducks, geese, or turkeys (all be native to temperate areas with harsh winters). They still like an area to get out of the really bad weather, but they can survive brutal conditions if need be.
Ducklings are much easier to vent sex than chicks. I've done it to confirm males before giving them away. Welsh Harlequins are at least 90% sexable by bill color at hatch. They are also incredible layers, and I will have lots of them for sale this spring.
IDK if it is a good idea to vent sex the smaller Australian Spotted ducklings. Like bantams, they must be more delicate. I've heard they grow very fast and start acting like boys as early as 4 weeks, but this is my first time with them.

 

[Blarneyeggs]

I owe everyone some duck and duck pen pics. First, the whole thing:
View attachment 1244524
Closeup of the 3 doors (I want easy access everywhere, can't be climbing in there)
View attachment 1244525
Inside the covered area. Black rubber feed pan. Green heated waterer on right, fillable from this door.
View attachment 1244526
The whole breeding group. View attachment 1244528
View attachment 1244527 There are 3 color variants in this breed controlled by a single, partially dominant gene, much like the blue (not lavender) in chickens. The normal color is called a "green head" and both sexes look like mallards (there are 2 females and 1 male of this color in the pics). If they get a single copy of the "blue head" gene, the males get a blue head and the females have a uniform tan head (1 pair of these in the pic). If they get 2 copies, they are called "Silver heads" and are the equivalent of splash. Female silverheads have white stripes in their heads and males heads are sort of steel blue. There are 2 silverhead females in the group, but no males. I have a backup pen with a silverhead and extra bluehead males.

Wow! Thanks for the inspiration and great pics. 2 questions....what are the overall dimentions of your duck pen and what breed of duck is pictured?

 

[dheltzel]

Wow! Thanks for the inspiration and great pics. 2 questions....what are the overall dimentions of your duck pen and what breed of duck is pictured?

These are my new Australian Spotted ducks. They are a little larger than calls or black east indies, but smaller than mallards. According to Dave Holderhead, they are the best layers of all the bantam duck breeds, hatch easily (unlike calls) and are calmer than BEI. They seem pretty good so far about tolerating my presence, but they don't welcome it (yet). They are not an accepted breed for showing (only mallards, calls and BEI have standards in the bantam duck classes) and (perhaps as a result) are quite hard to source, but you know I'm gonna fix the scarcity issue. They are also supposed to be awesome broodies, I think some call breeders might have tried them for hatching call ducklings.

Pen is 8 ft long and 3 ft wide. I sized the inside part so I could use a cement board floor. Those boards are 3x5 ft, so I cut 1 in half and the inside area is 3x2.5 ft.
The next one will be 4 ft wide, with a divider down the middle to allow for 2 breeding groups. The males are less tolerant of each other than I expected, so 2 males w/ 5 females is not going to work as well as 1 male in each side with 2 or 3 females per male. Bigger ducks are fine with 5 or so ducks per drake, but from what I've read, fertility with bantam ducks is better with a max of 3 per drake. A larger group of 12+ ducks and 4 or more drakes would probably work. It is the small area and only 1 rival that seems to make the dominant drake more abusive.

The pool is easy to drain and refill, which is a crucial design element because watching 6 ducks in that pool all splashing around and having fun is the best part of keeping ducks. Right now, I use 5 gal buckets, but plan to hook up drain and fill hoses in non-freezing weather so I can change the water every few days.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

We've had a new pair join our ranks here! Everyone meet Jazz and Sassy! Jazz is a frizzled serama. Sassy is calico or Mille Fleur? I picked them up free. Jazz is dealing with a serious scaly leg mite issue but I think I got those annihilated, just helping him heal. Believe it or not, he had a lot more clumps of dead dried scales all over his feet before these pictures. They've been just falling off every time I treat his legs/feet.

Jazz

Sassy

 

[debandchicks]

SE PA (Sinking Spring). Looking to connect with others who share local interest in all things chicken/duck! Particularly would like to find another Mottled Java hen - heritage, - not from feed mills, et cetera.