Pic Heavy.... my duckies outside the pen for the first time today

[Mojo Chick'n]

I have a few ducks...

and a few inside the house still as well.

I took some pics of them today (along with the goslings) when I let the ducks out of the pen for the first time.

They had fun

Ethel

Fred and Lucy

Spiffy (isn't he beautiful?)

eta - fixed pics

meri

 

[sweetshoplady]

Nice looking ducks and geese!

 

[Mojo Chick'n]

I didn't realize how big the swedish would get. They are done growing, though

Total, I guess I have about 22 ducks - mostly Call Ducks (and most of those babies, yet). I plan to keep only about ten or so of the Calls. I am sort of waiting to see who is a girl/boy and who turns out pretty or just 'nice'.

Ethel, the female Pilgrim Gosling, has a messed up bill - so she won't be breeding - I am hoping that Lucy (the buff) is a girl, so I can breed her, though. Ethel eats fine and seems to have adapted to her weird face, so she gets to live here as long as she likes, though.

meri

 

[shelleyd2008]

Oh no!! Her bill is messed up? I was thinking it was just injured. What does her bill look like now? I wonder if metzer's would do anything about that? Probably not

 

[Mojo Chick'n]

Quote:
I'll try to get a pic of just her face when she's looking at me

it isn't easy - she is usually eating when she is out of the pen.

It looks sort of like a cross beak in chickens - the lower bill is normal, and the top bill sort of turns sideways.

I had thought about contacting them, but I figured they wouldn't ship just one gosling, anyway.

She is a big lover, though, so as long as she can get around and eat fine, I'm happy with her. She's a smart little goose

and funny. I think being born that way that she has no clue that she is different, so she has learned to adapt to it right from the start.

I'll see if I can get some pics today to add in here.

Oh, I have had 4 more jumbo babies hatch (so far) - hope their feet are all good - I had one last time with curled feet - had to cull it. I'm having difficulties with the humidity this time of year. Just when I figure out the humidity for winter and have nearly 100% hatches, the weather changes and I have to figure it all out again

Did I tell ya the last three jumbos were a trio? would be cool if I got more girls this time around to go with that male.

meri

 

[Mojo Chick'n]

Oh, one more thing - check out the 5 babies I got at the auction... their necks look awfully long to be pure Calls - I'm thinking they might be mixed, or just not good stock - they are sweet, too, though, so I'll pick a couple of them to keep.

They are the "mallard" looking ones in the pics above.

meri

 

[shelleyd2008]

Are you sure they aren't just plain mallards? That guy with the trailer always has adults, so it wouldn't be all that far fetched. And you know how people are there, they'll let you think whatever you want, as long as they sell their stuff

If you have any other quail babies hatch like that, you need to put them on wire for a few days. The 1/4" wire is small enough for them to walk on, and it will straighten out their feet. I had my 1 button and those 2 A&M all have curled toes because of incubation, a few days on the wire and they were as good as new.

 

[Mojo Chick'n]

Quote:
Yeah, I had my doubts on buying "call duck" babies for 2 bucks each

but they are adorable, so I took them. This was the guy who sets up in the outside stall towards the front of the building.

Thanks for the tip on the quail - I think one definately has curled toes, I'll have to figure out how to stick them onto wire - I have some 1/4 inch - but all my cages are so big they can get out of them - maybe I can bend it so they stand on it in the bottom of the bin.

meri

 

[shelleyd2008]

Mojo Chick'n :

Quote:
Yeah, I had my doubts on buying "call duck" babies for 2 bucks each

but they are adorable, so I took them. This was the guy who sets up in the outside stall towards the front of the building.

Thanks for the tip on the quail - I think one definately has curled toes, I'll have to figure out how to stick them onto wire - I have some 1/4 inch - but all my cages are so big they can get out of them - maybe I can bend it so they stand on it in the bottom of the bin.

meri

That's what I would do, I had a cardboard box hatcher/brooder that had 1/4" hardware cloth on the bottom, worked perfect for the curly toed babies!!

Me and Cris are off to try and catch Jaws in the pond again, this thing has broken his line twice already, and broke Cindy's when she was here the other day!! I am seriously thinking it's a turtle, but won't know for sure until we catch it

My friend Larry that sells at Sano does have calls, and he sells his babies for $2 each. But the guy in the stall is not him. Larry has whites, BEI, and greys, I believe. If he still has them.​

 

[19Dawn76]

Can you post some more pics of your run? That set up looks really neat. We've converted an old smoke house to use for our chickens.