Rouen Duck thread

[cherylr21]

I had a Mallard pair and a Rouen pair, the Mallard duck flew the coop with the wild ones that were in our pond, I kind of didn't blame her she was being pestered by the Mallard drake the Rouen doesn't bother the others. So mine having a Mallard as the daddy gives them a better chance these eggs are fertile? I really wasn't expecting any eggs, the hatchery said they were all drakes, its getting cold at night here and they are only about 5 months old and I sure did not even want ducklings, I don't know what I'll do with them threw the winter especially 7 if they all hatch

my husband didn't want any ducks to begin with he insists I rehome them (I bought them when we got our meat chickens) I couldn't pass them up they are soooooo cute! I do want to keep my Rouen drake as a pet, would he make a good pet? Any ideas on what to do with them in the winter? And is it normal to breed and lay eggs in the winter or is this a practice run?

I agree about the addictive part, I had some wild eggs I tried this spring, its a good thing I was watching them closely I saw a Merganser go into 1 of our Wood duck houses and was breaking the eggs and throwing them out of the nest, I took the others out it was either that or have them all destroyed. I had 5, 1 was cracked and didn't make it but about a week the others all survived till just before hatching 1 did pip (I think) but that was it, none of them made it out. Being new at this Im pretty sure my humidity was way off. Its sure a learning experience!

 

[cherylr21]

Jacob, sorry but one more question, what should my humidity be at?

 

[farmgirl728]

Jacob, thanks for the great info on Rouens. I know that the males can be overly aggressive with the females but do you think my four Rouen boys who have begun sparring with each other (no available female) are aggressively attacking each other or just rough housing like "teenage boys" do? They don't seem to hurt each other, just sort of bump heads and necks with one another and then they all wander off together on a new adventure. Do you have any experience with Runners? We have eight female and two male who are just 6 months old. I don't know what to expect of them. They are so much different than Rouens as far as interest in the pool or in anything much other than moving as a one big blob of ducks from place to place.

 

[Jacob Duckman]

I usually keep mine between 55 and 60. With smaller incubators it can be a challenge keeping it steady though

 

[cherylr21]

Heres an update on my eggs, they were all duds I candled them on day 5 and they all were clear. I did find 2 more last weekend and put them in the bater on Saturday, I candled today and have veins and a small spot in the middle of the veins so they must be fertile, I went and got a real incubator and am hope for the best. I'll keep sending up dates as I go along, I might have questions down the line too.

 

[cherylr21]

I have a Janoel 10,I have 2 temp/humidity gauges, Im keeping my temp at 99.5 and humidity between 20-25% I had it higher I started at 50-60% and started lowering it on day 5 and the air sacs still looked too small, so I kept lowering it every day Im not adding any water and I'm staying between 20-25%. Everything I read it sounds like thats WAY to low but my air sacs look about where they should be now the ducklings look good lots of movement and veins so any suggestions? Should I not worry about the humidity gauge and just go by the air sac size?

 

[cherylr21]

the first pic was on day 5 the others are day 15

 

[Sowas Ark]

Yeah i was really disappointed that she flew away because now they have to be in a covered coop all the time. Plus we have chicken hawks here and they're viscous! I purchase locally but haven't heard any issues with purchasing online.

I would recommend one thing if you haven't raised chicks before, depending on your weather, get them in late spring. I'm in Upstate South Carolina and we do get freezes overnight in the spring and couldn't put the ducks (almost) outside until they were 8 weeks old. This meant they lived in a plastic pool in my spare bedroom, which got quite stinky even though I changed their substrate every morning and evening. I was finally able to move their pool into the garage at that point. I'm sure people have better solutions here, but that's what I did.

 

[MotherKocher]

I hatched this little duck on 10/7/16 and I'm being told it's a Rouen. What f do you think?

 

[Amiga]

Sure looks Rouen to me - about how much does she weigh?