*~*Runner Duck Club*~*

[Duck Hill]

Eggs in the incubator. I am crossing my fingers.

I have bred my trout-with-lots-of-white to:




a) A Blue Trout drake. He has.... technical issues. Of ten eggs I put in the incubator, only one was fertile. So he might not be a good start to line breeding. But... one egg, two weeks into incubation, looking good. Hope it's a boy, and without his dad's fertility issues.

b) A Penciled drake. Goal: A line of brown trouts-with-lots-of-white, pied trouts, etc. Four eggs, all fertile, two weeks into incubation.

c) When I saw the Blue Trout had fertility issues, I put her with a Blue Dusky drake (with the light gene). This is my backup honorary trout male given the fertility issues of the blue trout male. Four eggs in the incubator, just starting to incubate.


I didn't wait ten days between switching males. I waited... one day. So.... who knows. But it's rather obvious that the second father (penciled drake) is responsible for the second set of eggs, since their fertility is 100%. Now between him and the third father... just crossing my fingers. The fathers are different enough that I will be able to tell the offspring of the penciled drake from the offspring of the blue dusky. So I will know who the father is - but only after they are born.

Gaah! Two more weeks for the first setting! Then two more weeks for the second set of eggs. It's so loooooonnnnngggg!
Yes, I really need to learn more patience. I've tried but so far it isn't working.

 

[blueducklings]

Crossing my fingers and toes for u

 

[blueducklings]

Shiney

 

[kayray89]

Hi. I'm new to the duck-raising thing and would appreciate some advice. I have two duckling Indian runners (Echo and Zola) They are just over 4 weeks old. The past day or so we have noticed that Echo seems to be a bit lethargic and Zola has a little bit of a limp.

At the moment both are kept inside in a makeshift pen (1 meter by 2 meters)with a sheet as their flooring, half a pet carrier with hay at the base to use as a nest, a waterer, a food bowl and a paint roller tray for them to swim in. I take them into a temporary pen that's outside for about an hour or more a day so they can forage and be ducks. I think they are still a little too small to leave out there unsupervised or for lengthy periods. I feed them starter feed as well as some veggies like kale, peas, corn, fresh beans and occasionally mashed banana as a treat. I've started to put Apple cider vinegar in their water thinking that might help and I've been searching high and low for some Brewers yeast to stick in their feed. I clean their waterer, food bowl and swimming tray everyday. Sometimes twice a day and change their bedding every second day. It's been pretty hot and humid here lately 30 degrees celcius (I'm in Queensland, Australia) and at times I have found them drifting off to sleep in their swimming tray (they can always touch the bottom and get in and out easily)

I'm just really hoping that they are ok. I hate to think that I'm not doing something that could potentionally really harm them.

 

[AimToMisbehave]

Hi. I'm new to the duck-raising thing and would appreciate some advice. I have two duckling Indian runners (Echo and Zola) They are just over 4 weeks old. The past day or so we have noticed that Echo seems to be a bit lethargic and Zola has a little bit of a limp.

At the moment both are kept inside in a makeshift pen (1 meter by 2 meters)with a sheet as their flooring, half a pet carrier with hay at the base to use as a nest, a waterer, a food bowl and a paint roller tray for them to swim in. I take them into a temporary pen that's outside for about an hour or more a day so they can forage and be ducks. I think they are still a little too small to leave out there unsupervised or for lengthy periods. I feed them starter feed as well as some veggies like kale, peas, corn, fresh beans and occasionally mashed banana as a treat. I've started to put Apple cider vinegar in their water thinking that might help and I've been searching high and low for some Brewers yeast to stick in their feed. I clean their waterer, food bowl and swimming tray everyday. Sometimes twice a day and change their bedding every second day. It's been pretty hot and humid here lately 30 degrees celcius (I'm in Queensland, Australia) and at times I have found them drifting off to sleep in their swimming tray (they can always touch the bottom and get in and out easily)

I'm just really hoping that they are ok. I hate to think that I'm not doing something that could potentionally really harm them.

Brewers yeast would probably help. They might just be too warm? Also, are you giving them access to grit so they can process those vegetables?

 

[kayray89]

I managed to get my hands on some Brewers yeast. Overnight you could really see a change in them. Echo really perked up and is back to doing normal ducky things. Zola seems to still be a bit lethargic and wobbly on her feet. I did notice that Zola doesn't eat as much as Echo and made a concoction of mushy weetbix with some Brewers yeast and fed it just to Zola. She ate some, but not as much as I was hoping.
I don't have access to grit. Where I live is more suburbia and their are few produce places that provide stuff for ducks. They have tons of stuff for chickens and that's about it. I only feed them veggies when they are outside and figured they would get an alright (not great) amount of grit from foraging outside, but I shall endevour to find some. Even if I have to drive a fair distance to get it.
It could be the heat as well. I know I'm not enjoying the heat, so add feathers and it would be worse. They have access to their swimming tray and a pond when they are outside. On occasion I have even found them snoozing in their pond through the day. I worry they will get sick from being wet for so long but I figure they are hot and trying to cool down and I always make sure they are dry when I put them down to bed at night.
Thanks so much for the help

 

[AimToMisbehave]

I managed to get my hands on some Brewers yeast. Overnight you could really see a change in them. Echo really perked up and is back to doing normal ducky things. Zola seems to still be a bit lethargic and wobbly on her feet. I did notice that Zola doesn't eat as much as Echo and made a concoction of mushy weetbix with some Brewers yeast and fed it just to Zola. She ate some, but not as much as I was hoping.
I don't have access to grit. Where I live is more suburbia and their are few produce places that provide stuff for ducks. They have tons of stuff for chickens and that's about it. I only feed them veggies when they are outside and figured they would get an alright (not great) amount of grit from foraging outside, but I shall endevour to find some. Even if I have to drive a fair distance to get it.
It could be the heat as well. I know I'm not enjoying the heat, so add feathers and it would be worse. They have access to their swimming tray and a pond when they are outside. On occasion I have even found them snoozing in their pond through the day. I worry they will get sick from being wet for so long but I figure they are hot and trying to cool down and I always make sure they are dry when I put them down to bed at night.
Thanks so much for the help

Oh, that's so good they're making some progress! If you're anywhere near a hardware store, maybe see if you can get your hands on a marble or granite floor tile, or something similar that stays cool in warm temperatures they have another option for cooling off? Keep us updated!

 

[Amiga]

Some clean play sand would work as grit. Miss Lydia, who never uses any kind of poison on her yard, used to grab a hunk of grass - roots, soil, and all, and put that in a dish. That provides grit (and probably some probiotics).

 

[Miss Lydia]

Some clean play sand would work as grit. Miss Lydia, who never uses any kind of poison on her yard, used to grab a hunk of grass - roots, soil, and all, and put that in a dish. That provides grit (and probably some probiotics).

They love it too Amiga gives them something to do too. Ducklings love playing in the dirt/ lol helps to build up their immunity also.

 

[Duck Hill]

Chick sized grit works fine and the store might have that. There is not a separate "duck" grit. But if you have a river anywhere nearby, you can grab a bucket full of river sand. When they get older look for a spot in the river with slightly larger grit! Then rinse it well and you have cheap grit.

I had a similar experience with my ducklings doing poorly around that age. One manufacturer was telling me their food had enough niacin for ducks and I couldn't figure out why my ducklings were doing poorly. I was supplementing with brewer's yeast anyway, so I figured the niacin wasn't the problem. They also went out each day and hunted for bugs in the grass. However, someone with more experience suggested I change feed brands - they immediately improved tremendously.

I also think perhaps the yeast I thought they were eating was actually falling through their food to the bottom. It was also suggested to me I could very lightly spray the food with PAM (spray cooking oil) just to make the yeast stick - so it wouldn't fall to the bottom. I was going to try that but didn't need to after I changed my feed brand. The ducklings improved significantly within a few days and kept improving over a period of time to make a complete recovery. With the new feed, I only supplemented the two worse affected ducks; I added the niacin to frozen green peas, slightly defrosted, which they ate in spite of the odd taste sticking to the outside! All are now doing well.

Let us know if your ducklings continue to improve!