Saxony Duck Thread!

[KanaKukkula]

Did you find out what the "bumbles" are? Hope the drake is better.

 

[boosterpacksmom]

Well I ended up being up all night sick to my stomach with whatever my kids have had, called into work today because I was still sick. Started feeling better around noon so I drove 45 minutes to get him to this lower cost walk in clinic. It had a 3 hour wait. An hour and a half into the wait I started to feel really sick again and the vet left to do an emergency c-section on a cow or horse so I just left. Made him an spot somewhere else for Friday. It's not low cost but I won't have to wait 3-4 hours. So long story short no and he was so scared with all the dogs around

 

[dotknott]

Oh no!

 

[boosterpacksmom]

So we took our duck (who's name is now Bernie) to the vet for his feet today. Turns out no bumble foot for him. Turns out he developed extra padding on his feet from the guy that had him before keeping him in a barn with a concrete floor. She said she had never seen that much extra padding but that it didn't need removed and it could possibly shrink with him being where he is now. She checked him for ticks and mites and checked his heart and looked him over really well and he's good to go.

 

[dotknott]

Great to hear!

 

[KanaKukkula]

That's really good news! And I appreciate the mention of problem of keeping ducks on concrete flooring--our ducks are in the barn for the worst of winter (in PA), which has a concrete floor, so we'll be sure to have sufficient straw and bedding for them. Last winter we had no problem getting hay (since we grow our own), but straw was scarce. We'll be sure to stock up.

 

[dotknott]

Some photos from the duck yard.

 

[KanaKukkula]

How adorable--wonderful photos. At what age are the ducklings (those hatched in an incubator) when you introduce them to the adults?
BTW, years ago when we had a bunch of duck breeds together, we had a large kiddie pool complete with steps and slide. They would waddle up the steps and slide into the water. Too bad we didn't take photos, but we should be able to replicate the setup now.

 

[dotknott]

Introducing ducklings is done in stages here.

I hatch about every 2-3 weeks from Mid April - June resulting in about 3-5 groups of ducklings. The first group gets kicked out to the "teen coop" as soon as batch 2 hatches. They have a small house that I wheel out next to the adults. They can't interact, but they can see each other and they get used to their presence. For the first few weeks the teen coop has a heat lamp. As they get older, their numbers grow and the weather improves I remove the lamp.

After the first week the adults then get to come out and and they have supervised interactions in the small fenced in area that the ducklings have during the day. This has usually gone well, and really just ends up with the adults informing the ducklings of the pecking order.

As more hatches happen, the 2-3 week old ducklings get kicked out of the brooder and moved to the "teen coop." The ducklings are way easier to integrate with new ducklings than adults. I usually just do this in the little fenced in area in the AM and let them spend the day together. Usually by nightfall they've integrated.

By the second hatch kick out I've started letting the adults out in the duckling yard during the day with no issues. Once this happens adding more ducklings is easy. There's an initial I'M HIGHER ON THE TOTEM POLE, then they settle in to duck life.

At 7-8 weeks the ducklings graduate from the teen coop and start getting put up with the adults overnight. This is the most confusing part for them I think.. I don't know how many times in the first week I have to take someone out of the teen coop and move them to the adult coop. The ones in the photos above that are HUGE? Yeah those are the 7-8 week olds. It's amazing to think that they're all so close in age in the big picture, but so far from each other in size right now.

 

[dotknott]

I kinda want to do a slide! I was thinking about that this past weekend.

The kiddie pool is dug into the ground a bit and has bricks on the inside and out side to help the smaller ones get in and out. They don't go all the way around, but there's 2 sets.

The pool is at a slight angle, and has a paint tray on the down hill side. That fills up with overflow water and works as another step and a small bath for the smaller ones as the pool fills up with larger ducks.