Several duck questions

[Eggscoozme]

Hi!

I have recently read that duck eggs get bigger as they get older. I'm a bit concerned about that, because my ducks are already laying (at least 1 of the 2) 100-110g eggs and she's only 6 1/2mths old.

I'm new-ish to raising ducks in that the only other flock I had were khaki's and they were too skittish for my liking, so I found them a home before they even started laying.

I currently have a trio of White Layer Ducks who started laying at 3 3/4 mths old. Also, I have some ready to hatch from the bator this week.

Here are my questions:

1) is it REASONABLY possible to bring any new hatchlings into the current fold once they feather out some, or are they going to get killed or something?
2) is it usual for a duck to lay 100+g eggs? These ducks are smaller than Pekin...not big ducks, just average size.
3) does anyone out there have experience with this breed? for a plain old white bird, they have nice personalities, and lay SO quickly and regularly. I love them!
4) I give my ducks 24/7 access to chick starter 18% or chicken pellet 16%, and most EVERYDAY give them 1 head of lettuce among the 3. About 1x a week, if that, I throw out a scoopful of mixed wild bird seed. They forage during the day, but that will end in a couple of months when things are covered with snow. Am I giving them enough nutrition?

Thank you in advance for a speedy reply!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Are you offering oyster shell? since they are laying so young I'd would def get some oyster shell to make sure they are getting enough calcium.

Ducklings once feathered in can live outside with adults but everyday you need to take them outside and let all meet so they get accustomed to each other before the ducklings go out for good. If you planning on brooding outside using heat. Then set up the brooder so the adults can come and visit daily but not be able to have direct contact with the ducklings then when ducklings are big enough they will be easier to acclimate into the flock.

 

[Eggscoozme]

Are you offering oyster shell? since they are laying so young I'd would def get some oyster shell to make sure they are getting enough calcium.

Ducklings once feathered in can live outside with adults but everyday you need to take them outside and let all meet so they get accustomed to each other before the ducklings go out for good. If you planning on brooding outside using heat. Then set up the brooder so the adults can come and visit daily but not be able to have direct contact with the ducklings then when ducklings are big enough they will be easier to acclimate into the flock.

No, I've not added oyster shell, but may consider that. If I remember correctly, the one time I DID add oyster shell to my chicken flock, they produced eggs with tiny hard bumps on one end.

 

[Eggscoozme]

P.S. - they LOVE tomatoes, but that get's expensive, so they don't get that often now.

 

[Miss Lydia]

That is extra calcium but when laying they do need the extra calcium if they don't get enough it will come out of their bones and we def don't want that. I see the calcium bumps once in a while too.
Mine love tomatoes too.

@CrystaBub was asking about White layers the other day maybe she'd be interested in askin some questions about yours.

 

[Eggscoozme]

That is extra calcium but when laying they do need the extra calcium if they don't get enough it will come out of their bones and we def don't want that. I see the calcium bumps once in a while too.
Mine love tomatoes too.

I'm laughing about the "tomato" comment. Why? Because I think God wants to make a homestead farmer out of me yet! I thought I would never grow another tomato again, because:

You see, I "did" try growing tomatoes a couple years back. Year 2, however, my awesome looking tomato crop consisting of purple, yellow, and traditional red varieties seemed to be slowly getting "chewed on" towards the bottom. Then, one day, as I went to pick a tomato off the vine, I discovered a prehistoric-dinosaur-tomato-worm. Yes, as you may have guessed, a tomato hornworm! Good grief are they intimidating! Even my chickens would not eat one and they even tackle mice! LOL I told myself life is too short to deal with this when I can buy organic tomatoes in the store, and let someone else deal with this. My whole crop went to cr@#. That unnerves me when I spend the time to take care of something only for it to be destroyed/die upon full maturation.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Oh boy those worms really do look prehistoric. And I use gloves to get them off then toss to my ducks they love them but we don’t grow tomatoes any longer eirther we get so many given to us I always have some to share with the birds. I do buy organic for my dh and I and for our flock

 

[Eggscoozme]

Oh boy those worms really do look prehistoric. And I use gloves to get them off then toss to my ducks they love them but we don’t grow tomatoes any longer eirther we get so many given to us I always have some to share with the birds. I do buy organic for my dh and I and for our flock

Knowing my ducks might eat them is an encouragement for me to grow them again. I will just need to check on them more often to avoid crop devastation.

We don't know enough people to supply us with freebies for the summer let alone the winter time.

The last request I put in for freebies on a local social media site, I picked up a bunch of squash that appeared to have the mosaic virus, so I ended up chucking all of it in the garbage. Didn't want my flock pooping that all over. I really don't think the owners knew that THAT is why their squash had bumps all over it. I did get some nice tomatoes, though, the ducks loved, of course.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Oh yes my dh was given some corn on the cob that had mold growing on it I tossed it too.

 

[CrystaBub]

We grew a lot of cherry tomatoes this year by accident. We compost then mix with mulch to spread around the yard - I guess we put cherry tomatoes in the compost last year b/c we have cherry tomatoes everywhere! Anyway, the ducks love them so I'm going to try freezing some so we have tomatoes for the winter. I'd also like to freeze some dandelion weeds b/c the ducks go nuts for them. Has anyone ever tried freezing weeds LOL?