SFDucks Pics - The first few weeks with our ducks - Appleyards, Harlequins & Hookbills

[SFDucks]

Here is a consolidated view of our duck experience up until now. We have 4 Silver Appleyards, 5 Welsh Harlequins, and 2 Dutch Hookbills, all TSQ from Holderread Farms. I will add some more of their duck house soon.


My son excited about the ducklings' arrival.


Getting settled in their new home.


First nap.


Brooder setup in the breakfast nook.


My 10 year old Dane was curious about all the noise (and smell).


Very quick and gentle first visit with the most robust Appleyard duckling.


Leaning over the brooder pointing at ducklings and explaining all the goings on.



A few pics around a month old:












A few pics around 6 weeks old:

 

[Amiga]

 

[lilbittheduck]

Awwwwwww! They are adorable!

 

[SFDucks]

Thanks! We are very happy with them. I especially like the Appleyards. We did lose one Harlequin which was very frustrating as I believe it could have been avoided with different feed. We started them on Scratch'n'Peck organic starter + supplements but the Harlequins really suffered on it. They probably all suffered on it but it was the most obvious with the Harlequins. Switching them to Flock Raiser had an immediate impact and they have really thrived since. Too bad as we really wanted to feed organic, but there just doesn't seem to be a good option that is available locally. We may try making our own food mix at some point in the future though.

 

[SFDucks]

Some more from today.

 

[SFDucks]

Adding the recent pictures of our ducklings here.

A Welsh Harlequin/Silver Appleyard Cross just hatched in the incubator.

A Welsh Harlequin/Silver Appleyard Cross just hatched in the incubator.

Pure white Silver Appleyard just hatched in the incubator.

First five hatched ducklings together their first night in the brooder.

New ducklings first trip outside.

All six together. The duckling on the far left with the darkest stripe is a pure Appleyard. The one at the bottom is a pure Appleyard that should end up being all white. The other four were hatched out of Welshie eggs but clearly have Appleyard markings.

Mom and mom and dad checking things out. Not sure if they were really interested in the ducklings or just wanted some treats.

 

[alfs]

hi
I have just joined the forum and was directed to the duck post, yours is the 1st one i have just read.
I noticed you have ducks in brinsea mini incubator.
is this the eco or advance and what settings did you use please ?

I am trying to hatch Indian runner ducks, any advice would be appreciated.
if you have a brinsea mini advance and have hatched Indian runner ducks, the settings you used would be of great help.

my settings i have used are as follows
the well that you fill with water in the brinsea is divided into 2 compartments, I have filled 1 compartment (fill both on last few days from what I have read), I have set temperature to 37.5c , turn cycle every 45Min's + number 12 on turn angle (it turns them a full half way sort of speak, the pencil number i put on the eggs goes from top to bottom) I have not yet set the cooling feature.

the cooling feature says to set from day 7 and for 180Min's, (hope this is right)

any help or advise would be greatly appreciated

thanks
Alf

 

[SFDucks]

hi
I have just joined the forum and was directed to the duck post, yours is the 1st one i have just read.
I noticed you have ducks in brinsea mini incubator.
is this the eco or advance and what settings did you use please ?

I am trying to hatch Indian runner ducks, any advice would be appreciated.
if you have a brinsea mini advance and have hatched Indian runner ducks, the settings you used would be of great help.

my settings i have used are as follows
the well that you fill with water in the brinsea is divided into 2 compartments, I have filled 1 compartment (fill both on last few days from what I have read), I have set temperature to 37.5c , turn cycle every 45Min's + number 12 on turn angle (it turns them a full half way sort of speak, the pencil number i put on the eggs goes from top to bottom) I have not yet set the cooling feature.

the cooling feature says to set from day 7 and for 180Min's, (hope this is right)

any help or advise would be greatly appreciated

thanks
Alf

Sorry, I have no experience with runners. We did use the Mini Advanced. I basically used Dave Holderread's "Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks" and the Brinsea manual as an incubation guide. I would recommend the Holderread duck book for pretty much all facets of duck ownership. If you don't want to spend the money it is likely available at your local library, it was at mine and that's how we got started. We did cooling for an hour a night but I do not think it is necessary.

 

[Amiga]

I am not a hatcher, but I often read that incorrect humidity can ruin a hatch. So having an idea of the proper humidity is important.

I agree Storey's Guide has some good information on hatching from what I have read.

There is also this sticky - it is recommended for ducks as well https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/491013/goose-incubation-hatching-guide-completed

And I have links for these instructions that I keep handy - http://www.lwbarnhouse.com/tips.html - it's from one of our hatchers, but there are several people who use incubators.

@WVduckchick does, I think, and @madamiec and a bunch more.

 

[WVduckchick]

First of all - Welcome to BYC!

I also love Storey's Guides. I have the Guide to Poultry and the Guide to Raising Ducks. Fabulous reference books!

You will find many opinions on duck hatching! I have a cheap Chinese plastic knock-off version of the Janoel-48 incubator, not an expensive Brinsea. From what I hear, the Brinsea is near fool-proof. You still need to account for your own local conditions though. Hot, dry areas need to operate differently than wet, humid areas. Higher elevation also has effects. But one thing that is consistent across the board is monitoring air cells, which gives you a reference of how the chick/duckling is developing. Learn to candle the eggs and know what to look for. Adjustments can be made from your observations. Another consistency is lower humidity through the beginning of incubation, and higher humidity for the last 3 days for hatching. Its the cycle any bird needs to hatch!

The biggest complaint on the Brinsea that I have seen is that it can be difficult to achieve the high humidity for hatching. So test your incubator before setting any eggs. Verify your temperature with multiple thermometers that have been tested for accuracy. Verify the humidity with independent hygrometers that have also been tested for accuracy! The worst thing is to depend on a single meter that can be wrong!

I use the weight method when incubating. Most birds need to lose 12-14% of the initial egg weight in order to hatch. Whether it be a 21 day incubation cycle for chickens or a 28 day cycle for ducks, they still need to lose the same percentage overall... which means duck eggs actually lose weight at a slower rate. Most people just watch air cells, but I wasn't comfortable that my estimation was sufficient, so I weighed. I'm more scientific that way, so I felt better about it. But this pic shows how the air cells should progress.
The numbers are for the days that you should candle and the line is where the air cell should be at that point.

This graphic shows the growth cycle and what you should see inside a duck egg on certain days. Good luck to you. You have already found a great source for help! Here on BYC!!