Show off your house ducks!

[Amiga]

So you are at 9 Runners, 4 Buffs and 1 BEI (I am pretty sure too) = 14? I am currently at 12 will be at 15 after this spring and I have 2 drakes. So we are pretty close in flock size and I can tell you it takes a lot of love to keep Kaine around. And he was brooded with Tevye and they were best friends before the hormones kicked in and for the last couple months when the hormones were low. (The last few days Kaine has started acting more alpha drake again

) So no, I wouldn't add another drake unless you had a really good reason worth having him tug on your last nerve.

I get attached almost instantly - so I need to remind myself that at this point we can take on a couple more smallish girls and that's it till our circumstances improve. I mean a larger place, by some twist of fate.

Our circumstances are great. No complaints. But 15 or so is pretty much the ceiling.

 

[Tevyes Dad]

Yup, that is where we are... I am not sure the wife will go for buying a new house with yard that can hold more ducks. But if we had to buy a different house for another reason...

 

[room onthebroom]

Wow. I didn't know that To Water, or Not To Water was a contested topic. @Tevyes Dad, your thoughts on location make a lot of sense. We're in San Diego & more often than not have to worry about keeping the girls cool & hydrated. Also, thanks for always making me laugh even when its serious topic.

 

[Amiga]

Yup, that is where we are... I am not sure the wife will go for buying a new house with yard that can hold more ducks. But if we had to buy a different house for another reason...

Eggzactly!

 

[Tevyes Dad]

Wow. I didn't know that To Water, or Not To Water was a contested topic. @Tevyes Dad, your thoughts on location make a lot of sense. We're in San Diego & more often than not have to worry about keeping the girls cool & hydrated. Also, thanks for always making me laugh even when its serious topic.

I haven't seen any virtual fist fights over it, and don't know if it is "contested", but there are definitely strong opinions on both sides for people that have their system down. Like in my case I would also have to keep the water liquid which would introduce electricity AND water at bedding level which can introduce other hazards. Right now there is electricity in the house, but it is way up out of the ducks' reach and nowhere near the bedding. I do take that risk to give them a heat lamp at temperatures below 20F (Inside the house). Every thing I add, I have to ask myself, "If I were a duck and I was determined to do so, could I use this to injure or kill myself?" It seems like they are tasked with hurting themselves as much as possible. I have seen a duck veer out of its way to walk across a thistle

I think being on the bottom of the food chain, flightless with only two legs, a top speed of around 4 mph, fluffy wings, a round bill, the ability to chest butt with the force of the softest pillow and NO comprehension of how a fence works they figure they can do anything they want without hurting their chances of survival that much.

So under these circumstances, we must protect them

 

[Amiga]

Tevye's Dad wrote: Every thing I add, I have to ask myself, "If I were a duck and I was determined to do so, could I use this to injure or kill myself?" It seems like they are tasked with hurting themselves as much as possible.

This has been my experience also. It was a very intense first six months as I became accustomed to this way of living. I am still sometimes surprised, I confess.

 

[FaerieGlynne]

I loled twice at this
Though in all seriousness I am both working hard at doing it right and trying to ready myself for the almost inevitable problems and
deaths.

 

[Tevyes Dad]

I loled twice at this

Though in all seriousness I am both working hard at doing it right and trying to ready myself for the almost inevitable problems and
deaths.

I have lost three so far to the school of hard knocks. I will try very hard not to lose any more. The first two I lost were due to raccoon attacks. I shored up my defenses a bit so they were more secure and I set some raccoon traps. The first problem was that the ducks wanted to eat the marshmallows out of the raccoon traps. Even though you have to pull up on the trigger with the trap, I don't trust that peck peck peck won't find a way to rip their bills off. Also marshmallows are probably not the best thing for a duck to eat. So we ran out and bought some flower pots to put over the traps during the day. When we finally got the first raccoon, we dispatched it with a .22 that was an autoloader. So in the middle of the night, it shot out brass and we couldn't find it all. (I ended up buying a .22 revolver just to use in the back yard). We went out the next morning and the ducks were eating the brass casings

. I didn't find all of them, but I did find 2 that passed through a duck in the bottom of one of their pools.

So in trying to prevent one danger, I caused 2 more. I wish you the best of luck. All you can do is try to read anything you can think of and don't purposely take any shortcuts. You will probably learn some hard lessons too (I hope not), but if you do, we will all be here for you.

 

[LittleLakePhil]

I love my Blue Swedish too!

I am only mentioning this because water in the duck house is a hot topic that I have seen go back and forth a couple times and I think we have to keep in mind that there is membership here from all around the world (and those speaking The Queen's English undoubtedly think I should have said "there are membership" ).  And If I limit this to two places I have actually been, advice from Marquette, MI may not apply to Phoenix, AZ and vice-versa.

I think the water thing depends a lot on where you live too.  Ducks use water the same way we do with the notable difference that they don't salivate.  So they need water for washing down food and they need water to rehydrate especially when they are losing water to heat due to panting.  So no question about it, ducks NEED water if they have food!  But if you live in a place with warmer nights especially if you live farther south where you have longer warmer nights, your ducks are more likely to need water during the night to offset dehydration.  I know when I lived in NY, even though that is a fairly cold northern state, the summer nights were often warm enough that it was uncomfortable without AC.  In Montana, even on days that reach 100F in the day, at night we can turn off the AC and air out the house comfortably during the hours that the ducks would be in their house.  Plus living farther north, they are only in their house in mid-summer about 6-7 hours.  I watch my ducks when they come out of their house in the morning.  They don't bolt for the water.  Some go get water first.  Some eat some food then get water.  Some just lay down outside for a while then get food and water a little later.  That is kind of like my mornings.  Most of the time when I get up, I have a little something to eat and drink within the first half-hour, but not always and sometimes I might not get anything until mid-day.  Part of this is learned behavior too.  When I first was putting my ducks in their house, I experimented with putting water in and they would always end up emptying their waterer into the bedding and not having water anyway.  (BTW - your method seems very good for someone who wants to use water in their duck house - much better than anything I tried.) The first night I put them in with no water, they came out the next morning bolting for the water and I was afraid no water might not work.  The second night, shortly before it was time to go in, they filled their crops with food and drank water for about 10 minutes (in shifts) before they went in.  The next morning they came out happy and non-rushed.  So I think that some ducks the first night went into the house a little thirsty  thinking they could drink whenever they wanted and by morning they were parched.  But after one night they learned make sure your get some food and water before you go in. (Smart duckies).  Since then, I make sure they get out every morning but at least once / week (either live or off the cameras), I watch them as they come out of their house.  If they ever act like they really NEED water, I will probably set up something like you have.  We all have to try to keep our ducks as safe and healthy as possible and there are some things that depend on multiple circumstances such as mold/fungi in the area and humidity / ventilation.  I do really like the idea of waterers in the house though as long as they have another source through the day to wash their eyes and nares, that sounds like the cleanest plan that would include water.
My oldest ducks (Tella & Ettie) will be 3 years old in August.  All my ducks except my WH are on winter break so I am only getting the one egg at the moment.  Hopefully Tella and Ettie will not decide to retire this year but that means I can't tell you much on either account, I haven't had a duck go from old age and this is my second winter with laying ducks - last winter, my ducks dropped production down to about 50% overall.  This winter they stopped for 2-1/2 months and all but 1 are still stopped (my WH has laid the last 2 days.)  @Amiga
has 11 runners that are around 6-8 years old I think... How are the eggs Amiga???

so you actually lived in Marquette?
How long ago.....then you must know where I live....Little Lake?

 

[Tevyes Dad]

so you actually lived in Marquette?
How long ago.....then you must know where I live....Little Lake?

Oh no, Been to Marquette, not lived - stopped in while hunting in the U.P. with my uncle when I was a kid. I can handle Montana fine, but Marquette is COLD! Haven't lived in Phoenix either, but went there in mid summer for a flea market while visiting my dad who lived in Flagstaff at the time, then a decade later stayed in Phoenix for a week (again in the summer) for training for my work.