SWEDISH Duck Thread!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[RoosterThigh]

Ya, I'm surprised too how quiet ducks are. My male is whispery and gosh, the girls are louder! Glad it's not that way with the human species!

You got that right!

Racerwife7, mine were like that at first too, but pick them up until they calm down and they will get better. Mine still don't like being picked up, but I can and when I sit down they come and lay their heads on my ankles and peck around on my back and everywhere else. Then I have to go around the building and run up the hill to get away. I find myself hiding behind trees and watching.

so I can get away without them following me all the time.

 

[RacerWife7]

You got that right!

Racerwife7, mine were like that at first too, but pick them up until they calm down and they will get better. Mine still don't like being picked up, but I can and when I sit down they come and lay their heads on my ankles and peck around on my back and everywhere else. Then I have to go around the building and run up the hill to get away. I find myself hiding behind trees and watching.

so I can get away without them following me all the time.

HAHAHAHA!!!...Nice visual description.

I can't wait for mine to be that affectionate. Maybe I'll change my mind once it happens.

 

[RacerWife7]

Of my 2 blue swedes, I think I have a drake and a duck (plus, my mallard duck, Peepers). The three of them are all about 5 weeks in age. Raspberry (the possible drake) just started losing the down on his head and under that down are VERY dark feathers. On the other hand, Spot (the suspected duck) has almost the same color feathers underneath her down as the down is - grey.

At this point, I think I'm pretty certain that my mallard is female (she's all brown with just the white/blue stripes in her wings).

We DON'T want to breed them. So, what do we do? And how soon? I'm guessing I have to separate Raspberry from the ducks. Right? ..And how do I KEEP them separated? I guess I would need to get a separate pen/coop, no? TIA!

 

[SunnySkies]

If you don't want them breeding, separate them. If you don't want to hatch eggs, pick the eggs up daily, even if the ladies feel broody. You don't have to let them hatch eggs. I have a friend with a farm like ours, and she calls this planned parenthood for birds (she has chickens, ducks and turkeys; we got our duck eggs for hatching from her). She periodically goes through and throws out all eggs they find to minimize broodiness.

 

[RacerWife7]

If you don't want them breeding, separate them. If you don't want to hatch eggs, pick the eggs up daily, even if the ladies feel broody. You don't have to let them hatch eggs. I have a friend with a farm like ours, and she calls this planned parenthood for birds (she has chickens, ducks and turkeys; we got our duck eggs for hatching from her). She periodically goes through and throws out all eggs they find to minimize broodiness.

Since I'm not well-versed in ducks or chickens (I'm a total newbie who was "chosen" by my mallard to be her Duck-Mom), forgive me when I ask: do you mean I can keep the three of them together and just pick up any eggs, daily, that are hatched by the girls? Can we eat those eggs if the drake remains in the pen with the girls as long as we're picking them up every day?

Planned Parethood for birds...

...I don't THINK we want to breed them, anyway. I guess that COULD change. I know my 8 year old son would LOVE to have ducklings around all the time!

 

[SunnySkies]

Yep. You got it. Just pick up the eggs daily. You can eat them even if they have been fertilized. You may see a bullseye spot on the egg, but unless they are kept at 100 degrees, they won't develop.

If you decide you want to raise ducklings, you can learn which girl lays which egg, don't keep the crossbreed ones and just collect the purebred ones for a week or so to hatch. I've been able to hatch eggs as old as 10 days as long as they are not shipped eggs.

My boys would love to hatch eggs all the time -- we have an incubator -- and cant wait until our female ducks are old enough to lay eggs. Me, I'm not as eager. It gets old having babies in the house. It's much easier when the hens go broody and they raise the babies, but not as fun for the kids.

 

[RacerWife7]

Thank you, SunnySkies!! I appreciate the help!

 

[RoosterThigh]

Yep. You got it. Just pick up the eggs daily. You can eat them even if they have been fertilized. You may see a bullseye spot on the egg, but unless they are kept at 100 degrees, they won't develop.

If you decide you want to raise ducklings, you can learn which girl lays which egg, don't keep the crossbreed ones and just collect the purebred ones for a week or so to hatch. I've been able to hatch eggs as old as 10 days as long as they are not shipped eggs.

My boys would love to hatch eggs all the time -- we have an incubator -- and cant wait until our female ducks are old enough to lay eggs. Me, I'm not as eager. It gets old having babies in the house. It's much easier when the hens go broody and they raise the babies, but not as fun for the kids.

I'm all for the duck raising them. I raised my two because I had to from a day old. But like you said "it gets old". Yep, it sure does. I got them outside as soon as possible and if I do it again I'm doing it in the garage. I may get one more next spring and I'm hoping the Blue Swedish duck I have (Fiona) will go broody and raise her. I don't think my chances are good, Ha!

 

[SunnySkies]

I'm all for the duck raising them.  I raised my two because I had to from a day old.  But like you said "it gets old".  Yep, it sure does.  I got them outside as soon as possible and if I do it again I'm doing it in the garage.  I may get one more next spring and I'm hoping the Blue Swedish duck I have (Fiona) will go broody and raise her.  I don't think my chances are good, Ha!

We have had chicks and/or ducks in the house and/or garage since July 7 of last year, except for a few weeks here and there. Everything's covered in dust! We had some hens hatch chicks at the same time we got some day olds, and I tried to graft the new chicks on the moms, but they weren't having it. I'm kind of tired of chicken dust and shavings in the dining room. Once this latest bunch goes outside, I'm done with inside chicks for a while; they would be outside now if I had a coop for them (working on it now). Even having them in the garage got tiresome as everything is covered in dust out there too.

 

[Amiga]

Yes, bedding produces beaucoup dust.

Kinda cool having them close by, though, seems to me.