Texas

[RustedOak]

Our new Cayuga ducklings are home! Teaching them to eat and drink. ebony is very interested in them and they want her. Lol 1 duckling squeezed through the chicken wire separating them. So I put Ebony in with them and they are climbing on her back and trying to snuggle under her wings. Ebony hasn't quite made up her mind yet. She lets them crawl over her, but she isn't spreading her wings to let them in. But she wasn't broody so the fact that she wanted to be with them and allows them to snuggle next to her is a wonderful sign.

That's awesome! Hopefully they'll be good for her and vice versa

 

[Starfire669]

Hurrah!!!  Glad she like them.  I'm so jealous.  I shouldn't be but...one of these days...we'll have ducks.

You will. And if you want Cayuga ducklings I might have some next year!

 

[magpiesing]

As for sticker burs...when my kids were little I use to pay them a nickle for every plant they dug up. By the end of summer we had very few stickers in our yard, at first they nearly broke me...LOL but it worked.

The other option is to treat each plant with roundup. I wouldn't do it where the birds range, I don't know the effects if ingested. It does go inert when it contacts soil. It is non-selective so will kill any plant where it contacts the foliage. This plant is hard to kill because it's leaves are slick. Add a few drops of dish soap to the mix to help it stick and only spray what you want to kill. Treat when the plants are young and tender. Do it when the air is calm so it doesn't drift on to desirable plants. It is a tedious process but they reproduce from seed so if you get them young they can't spread.

 

[Starfire669]

Starfire...I was reading back some and you were talking about your boys and guns....This is what DH suggested...it's what his Dad did when he and his brother were young.
Get a couple of watermelons and go where you can safely shoot.  Show them the working of the gun, safety and everything.  Then shoot the watermelons.  This is a graffic but effective way of showing them what a gun will do.  Not telling you how to raise your boys....just a suggestion.

DH walks this property every night with a pistol and rifle to keep us all safe.  We live out in the sticks but have been robbed in years past (cops did nothing even though the guys were caught with Dad's stuff. Anyway, that will never happen again and hopefully no predator will get our animals..

The watermelon is actually a great idea. Thanks. I also do a round at night. Neighbors have been robbed, and I check for signs that predators have tried the coops before going to bed. It's a ritual every night.

 

[magpiesing]

You will. And if you want Cayuga ducklings I might have some next year!

That would be totally awesome....good timing for me! I have faith that it will be good for Ebony and she will be a good Momma duck.

 

[Starfire669]

That would be totally awesome....good timing for me!  I have faith that it will be good for Ebony and she will be a good Momma duck.

I hope so. She needs the companionship and they could use a duck mother to teach them the ropes. Lol. So far it looks like nap time for them. Lol. I don't know how long it takes for ducklings to mature and lay, or if age determines broodiness. But I hope that next year at least some of the chickens, ducks, and geese will go broody and I can set eggs under them for hatching.

 

[tiedyemommy]

Our new Cayuga ducklings are home! Teaching them to eat and drink. ebony is very interested in them and they want her. Lol 1 duckling squeezed through the chicken wire separating them. So I put Ebony in with them and they are climbing on her back and trying to snuggle under her wings. Ebony hasn't quite made up her mind yet. She lets them crawl over her, but she isn't spreading her wings to let them in. But she wasn't broody so the fact that she wanted to be with them and allows them to snuggle next to her is a wonderful sign.

 

[harley1975]

The watermelon is actually a great idea. Thanks. I also do a round at night. Neighbors have been robbed, and I check for signs that predators have tried the coops before going to bed. It's a ritual every night.

When my kids was young I did something like that with them. I use a gallon jug full of colored water with a lid on it. When I shot it with the gun it blow up and the colored water went everywhere.

 

[Starfire669]

Ebony with the 4 Cayuga ducklings.

 

[jockeyeba]

I stopped getting them awhile ago too :/

Are you getting yours now or still having to go on the internet to check? I'm still not getting any notifications