Texas

[kenmlang]

That's awesome. I want sweet and docile ducks that are good producers. The cresteds are lookers and we fell in love, especially little Ebony, she will eat out of my hand now after only a week here. She is so sweet and gentle that it bothers me to see her all alone. I want companions for her that will treat her right and even the playing field. My husband is talking about getting a Cayuga drake to breed the females for meat.

I am like, but we could keep Howard for breeding. Any drake might hurt the crested females, I don't think he understands how vulnerable their crests really are. I'd rather get an extra female than a drake at this point. Just avoid the whole thing altogether. The ducks are here for eggs and pets in my book. The chickens are eggs and meat (young cockerels), the geese are my lawn mowers/alarm system.

. Men, always thinking with their stomachs!

Excuse me for being a man (dirty minded) and other things...

 

[Starfire669]

All this talk about ducks...I did a yahoo search on Cayuga ducks...Wow they are beautiful...especially the drakes.  Wikipedia had some good info on them.  See y'all saved me from making some mistakes!  I thought I wanted Pekins.  I just love white ducks and little yellow duckies!  But I think Ebony is so pretty.  The iridescent color is so gorgeous...that's why I want black chickens too.

The Black Austolorps are pretty, I have 6 month old chicks. are you going to still get white Pekin? Or are you changing your mind and going with Cayugas?

 

[bnjrob]

I have a dilema. I have 2 coops. One will accommodate 6 hens, with a run that will accommodate 8 hens I have another coop that will keep 12 hens with a run that is good for up to 6 maybe 7 hens. I want 4 more hens. When I get them, I can safely separate them from the flock, but eventually I will have to put 2 of the new hens in one coop, and the other 2 in the other coop. My question is, what is the best way to do this??

Some people prefer to put the newbies in a protected/caged area so that everyone gets accustomed to seeing each other for a few days/weeks before letting them be together without the safety of wire between them.

Most of our pens don't allow us to do so I do it differently depending on what is happening. If I am moving chickens between pens and have newbies to go into one of them, I move them to a new pen and put the newbies in at the same time. That way, the pen is new to everyone, they are all freaked out about moving, and no one has gotten any favorite spots that they try to defend. If I am not playing chicken-basket-upset with moving between pens, I usually wait until after sunset and put the newbies into the coop - that way they have just a tad bit of light to get their bearings, but then it's dark and there isn't enough time for the old tenants to start bullying right away. After they wake up with one another in the morning, everyone is a usually a little surprised and there is a new pecking order to get established, but it doesn't seem to be quite as violent or last as long as when I would put newbies in during daylight hours. And I always move in at least two newbies at a time, never a single newbie unless it is moving a cock in with new hens.

 

[kenmlang]

Some people prefer to put the newbies in a protected/caged area so that everyone gets accustomed to seeing each other for a few days/weeks before letting them be together without the safety of wire between them.

Most of our pens don't allow us to do so I do it differently depending on what is happening. If I am moving chickens between pens and have newbies to go into one of them, I move them to a new pen and put the newbies in at the same time. That way, the pen is new to everyone, they are all freaked out about moving, and no one has gotten any favorite spots that they try to defend. If I am not playing chicken-basket-upset with moving between pens, I usually wait until after sunset and put the newbies into the coop - that way they have just a tad bit of light to get their bearings, but then it's dark and there isn't enough time for the old tenants to start bullying right away. After they wake up with one another in the morning, everyone is a usually a little surprised and there is a new pecking order to get established, but it doesn't seem to be quite as violent or last as long as when I would put newbies in during daylight hours. And I always move in at least two newbies at a time, never a single newbie unless it is moving a cock in with new hens.

Thanks, that makes sense. I will try that when I get my new birds. I feel a new coop coming on!!LOL

 

[kenmlang]

Now, I went to Montgomery County Trade days looking for EE's. My wife went with me and fell in love with some Lavender Orpingtons. I told her I would not get anymore birds, unless they were LO's.I have to make this clear, She did not demand this or order me to dothis. This was my decision, I also fell in love with them. Here lately, I haven't had time to do any research. Can someone give me the scoop on Lavender Orpingtons??

 

[ShadowsFIAL]

You can have more than 1 gander, but they must be separated or have a very large place to roam during breeding season. The ganders will fight for the females, and can seriously injure each other. Some females, especially those raised as sisters are said to be able to share nests and parent duties, but it isn't unheard of for the females to fight over eggs and goslings, which can lead to smashed eggs and dead goslings. According to books i read, 1 gander can cover 4 geese, but experianced goose owners say that trios are the most they have done. Once the gander pairs with his goose, they are bonded, the gander may breed another female but he only helps his mate raise the goslings. Once paired, separating them is impossible. Usually pairing occurs at their 2nd year, first year geese are not good breeders or parents. Geese when grazing pull stuff out, root and all. If their grazing area is too small it will soon become bare earth. My ducks also do this. They prefer young, tender grass which is even easier to pull out by the roots. Maybe making a couple grazing pen that you can put the geese in and block them out of will help keep them in grass. Geese are very easy to herd, and if raised by hand will follow you anywhere just by calling them. Mine follow me everywhere around the yard, I am not allowed out of their sight, lol. I call "here goose, goose, goose" and they come running with wings spread, which is touching and beautiful to watch. There are some excellent goose threads here, it's were I learned all about geese when my baby girls got sick and died. There is also The Book of Geese by Dave Holderread (sorry for misspelling, loaned it to brother in law after he was having geese issues with the pair I gave him as a early b-day present). I started a thread called Baby goslings, care and questions. I gave a short summary of carin for goslings and what to look out for, after the death of my girl Tiny. Other geese owners have chimed in and added to what knowledge I had. The best thing I can tell you is that geese form bonds, with you and each other and they show it. My goose Jas (can't tell if it's Jasmine or Jasper yet, lol) looks for me and climbs in my lap to snuggle!

As for your cat. Lock him in your bathroom and try a litter called yesterday's news.yesterdays news is also excellent for cats that are injured as there is no sand to get into wounds, I use it everytime i have anycat spay/neutered, be it a feral cat or a tame one. Another great litter my indoor kittens LOVE is precious cat. Precious cat clumps like cement, and it does not smell at all! It is by far my favorite litter. But when you can't keep an eye on him, put him in your bathroom, it is tiled and can be easily mopped. With less stuff laying around he will also be more likely to use the litter box. You will need to go in and spend time with him, let him out for supervised play time. But you can get him to understand where he is supposed to do his business. It will just take a while because he was an outside cat.

Thanks so much about the advice on the geese! A trio it is then. =) I was hoping I could keep more than one in a pen, but I most definitely do not want fighting! Everyone will just have some pretty large spaces to move around in.

With my cat, I have actually tried this before. He did great for a while, but now he is reverting back to peeing on things. I also now cannot lock him in the bathroom as me and my husband do not have our own house. He knows where he is supposed to go because if he see's that we have caught him in the act he tries to run off. I don't know what else to do for him.

I can sure relate to it, and I am not offended at all!!

Someone was asking earlier about breeding ducks and geese. Starfire gave good advice on the geese. Go for no more than trios, and you would probably have better luck with pairs.

As for ducks, my one very strong recommendation is to make sure you have enough ducks per drake. A minimum would be four, and you may be able to go as high as eight ducks per drake. Welsh Harlequin drakes have a VERY HIGH sex drive and if you don't have enough ducks your drake will make their lives hell. The drakes do tend to have "favorites", which it seems to me is a designation the girls could easily do without. They can be rough, and you wind up with ducks with naked necks and even sores on their head and neck. I have been catching the ducks with sores and applying Neosporin, which helps the wounds heal. Plus, I don't think the drakes like the taste of it. I watched on try to mate with a duck I had just doctored, and he let her go and looked like he was trying to spit it out!

I have one duck I have nicknamed Sinead, after the Irish singer, because she is pretty much bald!! She mostly tries to hide all day. I even put her in the bathroom for a couple of days to heal up, but I don't have any duck diapers and the mess was phenomenal. I have even noticed that the Welsh drakes are more aggressive sexually than my Saxony drakes, who are much more laid back.

When the drakes are young and inexperienced, sometimes they just stand on the duck without doing anything else. I called this "duck surfing". They do eventually get it figured out. Because they grab the feathers on the neck and head and hold on (sometimes yanking hard) while mating, you can't give the ducks any kind of artificial cover like you can with chickens. I keep trying to visualize some kind of duck hoodie, but just can't figure out how to make it stay on and stay dry if they go for a swim!

My best recommendation for both ducks and geese is to get the Dave Holderread books, the Storey's Guides. You can't go wrong with anything Dave writes. I have gotten all of my ducks from his farm.

I hope this helps!

Thank you so much! I think I will do 1 drake and 6 hens, unless something else pans out. I would like to try and breed for SOP, so I know I will need multiple lines for breeding purposes, but of course I also want personable birds. =) I heard harlequins were very sweet ducks, and I also like their unique coloring. I will definitely be looking for more information before I get some of these gorgeous animals.

Just for Laughs!!

Love this comic~

 

[sandiTX]

not much rain here in leander ( sandy creek area) just some drizzle, my daughter in Bertram got 2"

 

[LightningTFarm]

I don't have a rain gauge anymore, so I'm not sure exactly how much we got here north of Nacogdoches. I will have to go out and measure how much is in a bucket. We got several good drenching rains, though, and there is water standing in puddles. I'll take it!!

 

[ShadowsFIAL]

What do you guys think of Dumor poltry feed?

This DuMOR

Chick Starter/Grower 20% Feed is a complete formula for starting chicks, ducks, and geese up to 10 weeks of age and for growing turkeys and gamebirds from 6 weeks to market or laying age. Premium nutrition at the correct life-stage results in strong healthy, productive birds with beautiful plumage.

• Designed for chickens, ducks and geese from 0 to 10 weeks of age
• Designed for turkeys, quail, pheasant and chukar from 6 to 12 weeks of age
• Provides essential nutrients for optimum development
• Additional vitamins and minerals are not required

Guaranteed Analysis:
Crude Protein (min.) 20.00%, Lysine (min.) 1.00%, Methionine (min.) .50%, Crude Fat (min.) 2.50%, Crude Fiber (max.) 4.50%, Calcium (Ca) (min.) .70%, Calcium (Ca) (max.) 1.20%, Phosphorus (P) (min.) .65%, Salt (NaCl) (min.) .25%, Salt (NaCl) (max.) .75%, Ruminant meat and bone meal free.
Feeding Instructions
Provide feed free-choice to birds. Always provide fresh, clean water and transition birds from one feed to the next over the course of several days.
Chickens, ducks, geese - 0 to 10 weeks
Turkeys, quail, pheasant, chukar - 6 to 10 weeks'

DuMOR

Poultry Layer Crumble Feed is complete formula for all egg-producing poultry and non-laying mature birds. It is richly fortified with calcium to promote strong eggshell formation and contains all the necessary amino acids, vitamins and minerals needed to maintain healthy, productive breeders and layers.
Guaranteed Analysis:
Crude Protein (min.) 16.00%, Lysine (min.) .70%, Methionine (min.) .35%, Crude Fat (min.) 2.50%, Crude Fiber (max.) 7.00%, Calcium (Ca) (min.) 3.80%, Calcium (Ca) (max.) 4.80%, Phosphorus (P) (min.) .50%, Salt (NaCl) (min.) .25%, Salt (NaCl) (max.) .75%, Ruminant meat and bone meal free.
Feeding Instructions:
Provide feed free choice to birds over 18 weeks old. Always provide clean, fresh water and transition birds from one feed to the next over the course of several days.


Does anyone know of any waterfowl feed out there?

 

[LightningTFarm]

Up here where I live there is not a ton of choice. The TSC has a few types of Purina feeds, mostly layer feeds. I won't feed layer feeds because I don't want my drakes getting the extra calcium. I have pretty much always used the DuMor feeds with good results. My ducks eat it like crazy. When they are small I feed the starter, adding in about 10% oatmeal. When they get bigger I switch to the grower/finisher and that's what they stay on. Sometimes I'll add in some BOSS, and whatever leftovers I have.

If you are getting ducklings be sure to add niacin to their water. The Storey's Guide will tell you how much. I was able to buy capsules at Walmart that had enough in each to make three gallons of water. I would pour out the contents of a capsule on a paper plate and use a knife blade to divide the powder into three little piles. Then I would transfer each little pile of powder into a clean, empty gallon milk jug and fill it with water. That was the water the ducklings got. I would do this until they reached about 8 weeks, after which you can stop it.