The Duck Thread

[Ren2014]

The Fab Five all are doing really well. Sorry no pictures because I keep forgetting to take my camera out with me. It's looking like I have 4 girls and 1 boy. Definitely 3 girls. All keepers of course

The Super Six are a week old now and they are doing great.


Bugs is still sitting on her eggs. They should be hatching any day now

This will be my first experience with a Momma and babies. Do I need to provide food for them when they hatch?? Should I keep them penned up or let them free range with Bugs?

 

[AxolotlLove]

Just get some Cayugas and wait long enough and they may accomidate your desire for black and white ducks. I have 16 Cayugas who are almost 3 years old and they are turning whiter each day that goes by...

I Have 6 cayugas lol they aren't molting now though

 

[casportpony]

I can't run the incubator without water or it will drop to 10%, so I'm trying 30%. This is my second attempt hatching Muscovy eggs, and the first one was a disaster, probably because I ran the humidity too high.

-Kathy

 

[caesargirl]

I can't run the incubator without water or it will drop to 10%, so I'm trying 30%. This is my second attempt hatching Muscovy eggs, and the first one was a disaster, probably because I ran the humidity too high.

-Kathy

That was a good article. Good guidelines. How many eggs are you cooking??

 

[casportpony]

I can't run the incubator without water or it will drop to 10%, so I'm trying 30%. This is my second attempt hatching Muscovy eggs, and the first one was a disaster, probably because I ran the humidity too high.

-Kathy

That was a good article. Good guidelines. How many eggs are you cooking??

Have 11 in the bator, but having some issues maintaining the same temp throughout.

-Kathy

 

[Ren2014]

I can't run the incubator without water or it will drop to 10%, so I'm trying 30%. This is my second attempt hatching Muscovy eggs, and the first one was a disaster, probably because I ran the humidity too high.

-Kathy

Dry and I'm at 27% I can't wait to candle and see what air sacks are like. Sorry to hear about your first attempt.

 

[Tevyes Dad]

Well, I've lost my favorite duck today. Waffles, the pekin in my avatar, died in her sleep last night. I've never lost an adult duck before, let alone my favorite one. She was the nicest out of all my ducks, and would eat out of my hand and talk to me.

I got her in September 2014, along with her mallard mate, Potato. They were our first ducks. We don't know how old she was, but we were told she was one of those Easter ducks, a child's pet until she grew up, and then shoved in a tiny dog cage all alone. Her legs were horribly crooked from living in that cage for so long. She was crippled by it. She was very scared of people when I got her. But over the past year and a half I have been working with her, and had made such progress that she would rush up to me and only eat treats from my hand, not the ground like all the others. Of course she was the loudest too, and would talk back to us. None of my other ducks have anywhere close to the amount of personality she had.

I don't know why she died. Just one of those things probably. Everyone else is healthy. She had a heated coop. She's always been the slow one, with her crooked legs, and could never stand long. And she could have been ten years old for all I know. She had a weird black tumor thing on her breast too. But it never caused her pain and never seemed to bother her. My husband said she was acting overly nice last night, letting him approach her and pet her without running away, which is highly uncharacteristic. She must not have been feeling well, or just knew it was her time the way animals do. I feel really bad for Potato. He was devoted to her. They were inseparable.

The strange thing is, I picked her up a couple days ago. I haven't picked up any of my ducks in a while, but for some reason, I just felt like holding her. I sat with her for a few minutes petting her and gave her a kiss. I don't know why. I only catch my ducks when I have to because I don't like to stress them unnecessarily. I am glad I did but I didn't know it was goodbye. This sucks. A lot.

I am so sorry

I have been on the road and only just saw this, but I know just how you feel. Snow, our Pekin had many of those same characteristics and was our first (and so far only

) adult duck loss. It is so much harder to lose an established friend than a duckling (although that is also very hard). Yvonne and I feel for you and wish your heart well.

 

[MandyJ]

Sorry, I was responding to MandyJ

I have no drakes, only hens.

 

[Tevyes Dad]

Thanks everyone. We buried Waffles under a tree today, which was no easy task with the ground frozen solid and snow covered. I'll miss her lots, but I think Potato will miss her more. He has 12 other ducks to socialize with, but he never cared much for them. He just loved his Waffles. I hope he can become ther close with another duck someday.

Noir, my black runner was probably Snow's best friend. The only duck Noir liked as much was her sister Mystique. After Snow died, Noir seemed to take it very hard for about a month. Then she just seemed to kind of get along / go along, but had no real joy. Now it has been just over 6 months since Snow died. About a month ago, Noir seemed to start getting back to her old happy self. I don't think she has taken on a new best friend (other than her sister Mystique who she worships), but I think she has decided to get back into the game and enjoy life again. I don't know if this is typical, but it was our experience. Potato has a rough time ahead, but he too will find joy again in such a caring environment.

 

[Tevyes Dad]

Well, I just spent some time on the Holderreads site. Anyone here ever get lings in the mail. Did they survive well? Healthy?

All but two of mine came from Metzer's via mail.

Ship 1: 11 ducklings
Ship 2: 2 ducklings
Ship 3: 2 ducklings
Future ship 4 this spring: 3 ducklings

I can't speak for the future ducklings yet, but the other 15 ducklings all arrived safe and in good shape. 1 was constipated and took 3-4 days to get regular and it was 1 week behind in development but was otherwise fine. Nearly all of the ducklings you get in a feed store are shipped by mail to the feed store. The one warning I will give you is over the past 3 years, a lot has changed in the way mail is handled and some areas are affected more than others. Prior to this change day old poultry almost always shipped Monday and arrived Wednesday morning. Two out of the three shipments I got weren't received until Thursday. If you have the option of having gro-gel shipped with your ducklings do it. The greatest threat to them (when everything is done right) is dehydration. Mine all shipped with the gro-gel and both of my Thursday deliveries were fine. The feed store in my town also received theirs on the same Thursday (with no grow gel) and they lost 20% of their shipment.