The Duck Thread

[Amiga]

I am having a similar problem. Help?

From what I have read here, this is fairly common.

When introducing ducks, go very slowly. Have them side by side separated by fencing at first. Do not leave smaller ducks in with larger - let them grow to at least the same height.

Give treats to everyone at the same time to associate good feelings with being around each other - and monitor, being prepared to separate.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I personally can't help much except if you listen to them quack the males will have a deeper raspy quack and the girls will be a lot louder and higher pitched.

@tracyjg
@Miss Lydia

[/URL] I got 6 little ducklings for my backyard they're about two weeks old and I was wondering if anybody could tell if they are boys or girls I have read that you need 3 female ducks to one male duck falling in love with all of them

@haileebucket Welcome to BYC, your lil ones are a wee bit too young yet to sex. wait a couple more weeks byt then maybe you'll hear quacking like @Lamaremybabies said drakes are raspy quack girls are loud quack

 

[MandyJ]

My ducks have grown up with my chickens. Now that the weather has turned nice I tried to move ducks to my pond. The problem is that the ducks think they are chickens. They will not stay in the pond for any amount of time, they just get out of the water and return to the chicken area. I'd really like them to live in the pond. Any suggestions on keeping them at the pond would be appreciated.

Thanks

I had this happen with mine, I INSISTED that they go out in the pond, then we started loosing them....to turtles! They were drowning the ducks! The ducks KNEW they didn't want out in that water, but I wouldn't listen. Now they will not go in the water at all. They always have one foot on land. They have their little kiddie pool up by their enclosure which they use all the time but NOT the tank!

You might check to see if your tank/pond has turtles, that may be why they won't go into it.

 

[MandyJ]

@haileebucket Welcome to BYC, your lil ones are a wee bit too young yet to sex. wait a couple more weeks byt then maybe you'll hear quacking like @Lamaremybabies said drakes are raspy quack girls are loud quack

My pekin hen is 4 weeks old, she just started trying out her "quack". The other 4 (cayugas and blue Swedish, all hens) haven't started yet. Just to give you an idea when to start "listening". You can really hear the hens, they are loudly obnoxious! My grown Pekins are terribly loud! Especially when they think they need to be fed, which is anytime they see me! LOL

 

[Ravynscroft]

I have a question about my pekins.  I have 2 that came to me from a neighbor.  They are about 6 weeks old and are in their own pen next to my other ducks.  We got two more babies last week who are about 2 weeks old now.  We bring the babies outside to sit with us and yesterday we brought the pekins to sit with us too.  One of them could see the babies and started shaking and trying to bite the babies.  Is this a bad aggressive behavior beginning?  I am very new to raising my duckies and don't know all the behaviors yet

I am having a similar problem. Help?

Good advice has already been given about going slow with integration, but I wanted to address the shaking, biting actions you described...

In my experience it is not actually an aggression sign, good or bad... I think @Tevyes Dad is the one who called it the "I'm gonna do something crazy duck style" type sign...

From what I've seen, it's more of an excitement reaction... I've seen mine do it when they were presented with a bowl full of peas and they were trying to decide if they should eat slower an enjoy them or gobble them down before the others could eat their share...

I also had a Call that hatched out singly, and a week later a pair of Mallard/Rouens hatched out... the Call went all bity crazy and I had to keep them separate... a couple weeks later I had a pair of Calls hatch out and she did the same with them... so I had 3 'groups' to keep separate... once the Mallard/Rouens got 4x the first Calls size, they tried to pick on the pair of Calls and the first jumped to their defense and proceeded to accept the 2 as her flock...

All flocks have a pecking order, and when they're of a size to not be injured easily, they will work it out... we just have to watch out for those little ones, cuz they can get seriously hurt by bigger ones acting as if they're all the same size and age...

Hope this helps...

Edited cuz I can't spell on my phone, lol...

 

[AuroraDoerksen]

Okay so how long does everyone feed there ducklings chick starter? And what am I supposed to switch them too once they are done that? I have heard I need to supplement the feed but what with! Any help will be appreciated greatly!

 

[Amiga]

Okay so how long does everyone feed there ducklings chick starter? And what am I supposed to switch them too once they are done that? I have heard I need to supplement the feed but what with! Any help will be appreciated greatly!

If you are using chick starter, generally it seems to me to be a good idea to supplement with B vitamins, especially niacin.
People often get confused about what to use, so please stick with me here.

You have some options.

I would go with brewer's yeast. Forgive me for using capital letters, but for anyone else who may casually look over this thread, NOT baking yeast, NOT winemaking yeast. Brewer's yeast is a nutritional supplement and it provides niacin and a few other vitamins.

Ducklings need about three times the niacin chicks do. And some ducklings get leg problems or seizures if they don't have enough niacin.

If you cannot find the brewer's yeast, or if you happen to have (here come the capital letters again, please forgive me) PLAIN niacin - NOT no-flush, NOT timed release, then dissolve 150 mg niacin per gallon of water for the duckling’s drinking water.

Keep the little one on the supplements for about 8 weeks.

...

Regarding switching from starter to maintenance or grower:

I started switching after their second week. I started adding a little grower to their starter crumble, increasing the amount of grower per starter every day until I had used up all the starter and they were on grower only. That took a week or two.

 

[mama2girlies]

Quote:
We are right there with them the whole time. When this shaking happened my daughter was holding the babies and I was holding the pekins. It just surprised us a bit. Only one did this behavior. The other one was fine.

 

[AuroraDoerksen]

If you are using chick starter, generally it seems to me to be a good idea to supplement with B vitamins, especially niacin.
People often get confused about what to use, so please stick with me here.

You have some options.

I would go with brewer's yeast.  Forgive me for using capital letters, but for anyone else who may casually look over this thread, NOT baking yeast, NOT winemaking yeast.  Brewer's yeast is a nutritional supplement and it provides niacin and a few other vitamins.

Ducklings need about three times the niacin chicks do.  And some ducklings get leg problems or seizures if they don't have enough niacin.

If you cannot find the brewer's yeast, or if you happen to have (here come the capital letters again, please forgive me) PLAIN niacin - NOT no-flush, NOT timed release, then dissolve 150 mg niacin per gallon of water for the duckling’s drinking water.

Keep the little one on the supplements for about 8 weeks.  

...

Regarding switching from starter to maintenance or grower:

I started switching after their second week.  I started adding a little grower to their starter crumble, increasing the amount of grower per starter every day until I had used up all the starter and they were on grower only.  That took a week or two.

wow thanks so much for the thorough reply! So Brewers yeast is a niacin supplement then? And what about grit? Do they need that pretty much from day one? Thank you so much again!

 

[Amiga]

Following Storey's Guide, I did put a sprinkle (maybe a teaspoon, for eleven ducklings) of chick grit on their food once a day from Day One.

I will confess that I made a little document file with niacin instructions because we all need to know this when we get started with ducklings.... So sometimes I copy and paste and then edit based on the current thread. We have stickies, too, have you seen the one on Raising Ducklings? The link to stickies is in blue near the top of the Duck Forum index.