The Duck Thread

[hennible]

Yup, awesome

 

[needlessjunk]

Oh my gosh! Adorable! Are they runners?

Thank you. 2 runners, welsh Harliquin and a white layer.

 

[ducklover31]

can someone help i have a female mallard about 2 years old and i noticed about 5 days ago she looked smaller so when i put them up in the coop that night i went to pick her up and she felt very light and very skinny and then the next morning i let them out and about 1 hour after i let them out i noticed that she was barely moving she took a step and laid there and then she will take another step and so on so when i put them up that night i saw that she was shaking a little so i got her and put her in a cage to bring her inside and she wouldn't eat so i mixed the duck feed with the water and she kinda drinks the water every now and then and just today shes not moving as much as she has the past few days she just barely gets up to go to the water bowl (the past 3 days her stomach has been making this weird sound often) any help or information will be greatly appreciated!

 

[Amiga]

She needs a vet. She may have a systemic infection - she may need lots of extra help with fluids and nutrition.

You can try some poultry vitamins to help her nutritionally, try to get her to drink as much as possible, dribbling water on her bill so she can swallow it if necessary. Keep her warm, with lots of fresh water, try to get her to eat treats, like thawed peas or mealworms or moistened cat kibble.

 

[hennible]

Good luck ducklover31...

 

[MelissaZeno]

Mallard derived it doesnt matter,for muscovys it has to be muscovys for babies that are fertile.

Thank you for sharing this. I have never raised ducks before so this is going to be a new adventure when I am able to start.

 

[the builder]

Lock them in at dark and let back out in the morning. Have a fenced in "day pen" for them. Most predators are out at night. Nite guard lights are excellent. I have 6 surrounding my ducks area and housing. Geese are great watch dogs thru the day also. They keep the ducks in line and chase predators away as well as sound the alarm if one shows up.
Training the ducks and geese to go in their houses at night takes about a week. Chickens more like two weeks. Little more stubborn.
My ducks, geese and chickens all are locked in at dark and free range during the day. If we leave for the day for shopping or work they are kept inside the fenced area.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Lock them in at dark and let back out in the morning. Have a fenced in "day pen" for them. Most predators are out at night. Nite guard lights are excellent. I have 6 surrounding my ducks area and housing. Geese are great watch dogs thru the day also. They keep the ducks in line and chase predators away as well as sound the alarm if one shows up.
Training the ducks and geese to go in their houses at night takes about a week. Chickens more like two weeks. Little more stubborn.
My ducks, geese and chickens all are locked in at dark and free range during the day. If we leave for the day for shopping or work they are kept inside the fenced area.

I use predator lights and tape. Great advise.

Welcome to BYC

 

[Tapioca]

I'm having an issue integrating a female pekin into my flock of runners and khaki campbells. I only have one drake, a khaki, and I've had to keep him separated from the rest. The females have all accepted the new duck, but the drake has it out for her. Every time I put them together he chases her and nips her. It doesn't seem like he wants to mate, just keep her away from the other ducks. It's been well over a week now that he's been separated in a pen attached onto their duck yard, but he still acts like a dick when I put them all together. The pekin acts super stressed whenever the drake is put in the yard with her and I'm getting tired of having to separate them (lugging 2 buckets of water out when it's below freezing lol) I also bring the drake in at night to sleep in the bathtub because he harasses the pekin if they're all in the duck house together at night. I'm seriously considering finding a new home for him if this is how he's going to act every time I get a new bird. Any advice?

 

[patolocoeggs]

Hello, we keep a low wattage 3w LED light bulb on inside our night time coop. This simulates enough extra daylight light for our ducks to lay eggs year round.