The Duck Thread

[blondiebee181]

Quote: Wow, for real? Mine are machines...some environmental factor holding her up? And yes, I am generally heading to bed around 10:30 or 11pm but my boyfriend is a nightowl so if I don't put them up he does

 

[cluckcluckluke]

Quote: Wow, for real? Mine are machines...some environmental factor holding her up? And yes, I am generally heading to bed around 10:30 or 11pm but my boyfriend is a nightowl so if I don't put them up he does

Yeah, I'm really not sure what is going on.
It all started when I first got them, 1 was laying, then we moved all the chickens ducks into a new coop. I thought maybe they will be off for a bit because of the change, got no eggs for ages. I just gave up in the end as Autumn closed in, it is now Winter so I am just hoping that next Spring will bring duck eggs. She isn't egg bound otherwise she would be dead by now and she just lost her friend in a recent storm. I am trying to get a KC duck for her and hopefully this will help her get laying again....hopefully.
She also doesn't really have any where to lay and it is hard to get her a place to lay.

 

[Duck Lover3000]

Hi every one i have a big question my Bantam Cayuga hen as started laying and I am not quiet sure what to do because she has been breeding with the Cayuga drake and I don't know if they are fertile the eggs have been sitting the the duck pen for about 5 days but she has not been sitting on them also in Australia ( where I live ) it is winter so it is cold so I am worried that if she does not sit on them that they will not hatch if they are fertile so please HELP!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Amiga]

I think you have answered your own question, so I will encourage you to remove the eggs. I got some wooden eggs so my broodies could sit to their hearts' content. Sometimes that is only for one day, it has gone as long as six weeks. But I know who the serious broodies are, now.

Take the eggs, give her something to sit that won't hatch, in a safe place.

 

[Duck Lover3000]

Ok thank u

 

[graham B]

Hi, can anyone tell me how ducks in an established flock would react to newcomers? I have 3 khaki Campbell's and 3 white chilterns who have all lived together since they hatched. I think most are males but am not sure. I want to get more females and thin out a few males but am not sure how ducks react with new members....

 

[Miss Lydia]

Hi, can anyone tell me how ducks in an established flock would react to newcomers? I have 3 khaki Campbell's and 3 white chilterns who have all lived together since they hatched. I think most are males but am not sure. I want to get more females and thin out a few males but am not sure how ducks react with new members....

when introducing new ducks to an established flock especially all drakes you have to go about it slowly, set up and area where the ducks can be kept separate from the drakes but they can all see each other, you may have to keep them separate for quite a while since during mating season it can be brutal for the ducks when the drakes are running on pure hormones. The best ratio is 3-4 ducks per drake but even at that rate there is no guarantee there won't be fighting and one of the drakes ends up with all the girls unless your willing to make separate pens. I have never heard of chilterns do you have a pic you can post?

 

[GAIL328]

Ok thank u

Ute


Golf balls work great.

 

[blondiebee181]

I'm with Miss Lydia.....what's a Chiltern?

 

[graham B]

   when introducing new ducks to an established flock especially all drakes you have to go about it slowly, set up and area where the ducks can be kept separate from the drakes but they can all see each other, you may have to keep them separate for quite a while since during mating season it can be brutal for the ducks when the drakes are running on pure hormones. The best ratio is 3-4 ducks per drake but even at that rate there is no guarantee there won't be fighting and one of the drakes ends up with all the girls unless your willing to make separate pens. I have never heard of chilterns do you have a pic you can post?  

I think white chilterns are an Irish duck as they appear to be mentioned more on Irish websites.... I found this on a website
Chiltern Whites are a modern hybrid and certainly one of the best for laying as well as producing a useful meat carcass. There is a picture of one descendant of a Chiltern in the June edition of the PP magazine. It is the hybrid shown as an example of a duck commonly misnamed as an Aylesbury.There are several white hybrids now and they are all much the same in size, shape and productivity.

These ducks lay slightly fewer eggs than Khaki Campbells but the eggs are larger on average. They are calmer and far less prone to panic and stress too. Larger eggs are good to a point although sometimes it can be a problem if they are too large for cartons or trays. This means some just cannot be packed. As the ducks are bigger than KCs they eat more and of course create more mess.

The picture is a very bad one of my 6

I still can't tell if they are male or female.... Knowing my luck they will be all male. Which means that 5 of them will have to be eaten.... I am
Not looking forward to that...