The Duck Thread

[City farm]

It was requested that I post pictures of inside my duck house. I cleaned it tonight, so I took pictures of the process. Sorry about the lighting, it was dusk when I started.

This flooring of the coop is ice and water shield. My uncle was roofing his house, and it is rated waterproof for 50 years.

I line the coop with a painter dropcloth. When it comes time to clean, I gather the edges and dump the shavings in the garden.

The pail holds 12 pounds of feed, and the 5 gallon bucket has a lid that keeps bugs out, and 5 nipples for the ducks to drink out of. The pad under the water is washable, I change it out every other day. This keeps all water off the wood shavings.

Time for bed!!! They love the first time back in their clean house.

Locked up and ready for bed!

Wow!!


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Talk about some spoiled duck's.. I saved the photo's to show a friend's and I hope that you don't mind?? Plus the material you used..
Just way to neat!! Thanks for sharing..

 

[City farm]

You may have already answered this but how many ducks total are you talking about. I know that many people have just two, a drake and a female, but the recommended mix is one drake to 4-5 females minimum. If you have a drake he is going to mate with the females he has available and they will mate often during season. So, just one or two females you are really risking over mating and injury of the females. Also, after a certain point/age the introduction of another duck does not always result in compatible relationships. There is the chance that you may have to establish two "flocks" that are kept apart from one another or to rehome the drake to protect your female.

I am aware of this, and it's why I'm trying to get the female introduced. I've actually kept ducks for almost eight years, so I'm not new to it. Right now I only have the drake and the duck and the juvenile I'm trying to introduce because a predator attack this winter resulted in the death of my entire duck flock aside from the drake. Then, when I was growing up the ducklings that would be his new flock, he vanished for about two months and came back with this pekin from somewhere. Sorry if I sound snippy at all with this reply, it's totally not my intention, just trying to give background info so no one else thinks I'm new to this. I really do already know all about basic duck care

Oh no!! How sad & devastating
Condolences from us!
Do you have any idea what animal did this??

 

[City farm]

So a few days ago (week?) I found 5 eggs that I believe are either my Cayugas or mallard x runner. The newest flock members. They were due to begin laying. So I set them in the bator... Holy bananas, they're fertile! All of em!!!!! So eggcited (had to!) to find out who's laying mystery eggs!!!!

Awesome!!! Can't wait for a progress report.

Awesome, can't wait to see the little stinkers.. You'll have a whole new flock..

 

[caesargirl]

Awesome, can't wait to see the little stinkers.. You'll have a whole new flock..

I'll have them and my newes fridge eggs going!!! And the fridge eggs are jumbo pekin!

 

[Kathy farms]

Any guess what breed he is?

 

[DoctorWhoDucks]

Hey guys I need some help. One of my ducks has started wheezing. It seems like she is having a little bit of a hard time breathing and when she breathes out she wheezes. She is still very active and eating a drinking and playing like normal. Should I be worried? I put some ACV in her water just in case is something bacterial. I haven't done a warm bath with her yet and I haven't been able to see if her nose is clear either. I'll check on her in a bit after she gets calmed down a bit. We just brought her back inside. We left for a mini 3 day vacation and just got back. They were in the garage and now they are back in the brooder box. Sorry for the long post but I want to make sure everyone has the info needed. They are 5 weeks and 4 days old. They are WH females.

 

[jtn42248]

Any guess what breed he is?

Domestic Mallard drake would be my guess. Whatever though he is a very handsome bird.

 

[desiree210]

Can someone please send me a link or temp and humidity for my duck eggs. Trying for round 2. I would appreciate any help

 

[Miss Lydia]

Hey guys I need some help. One of my ducks has started wheezing. It seems like she is having a little bit of a hard time breathing and when she breathes out she wheezes. She is still very active and eating a drinking and playing like normal. Should I be worried? I put some ACV in her water just in case is something bacterial. I haven't done a warm bath with her yet and I haven't been able to see if her nose is clear either. I'll check on her in a bit after she gets calmed down a bit. We just brought her back inside. We left for a mini 3 day vacation and just got back. They were in the garage and now they are back in the brooder box. Sorry for the long post but I want to make sure everyone has the info needed. They are 5 weeks and 4 days old. They are WH females.

Did you have someone caring for your ducks while you were away? How about water deep enough to clean out those nares? Clogged nares can cause wheezing so can brooder pneumonia which is caused by wet moldy bedding,also respiratory infection can cause wheezing. Try the ACV for a day or 2 and also make sure she can breathe through her nares listen to her chest for rattling also.

 

[DoctorWhoDucks]

Did you have someone caring for your ducks while you were away? How about water deep enough to clean out those nares? Clogged nares can cause wheezing so can brooder pneumonia which is caused by wet moldy bedding,also respiratory infection can cause wheezing. Try the ACV for a day or 2 and also make sure she can breathe through her nares listen to her chest for rattling also.

We couldn't get anyone to care for them so we set them up with a kiddie pool that was covered and only allowed their heads to go in and get water. They had a gravity feeder and plenty of room to always have a dry place to lay down. I'm thinking her nares are clogged a bit. I'm gonna give her a warm bath later on. As far as listening to her chest, she really doesn't like to be held in any way so that would be really hard to do.