The Duck Thread

[KBgirls]

Thanks good idea

 

[KristyAnn]

Can anyone help me figure out their breed and how to tell their gender? They're somewhere around 2 months old. I was told the blacks were kampbells but not sure. The grey will have a Afro on it's head they said. No further details.

 

[KBgirls]

to Soon to tell and KC are a light brown if that helps!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Can anyone help me figure out their breed and how to tell their gender? They're somewhere around 2 months old. I was told the blacks were kampbells but not sure. The grey will have a Afro on it's head they said. No further details.

They sure are cute, too early to tell gender but I'm thinking maybe Blue and blk Swedish or a mix of Swedish. Soon you'll be able to tell by quack girls quack loudly drakes sounds raspy and low when they quack.

 

[Puddin Fluff]

My duckies at 3 weeks with their hatchmates.

 

[Starfire669]

I have a few questions. My Cayuga ducks just recently started mating. I have 1 Cayuga drake, 3 female Cayugas, 2 female crested Pekin, and 1 female crested mallard. The cresteds have been laying for months now, and don't hang around the Cayugas. The Cayugas were purchased this summer as ducklings. If they are mating, they should start laying very soon right? Are their eggs going to be white, like the other duck eggs or grey? I read on some threads that Cayuga eggs are a grey or black color, but on other threads they say the Cayuga eggs are the same color as other duck eggs. Any help would be appreciated. I just want to monitor the ducks when they start laying to be sure there are no issues. Next year I'd like to hatch some Cayuga ducklings, but want to be sure that no crested eggs end up hatching.

 

[hennible]

Ren2014
It's a small pound pump, submersible, you can find them at Home Depot for $60 and up. The pump sits in the pool and it's outlet hose runs into the bottom of a 9 gallon bucket with a spout. The hose is held in place with 3-4 inches of pea gravel, followed by layer after layer of washable furnace filter cut to size and topped off with 3-4 inches more pea gravel. The bucket sits above the pool and is tilted so the clean water goes where I want it. The trick apparently is waiting for bacteria to take up residence in the media, and it will brake the organics down while the rocks etc filter large debris. Check out farmnatters.blogspot.ca for a better version, or google DIY duck pound filters.

Ugly but seems to work, 3 days to build up bacteria colony apparently. Working well, one issue to solve is when the ducks get rowdy they sometimes bump the pump and I have to unplug it and start it up again, not a big deal. Also check out runnerduck.com for better ideas.

Not to self promote just wanted to say this cheap DIY filter has worked very well. Look at the goop in these filter layers

Cleaning the filters was easy just spay with the hose. Flush the pea gravel until the water runs clear and re-assemble. I still haven't dumped pool, the filter is picking up all the goop at the bottom of the pool so I just keep re-filling it. The ducks even seem to enjoy the running water, and it keeps the pool oxygenated so I could throw some feeder fish in (if it wasn't quite so cold) also I think that the running water helps move debris into the filter.
This is the filtered pool

This is the unfiltered one.

They were both filled 2 days ago. This has been a big time saver. Next spring I hope to have a real pond for them ( in the ground) and will likely filter it the same way with a larger version. If anyone else tries this out I'd love to hear about it, any improvement ideas would be great!

 

[KBgirls]

quick question, do duck stop laying egg's? My Rouen is going to be a a year old and has been a good egg layer but for the last few weeks she has not had an egg. She is eating acting fine happy as can be but no egg??

 

[hennible]

As far as I understand they do take breaks. Rouen's are a meat breed, so not bread for a consistent egg supply, as far as I know.

 

[K Epp]

My Rouen will lay a few weeks and then take a few off.