The Duck Thread

[Julie Birb]

Morning ma... wake up I want to go see my friends.

Awesome pictures. Great snuggle shot too. Beautiful flock you've got there. And the cute Pekins in their huge glory.

 

[Debs Flock]

@Julie Bird - you quack me up!

 

[Julie Birb]

@Julie Bird - you quack me up!

Heehee, thanks Debs Flock. I do have so much fun on here.

 

[WVduckchick]

Quick question... Its 50 degrees right now and only going up to the low 60s at the most today. When do ducks produce their own oil? They are about a month and a half old, have half adult feathers and still some baby yellow fur. Is it ok to let them swim or is it too cold? I leave for work at ten and won't be home till 6:30. So i need to know asap so I can get them set up before I get ready. Thanks!

They will be fine!

 

[Debs Flock]

It shows!

I get enjoyment from you enjoying yourself. LOL

 

[LadyIsadora]

Quick question... Its 50 degrees right now and only going up to the low 60s at the most today. When do ducks produce their own oil? They are about a month and a half old, have half adult feathers and still some baby yellow fur. Is it ok to let them swim or is it too cold? I leave for work at ten and won't be home till 6:30. So i need to know asap so I can get them set up before I get ready. Thanks!

It sounds like the Temperature outside will be fine for them at 4 - 6 weeks. Mine were spending time outside much cooler and they are fine.

I have supervised their swim time & noticed they were pretty well oiled at 4 weeks so I started being less paranoid about them being in the pool. DON'T get lax. Do be paranoid till they are several months old.


If you give them a large pool to swim in while your gone at this age you will likely be putting their lives in danger. Its not just about if they can swim or not, its not just about if they are water resistant enough, It is all that and the ease of getting in and out of the body of water, its about that they cant regulate their body temperature very well at this age and they chill. My first two ducks would stay on the chilly pond ALL DAY. I would have to heard them off because I could see them shaking. (not smart ducks)

I have 12 ducks that are 7 weeks. They have had their own pool in the backyard since they were about 3 weeks. a couple of weeks ago I set up another pool in the garden area for them at the opposite end of the property from the backyard. I was certain they understood the ramps, & such for entry & exit and got lax in my supervision of their swim time. This pool is dug down so the rim is even with the dirt. I thought they could get out easily. Most of them could but it took a while to notice the jumbo Pekins could not. 4 of them were shaking badly and looking frightened when I figured it out and got them out of the pool. If I had left them on their own all dayI would have come home to dead ducks. This happened within about 1/2 hour of filling the pool with fresh cold water. maybe a little longer.

So What I learned from this is that anytime I change their surroundings I need to watch them closely for a while to see how they are adapting and catch any flaws in the system before I leave them unsupervised---ESPECIALLY around water.

 

[Lynn Manes]

This is one of my broodys from last summer. you have to look closely but she has her feathers lining her nest.

Once a duck or chicken or any fowl for that matter goes broody will they always continue to do so? Since both my ducks have gone broody and we are going to gather up all those eggs out there today bc they've no interest in them since these 2 hatchlings have arrived, I don't want to go through it again. I'd prefer just to incubate. I had thought going the natural way would yield a better result but it's far from happening here.

 

[jtn42248]

Once a duck or chicken or any fowl for that matter goes broody will they always continue to do so? Since both my ducks have gone broody and we are going to gather up all those eggs out there today bc they've no interest in them since these 2 hatchlings have arrived, I don't want to go through it again. I'd prefer just to incubate. I had thought going the natural way would yield a better result but it's far from happening here.

Typically they will remain broody for the month or so that they would be broody on a next with eggs. Occasionally a broody female will just give up and come back to "normal" but rarely once they have produced a clutch of eggs and the hormones have taken over.

 

[BoatgirlL]

Has anyone tried keeping ducks on board a boat? If yes how did it go? Thanks x

 

[suzy4027]

Look what I found today! I went with on a class field trip to our local, small, free zoo. Just animals native to Kansas, nothing too fancy. I've been to the park where the ducks and geese hang out hoping I don't find any Easter ducks that have been dumped. I've never seen these drakes hanging around. Guess they have figured out where the best buffet in town is! Right under the .25 fish food machine! What color is the lightest drake?

[/IMG]
Went around the rest of the zoo and when we got back to the pond, another Drake had shown up! It's a cloudy day and the pics were from a long enough distance that even zoomed in tight, I had to edit them. Sorry they're grainy. It certainly doesn't do them justice! Pretty boys.