The Duck Thread

[foxygoober]

Well we added to our collection- I went to get pullets Wednesday and they weren't in yet. . .so I got two Pekin ducks.Our other ducks are sooo much bigger right now! I guess the mallards or reouns (TSC ducks) are three weeks old.
I moved the older two ducks to a large plastic dog crate (used for our German Shepherd) and they seem much happier with the room. They were beginning to bop against the wire we put atop the plastic bins to keep our cats out.
The two pekins were joined by six pullets yesterday. They all seem happy. (Well, I think one barred rock is going to die-it is small and keeps cheeping soooo loudly! I gave it save-a-chick and it is eating and drinking, but chicks just die so easily)

So far the ducks are Rosie, Tiki, Cotton (Candy), and Fluffy. The chicks don't have names yet. I can't tell the pairs of ducks apart, but the kids can!

My husband is building a fort for the ducks! I asked for something I could get into easily. . .our very first coop we had to crawl into.
It has a normal sized doorway plus a roof. The main part is 8x8 with a 6x6 area that he added yesterday for the pool. His plan is also to attach the dog (8x10?) run to the coop to make sure everyone has plenty of room. All of this great, except that I'm going to have to buy a lot of wire to surround the thing so critters and snakes don't get in.

 

[foxygoober]

It has been a long and sad three days. I decided to add some chickens to my duck family and I knew that ducks were very hardy and that chickens not so much and it turns out that is extremely true! I got six chicks and in three days two have passed away. Luckly the rest all seem healthy so now I have four Gold Sex Links and two Silkies, because I went to the TSC that I got the original 6 goldies at and they gave me the two silkies as replacements. Hoping for no more loses

Ours hasn't had silkies this year. If any of our pullets die and I have to go back for a new one I could easily buy up the silkies. Right now we have two rooster silkies. Stupid racoon or possum took the heads off the hens.

 

[NathanZee]

In order to do that I would have to jail Greta too. Right now the ducks have access to his jail (on the outside) and Greta is just as doting as the other girls. They all spend about half the day doing their own thing and half the day hanging around the jail cell. I am just hoping that if she hangs with him and doesn't get attacked (because he can't) that maybe he will learn to put up with her. I really don't know what the problem is. When he first came into his hormones last year, he was attacking Pocahontas. After a month or two, his focus shifted to Greta. There are two things I can see in common. 1 they are both black, but Noir is black and Kaine is a sweet heart to her and has never attacked her since the day Tevye kicked his butt. (see Tevye - A Really Awesome Duck). 2 they are both very high on the pecking order but both defer to Kaine. Maybe he has to beat up the highest female to assert his position, I don't know. If I really had an idea, I would try to change whatever the issue was. Chasing Tevye on the other hand is obvious. He is a competing drake that is physically capable of beating Kaine up (but mentally would rather watch the clouds.)

Oh I see. And I suppose you don't want to have Kaine never see the other ducks, or his relationship with them will be ruined. Definitely a complex duck social structure!

 

[Lamaremybabies]

Well we added to our collection- I went to get pullets Wednesday and they weren't in yet. . .so I got two Pekin ducks.Our other ducks are sooo much bigger right now! I guess the mallards or reouns (TSC ducks) are three weeks old.
I moved the older two ducks to a large plastic dog crate (used for our German Shepherd) and they seem much happier with the room. They were beginning to bop against the wire we put atop the plastic bins to keep our cats out.
The two pekins were joined by six pullets yesterday. They all seem happy. (Well, I think one barred rock is going to die-it is small and keeps cheeping soooo loudly! I gave it save-a-chick and it is eating and drinking, but chicks just die so easily)

So far the ducks are Rosie, Tiki, Cotton (Candy), and Fluffy. The chicks don't have names yet. I can't tell the pairs of ducks apart, but the kids can!

My husband is building a fort for the ducks! I asked for something I could get into easily. . .our very first coop we had to crawl into.
It has a normal sized doorway plus a roof. The main part is 8x8 with a 6x6 area that he added yesterday for the pool. His plan is also to attach the dog (8x10?) run to the coop to make sure everyone has plenty of room. All of this great, except that I'm going to have to buy a lot of wire to surround the thing so critters and snakes don't get in.

Very nice! I wanted barred rocks but the TSC by my house didn't get any :/ oh well. It didn't matter that much I just thing they're pretty.
It's funny I have three Pekins their almost 8 months but even when they were babies I'd say they are/were easier to tell the difference between

 

[Lamaremybabies]

Would it be safe if I made bandana's for my pekins? I thought it would be cute and make it easier for me to know which it which because I can only tell my girls apart if I look at either their ''thumbs'' or chest and sometimes that takes too long. If I shouldn't that's fine but as long as it won't harm them I'd like to

 

[Miss Lydia]

Would it be safe if I made bandana's for my pekins? I thought it would be cute and make it easier for me to know which it which because I can only tell my girls apart if I look at either their ''thumbs'' or chest and sometimes that takes too long. If I shouldn't that's fine but as long as it won't harm them I'd like

@Debs Flock made some bandana's for her ducks she can give you some ideas. I'd say as long as they can catch them on anything and break their necks trying to get loose they would probably be okay.

 

[Lamaremybabies]

@Debs Flock made some bandana's for her ducks she can give you some ideas. I'd say as long as they can catch them on anything and break their necks trying to get loose they would probably be okay.

Alrighty. I'll check it out. Thank you

 

[Tevyes Dad]

Well we added to our collection- I went to get pullets Wednesday and they weren't in yet. . .so I got two Pekin ducks.Our other ducks are sooo much bigger right now! I guess the mallards or reouns (TSC ducks) are three weeks old.
I moved the older two ducks to a large plastic dog crate (used for our German Shepherd) and they seem much happier with the room. They were beginning to bop against the wire we put atop the plastic bins to keep our cats out.
The two pekins were joined by six pullets yesterday. They all seem happy. (Well, I think one barred rock is going to die-it is small and keeps cheeping soooo loudly! I gave it save-a-chick and it is eating and drinking, but chicks just die so easily)

So far the ducks are Rosie, Tiki, Cotton (Candy), and Fluffy. The chicks don't have names yet. I can't tell the pairs of ducks apart, but the kids can!

My husband is building a fort for the ducks! I asked for something I could get into easily. . .our very first coop we had to crawl into.
It has a normal sized doorway plus a roof. The main part is 8x8 with a 6x6 area that he added yesterday for the pool. His plan is also to attach the dog (8x10?) run to the coop to make sure everyone has plenty of room. All of this great, except that I'm going to have to buy a lot of wire to surround the thing so critters and snakes don't get in.

New animals don't exist until their pictures show up.

Don't worry, I'll be in the same situation next week... Yay!

 

[Lamaremybabies]

Well here it is I have to make some adjustments to my drakes and Martha one of my girls but otherwise they are great!!!

[/IMG]

 

[Debs Flock]

Cute bandanas!! My ducks hated wearing them. I put them on, took pictures and then took them all off. The only issue I had was one of them got her lower bill caught underneath the material for a few seconds. It really freaked her out.