The Migratory/Ornamental Waterfowl INFO Thread

[HottentotTeal]

Quote:
Here are the links for both sites:

http://gamebird.com/

http://www.apwsbirds.com/

I just signed up for a 2 year subscription with the first one.


I am going to see if it's ok to sign up for the other one too!

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

Quote:
Here are the links for both sites:

http://gamebird.com/

http://www.apwsbirds.com/

I just signed up for a 2 year subscription with the first one.


I am going to see if it's ok to sign up for the other one too!

Yep they are both great. Have articles about raising various species, ads for everything you could possibly need in keeping birds, and the classified sections of course

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

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What is clipping toes?

You have to remove the hind toe, the one up the leg, in the States on all North American migratory waterfowl protected under the Captive Bred Migratory Waterfowl Act.
Simply take a pair of finger nail clippers or scissors and snip it off at the base. Do this at hatch time. It is only skin then basically, and a good number of them dont even make a peep. The other option is to pinion them, which I dont like, I like full flight birds to watch.
It's the same method, but you remove the last, tip joint of one wing, where the primary flight feather will later come in. Again do this at 1 day old and it's just skin. Just snip it off at the first wing joint and you're done.

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

Incubation tips for waterfowl.....

There has long been debate over natural or artificial incubation for migratory waterfowl.
Here are some of the pros and cons of each.

Natural, if you have a good broody mom is always better than artificial, these guys can be very finicky in an incubator. A poor broody mom however, can get off and you'll loose the entire clutch. If allowed to set and hatch a clutch, usually the hen is done for the year. With a lot of these species, if you pull the eggs daily, you can get 2 or even 3 clutches per hen every season, some species more so than others.

Often times, especially with first season hens, a good number of your eggs will just be laid on the ground at random. In this case you will have to incubate or have a broody hen on hand.

I always incubated mine, but I have always had a knack for it too. If you are a beginner, I would let your hens do it if at all possible. Just watch the babies, I never liked to let any in the main display pens. Too many big birds in there, to many ways to get out, too many ways to get killed basically, always liked them in a brooder where I can control what happens to them. Also, have you ever tried to catch a baby duck in a big pen that doesnt want to be caught, LOL They can dive at 1 day old and swim under water for ever, when they pop up, you move, down they go again,

, BUT they have to be marked, so you have to catch them. Best way to do this is, if you let the hen incubate, keep up with when she started, on the last few days, take them and finish them off in the incubator.

Here's some tips I have found helpful to me over the years.
I never used turners with standard stand up trays. Seems the eggs dont hatch well in that unnatural position. I always X'ed and O'ed each side of the egg and hand turn, laying naturally on their sides, 3 times or so a day. 99.5 temp, humidity a bit higher than other eggs, as these are waterfowl. 55- 60%. If possible keep a spray bottle of water in the incubator (this keeps it the same temp as the air, if you dont have room, just use warm water, never cold)and mist the eggs 1-2 times a day, just lightly, dont soak them. This bumps the humidity a little while and simulated a wet hen returning to the nest from feeding.
On the last 3 days I always bumped up to 70% and let them do the rest.
Again if you are a beginner, try your hand at the easier dabbler species, wood ducks, mandarins, ring teal are all the easiest. Your divers will drive you nutts! And are hard to artificially hatch at times even for a duck pro. Best to let them do it til you get good at the others. Even if you just get 1 clutch, if it hatches, you are better off than 3 clutches that didnt hatch.

The first week after hatch is the worst on all waterfowl, if they make it threw that, you pretty much have them whipped, see the brooding section above for tips on that. Keep 'em warm, clean, and fresh food and water, and you should be in good shape.

 

[Scott]

Excellent and relevant information, BBB. I thought I would also add that it is sometimes a good idea to brood domestic ducklings of the same age, such as call ducks, with wild waterfowl duckling. The wild ducklings will learn to eat from the domestic ducklings. If you have a difficult time getting your wild ducklings to begin eating, you can offer them live meal worms which will often kick start their eating instinct. I have them ready and available when mine hatch.

 

[1lpoock]

Yeah and even if you are using a shallow poultry waterer, still put marbles around the perimeter the first few days or so. I almost had one die by just laying it's head in the water.

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

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Yep thats true, would be a better use of a call than a chick, and yep, like I said in the brooding section, meal worms are pretty much a must to have on hand when hatching a lot of these guys, especially the divers. You can store them for a good time in your refrigerator, if you leave them out, they wont last very long before they turn into beetles.



1lpoock,
really!
I've never had trouble with them laying their heads in the water on water font style bottles. Now if it's an open pan, yep very true, they can get in, and when very young may have trouble getting out, panic, and wear themselves out, lay down and drown that way?? Guess it's always better to be safe than sorry though aint it!!

 

[1lpoock]

I haven't had trouble either... It's just the silver one that sat down right next the water, and laid it's head down. It probably got cold then and didn't have the strength to pick it out. Once we saw him we grabbed him out, he was cold and not moving, and we rubbed him gently and put him back in the incubator to warm him up. Within 5 minutes he started chirping again and by the next day, you couldn't even tell it happened.

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

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whew!
Definately dont want to loose that little jewel!!

 

[1lpoock]

Yep both my woodies are doing really good and are almost a week old. I never see them eat or drink, and I barely ever have to refill either. I'm sure they are eating though.

I want to put those little colored zip ties on my ducklings to keep good records on them. All my adults already have them. When do I put these on? Do I have to put them on loose?