The Migratory/Ornamental Waterfowl INFO Thread

I caught one of my escapees that stayed here. The others left with the wood ducks that came to my pond but came back for months then didn't. When I moved them all to the new Aviary by the house he was coming up to it. When he started going on the back side I rolled some chicken wire with one end closed off. He was used to me since I raised him and I could get pretty close. One day I was able to walk towards him and he kept moving toward the wire. When he was in it I rushed in and blocked him. He was happy to be back with his ladies.

Thanks you all for the ID. The Brazilian and Chestnuts are new breeders for me this year that I got over winter. There are a lot of eggs unhatched in the box. She must have been laying in there when the Mandie came out for a break. I meant to take it down today while the pool was refilling and got side tracked with the chickens lol then it was full. Hope I an get it down tomorrow without falling in pol which it is over.

The 1 Cin Teal duckling is doing well. I released them back into the open Aviary since the Drake was being mean to it. Today he raped his hen. He was fighting her. Now I think he was trying to kill the duckling so she would breed again. When they were all alive had nothing to do with them. She is the protector. They are new for me this year too. Guess I have some learning to do
 
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If she's been at your place any amout of time, she'll usually come back for food. If not, well...it's gonna be tuff.
You can try that male trap and see, would be your best bet. you wont be able to run her down or anything like that so catching her in a live trap may be your best bet. Mandarins make all sorts of crazy sounds anyway, that's all he's doing.
Oh and rain protection is nice, but they stay out in it anyway, so not required
 
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yep I've said that a dozen times or so threw this thread. Males will often kill duckings to attempts to get hens to breed again. some dont, but alot will even if they arent even the same species, ducklings means breeding is over for them, so... kill em and try again is their thought process in a closed aviary.
That's just one more reason why brooding is the best way to go with these things.
Then from there into a grow out pen. Once full sized, THEN they can safely be put back into the main aviary
 
Thanks for the info Aubrey. I have never had these problems before with the ducks I have. It's these new ones I will have to learn about. If she lays again I won't put the drake in with them.They are pinioned so he won't be able to get in. Been dealing with pinched nerves in my neck since late Jan with a 20 yr old disk problem. Just got MRI and back to Dr Monday. I don't believe there will be any option other than surgery and why I didn't want many babies this season. Next year hopefully I will be better prepared. Things are much calmer in the Aviary with the 11 Whistlers gone at least
 
whew hate to hear that, hope all works out well for you.

Yes you are right too, several of the species arent a big deal on the parent reared babies. But the more diverse you get and the bigger collection you get, the more it becomes an issue. It will eventually get to a point that if the pen hatch, they'll be dead next morning.
 
Quote:
If she's been at your place any amout of time, she'll usually come back for food. If not, well...it's gonna be tuff.
You can try that male trap and see, would be your best bet. you wont be able to run her down or anything like that so catching her in a live trap may be your best bet. Mandarins make all sorts of crazy sounds anyway, that's all he's doing.
Oh and rain protection is nice, but they stay out in it anyway, so not required

Well see thats the thing. I just got her wednesday morning and she escaped wednesday night. So she hass no clue as to where her food would be. KansasKid he is making the sound that is in the very beggining of the video. We had him out in the trap all day but she wasnt there when i got home. So I went searching for her to no avail. I could have stepped right on her and didnt know it if she didnt fly. There arent any wood ducks around she could fly off with. The pond i think she is at has never had ducks on it. She is used to having a nest box so i was tinking that maybe if i could rig up some sort of ting where when she goes in and stands on the floor a trap will spring and a little peice of wood will lock her in. But i have to get permission from my neighbor to put it by his pond. Ialso went and talked to my other neighbors and they are going to tell me if they see her. I hopr she comes back!
fl.gif
 
We have babies... Ok only 5 but it is a start!

Lots of questions?

3 are ring teal and the other 3.. well they are totally unidentified since they were hatched in a ground box by a ring teal but they were larger eggs!

(1)I know it is not possible but is there anyting you can do to stop nest dumping?

We have a serious problem with it!

(2) Also how many eggs should you let a hen set on? My merganser and smew when Brooder on about 10 eggs but all my Mandarins and Wood ducks eesm to go about 15-20 eggs!

(3) How often should you pull eggs and put them under a Broody hen( talking Cochins and Silkies who would die before you got their eggs)?
I pulled a gallon szip lock bags full of eggs, all shapes and sizes this weekend but some I think could have been in there for 2 maybe 3 weeks! Things got all kind of crazy around here with the storms 3 weeks ago and I lost track of everything.

(4) How long do the Migratory birds start to lay? it has really picked up on the last 2 weeks and I figured it would be more ramping down not up, but we really haven't had spring here yet! It is 55 for the high today with lows int eh 40s!

Thanks
 

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