The Migratory/Ornamental Waterfowl INFO Thread

[southern oaks]

Quote:
Let me start answering all your questions so that I can continue on with happy and Successful breeding next time.
I am feeding them game bird feed, blended in the blender to make the crumbles even smaller and it is 20% protein + some crumbled cooked egg.

Yes, I guess that could be my main problem, the domestics have starved them, they were some what bigger but seemed to all get along
No, I didn't add anything to the water.

temp in the brooder was 96

no, not around any other wild or domestic ducks at all

They are just dying. Active one day and find them dead on the floor of the brooder. they all may be very active at 11pm at night and one or 2 dead the next morning.

Thanks so much for the feed back. I am gonna whoop this and be around here for a long time

 

[KansasKid]

You might try a little bit of gatorade or electrolytes mixed into the water. And if you can't get them to drink that you could try taking an insulin syringe (without needle of course) and try to put drop by drop on the end of there bill, thats how i got my mandarin baby's going. Might be worth a shot.

 

[southern oaks]

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I am def gonna get some of them!!!! It is great if they are easy and also nice looking too

 

[KansasKid]

Wish i had that kind of luck. The guy north of here and myself have had the worst luck with them this year.

Course mine are first years so thats understandable...

 

[southern oaks]

Quote:
I will try the gatorade or electrolytes. I did try and give some water with a syringe. But I guess I needed to give them a boost. Thanks

 

[kangababy]

I got 2 pair of sharp wing teal today!!! Proven breeders!!!! I know I need help..


To southern oats... Don't beat yourself up about anything. Losing babies is the bad part of it. Our first ones born this year 3 ring teal and 4 Pochards, only 2 ring teal and 1 pochard made it. And when our Smews were born, we had 5 perfectly healthy ones that were eating and drinking fine and the next thing we knew foe of them died overnight. I think no matter what we do we will lose some. Sometimes they ate born weak and you don't know it an you can't do anything.

Have you tried putting some little mealworms in the food for them to eat? All of our babies love them.

Good luck!! Our first year we had wood ducks, Mandrins, Ring teal and Greenwing teal and all we had hatch and survive was 3-5 mandarins and 1 wood ducks. I really honk some of it has to do with the age of the parents

 

[southern oaks]

Kanga, I am sorry to hear you had such bad luck back then, but on the other hand you gave me some hope that the future looks great. I am so excited about raising these beautiful birds. My husband has been so good. When i was losing them left and right. He said, lets go we will go buy some more....I said thats not the point. I have to learn to raise my own.... I love all the wonderful support and all the great stories and advice on here. Everyone is great.. Thanks so much.

 

[kangababy]

Quote:
No problem. We are always here to help... To tell a good story about this year.. So far I have 50ish or more Manadrins/ wood ducks, at least 30 wrong teal with 3 more laying, 2 Smews, 2 merganser, 7 tree ducks and more still sitting... Plus my 2 new born today who I was tempted to take home because they were so cute!

 

[southern oaks]

I am so happy for you and so dang jealous at the same time

 

[newlifetax]

Here's a recap of the breeding season I had. All my birds are first year birds. My wood duck laid 16 eggs, of which 7 hatched. To my surprise, 3 of the 7 were white. I didn't even know the parents were splits. Of those 7, 3 regular and 1 white are all that lived. The ones that died had been eating, but were much smaller than the rest of them.

My pintail laid 12 eggs. 1 of them hatched and the rest were infertile. I saw her and the drake mate on a number of occasions. After they finished one time, she nibbled/pulled on his penis. He now has prolapse and even though I saw them mate several times after this incident, I believe he is now sterile.

My mandarin laid 12 eggs. 1 of them (infertile) busted in the nest. 1 hatched last Sunday. The little guy lived for a couple days and was eating and drinking, but he seemed a little "off". He held his wings out to the side a lot and he would constantly flip himself onto his back and not be able to roll himself back over. He would do this at least 10-12 times a day. I let her sit on the rest of the eggs for a few days longer, but none hatched. Upon inspection of the unhatched eggs, 9 of the 10 had fully developed babies in them, but for some reason they didn't hatch and rotted in the shell.

So, out of 9 young that hatched, I have 3 reg wood duck, 1 white wood duck, and 1 pintail. My redheads, gwt, bwt, euro wigeons, and fulvous have not laid any eggs this season. The bwt and gwt are the only birds that have not molted. So, I guess there is a chance they or the fulvous could still produce. Like I said, I am attributing the low success rate to them being first year birds.