The Quack Shack

[WannaBeHillBilly]

She got tired of the freeloader??

I am afraid her sister(s) - there are two other Buff Orpingtons - will join her again tomorrow night.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

This year is crazy by all means, look at my cabbage patch:

The ducks will be so happy in Winter!

 

[shawluvsbirds]

I saw your video this morning! - Any advice? What do you do with abandoned eggs that are still alive and kicking?

First experiences with the CCI
(Cheap Chinese Incupator)​

The temperature as per the built-in sensor is stable between 37.5° and 37.7° (99.5 - 99.9F)
How accurate that sensor is, i don't know.

However, this morning i threw one of the sensor modules of my cheap chinese weather-station (CCWS) into the incubator and it was measuring 34.4° (93.9F) the whole day long. In the evening i covered the sensor with a plastic container and since then it shows 35.1° (95.1F).

So the gel-packs are being held at a constant temperature of 37.5° but the air temperature within the incubator is ~2.5° cooler. There is no fan moving the air around in that box.

@Pyxis @Magnolia Ducks @shawluvsbirds - do you have any experience with a still air incubator? Should…

… the eggs just be placed on top of the gel-pack, the warmth will spread from below through the whole egg​

… the eggs be placed on top of the gel-pack and covered with a cotton cloth (there came one with the incubator)​

… something else be done with the eggs.​

As said, i am not planning on hatching eggs from start to the end in that thing, its just in case of an emergency situation, when a duck leaves the nest with the first hatched ducklings and abandons the remaining eggs that are in different stages of development.

I was gonna say incubate and brood the abandoned ones.

I am not familiar with incubators with gel packs or cotton cloths.. i have no clue what your talking about there!

 

[Muscovy Wunda]

think they got the message when they saw me carrying in a second store brought carton of eggs for the week

 

[Supercow]

That sounds exactly like little Peepeep! She/He would also run with the other five ducks, then lay down and forget the world around, did not eat or drink and fell more and more behind with her development. At this time (2018) i had no experience with duck, otherwise we would not have lost her.
I suggest, assuming that it isn't too difficult for you to pick Junior up (does she trust you?) then sit down with her, maybe in your lap and offer her food and water at least once a day. Stuff her! She will thank you later in her life!
is something like cracked corn available in Slovenia? - I don't feed whole corn to my ducks, they have a really hard time to digest that, most of it comes back out on the other side unharmed. And then it starts to grow in the compost, attracting the deer that peel off the bark of the fruit trees as desert… another story.
Pees are the best for ducks! They contain a lot of protein and B-vitamins.
As for the Vitamin Rice: I also brewed Anti-Biotics rice for the ducks in early spring to fight their eye infections. I boiled the water with the rice and let it sit until the pot was just luke-warm. Then added the powdered antibiotics and stirred. The rice will absorb all of the wate together with everything solved in it. Rice is one of the best delivery systems for anything you want to give to your birbs.

Well, Junior is not particularly happy to be handled but it can be done - simply because she's not able to run away so efficiently. And she doesn't panic when held.

So yes, other things permitting, there could be a day session also. But I'm happy to report that over the night she mostly eats up the food we place in the crate. First all the peas, then most of the corn, after that barley, and the crumble she takes the last and usually leaves about half of it. Peas being best loved and entirely eaten up is great.

Yeah we can buy cracked corn. We can also just crack corn because we have about 100 kilos sitting around But it seems that our ducks have no problem eating whole kernels, including Junior; whether dry or soaked.

We have received inactivated yeast (normally intended for bees as a pollen substitute because of protein content). I have yet to figure out what the best way of serving that would be.

 

[Supercow]

And then it starts to grow in the compost, attracting the deer that peel off the bark of the fruit trees as desert…

When my friends from the city come to visit, they go ooooh deer... And we go oh dear...

 

[Magnolia Ducks]

First experiences with the CCI
(Cheap Chinese Incupator)​

The temperature as per the built-in sensor is stable between 37.5° and 37.7° (99.5 - 99.9F)
How accurate that sensor is, i don't know.

However, this morning i threw one of the sensor modules of my cheap chinese weather-station (CCWS) into the incubator and it was measuring 34.4° (93.9F) the whole day long. In the evening i covered the sensor with a plastic container and since then it shows 35.1° (95.1F).

So the gel-packs are being held at a constant temperature of 37.5° but the air temperature within the incubator is ~2.5° cooler. There is no fan moving the air around in that box.

@Pyxis @Magnolia Ducks @shawluvsbirds - do you have any experience with a still air incubator? Should…

… the eggs just be placed on top of the gel-pack, the warmth will spread from below through the whole egg​

… the eggs be placed on top of the gel-pack and covered with a cotton cloth (there came one with the incubator)​

… something else be done with the eggs.​

As said, i am not planning on hatching eggs from start to the end in that thing, its just in case of an emergency situation, when a duck leaves the nest with the first hatched ducklings and abandons the remaining eggs that are in different stages of development.

My experience with CCIis dead eggs. Maybe 1 of 7 hatch. I learned early on to spend for a good incubator. My mini Brinsea is set and forget it. I often get 100% hatch out of it. I bought a Nurture Right because it was half the cost of a bigger Brinsea and I've been sorry about it. I only get about 50% hatch out of it.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Well, Junior is not particularly happy to be handled but it can be done - simply because she's not able to run away so efficiently. And she doesn't panic when held.

So yes, other things permitting, there could be a day session also. But I'm happy to report that over the night she mostly eats up the food we place in the crate. First all the peas, then most of the corn, after that barley, and the crumble she takes the last and usually leaves about half of it. Peas being best loved and entirely eaten up is great.

Yeah we can buy cracked corn. We can also just crack corn because we have about 100 kilos sitting around But it seems that our ducks have no problem eating whole kernels, including Junior; whether dry or soaked.

We have received inactivated yeast (normally intended for bees as a pollen substitute because of protein content). I have yet to figure out what the best way of serving that would be.

Nutritional yeast or Brewer's yeast? just beware not all brewers yeast has B3 in it. But sprinkle 1 Tab for each cup of feed.

 

[rjohns39]

Good morning / evening folks

 

[Canadian Wind]

This year is crazy by all means, look at my cabbage patch:

The ducks will be so happy in Winter!

Any kids in the cabbage patch??