The Quack Shack

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Doesn't your local Rural King have any cheaper ones anymore? Ours does not have Muscovy but I know a guy not far from me that sells the adults. I have always traded ducks with him so I don't know how much he sells the females for. Could you let one of your females hatch you out some ducklings in the spring so they would watch over them in a protected area?

Of course, i can pick up cheap ducklings at RK or TSC, but i need more female ducks and all those big duck stores sell is unsexed...

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Late to this (lost my laptop to a cup of tea). @WannaBeHillBilly I'm so sorry to hear this! I know your pain all too well.

I hope you manage to figure something out. Like Shaw said, see if you can find used fencing. There must be people giving it away online, or at least selling it for cheap. I was going to redo all of mine last Spring, before the hit the fan and everything went to h*ll in a tractor-trailer.

to you, my friend.

LOL! - There a reasons why i use a separate keyboard and mouse with laptops, one of it is the danger of hot tea outside of cups…

I looked into several asocial networks, community sites and re-stores and all i found was folks in the same situation like me: Searching for cheap or free fencing…

However, my main problem is the physical fence construction: Even if you provide me with an infinite amount of material and time, i simply do not know (yet) how to setup fencing on my uneven terrain!

 

[Supercow]

You probably need to dig it in anyway, or the fox/coyote will... that was our experience

 

[Luv Ducks]

Of course, i can pick up cheap ducklings at RK or TSC, but i need more female ducks and all those big duck stores sell is unsexed...

So true Frank. I am lucky that a guy about 45 minutes from me has young ducks and that is where I got my female Muscovy duck from. I also got a Khaki Campbell from him too that was a female. They are old enough that I was able to tell the sex of them. I found him on Craigslist. Ones I ever got from TSC ended up being males and the ones from RK when I bought 2 at a time were a male and female. Good luck on finding some girls.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Provided oxalic acid for bees today. That's the winter treatment, usually in mid-December (when there is no brood) and it's very, very effective against varroa.

Right now all 5 of the hives are doing well, both the 2 older ones and the 3 from this year (1 natural swarm, 2 human-made). The real test is always February.

The ducks have some more freedom of movement during winter in order to not mess up the soil in the orchard too much. They are all in support of this change. We shoo them away when they show signs of wanting to fertilize the terrace

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Usually Oxalic Acid is used in late autumn here, when the hive switches from collecting bees to winter bees; you don't want the winter-bee larvae falling victim to the varroa mites.

Last weekend i lost my hive again to the extreme temperature swings, going from +20° down to -17° (68F → 1F) in less than 24 hours was too much. Even though a tarp as a windbreak was installed and they had sugar and a candy-bar in the attic.
I assume i will skip 2026 as a bee year and try to build some better insulated hive-boxes and a solid weather protection for multiple hives and then in 2027…

 

[Supercow]

Usually Oxalic Acid is used in late autumn here, when the hive switches from collecting bees to winter bees; you don't want the winter-bee larvae falling victim to the varroa mites.

Last weekend i lost my hive again to the extreme temperature swings, going from +20° down to -17° (68F → 1F) in less than 24 hours was too much. Even though a tarp as a windbreak was installed and they had sugar and a candy-bar in the attic.
I assume i will skip 2026 as a bee year and try to build some better insulated hive-boxes and a solid weather protection for multiple hives and then in 2027…

That's really a tremendous temp swing

Over here the rule is to give oxalic in December because there is no brood in the hives - since oxalic can't enter the covered cells. In the summer and autumn we use formic acid which can.