The Quack Shack

[Luv Ducks]

I know! Nobody is willing to take responsibilities today because the attorneys have become so - rich. Btw: Becoming blind by staring into the sun is way overrated. You won't permanently damage your eyes by just looking at the sun. You must be very pain-tolerant to actually damage your eyes by staring into the sun for more than 60 seconds - that's when damage to the retina becomes permanent.
Well, at least the little rascals have a day off and the opportunity to watch that spectacle.

Yes and I get the day off too so I am happy for all of us!!! lol

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Maybe I'm too much under the influence of working with plants. Let me explain[...]

... But a duck lays an egg every day or so. Maybe very good layers are very bad mothers exactly because there are so many eggs - "meh, eggs are cheap, I'm not gonna care for them".

And that's where your thinking went a bit off track: Wild Mallards do not just lay an egg a day or so. They carefully select a nesting location, then lay a clutch of eggs and start sitting.
Momma Mallard will defend her nest with her life, going on the attack against predators twice her size, pretending to be injured to draw the attention away from her eggs, doing everything in her power to make sure that her eggs and later her ducklings will survive. That includes walking her offspring to a certain HillBilly who is dumb enough to make weird noises when he spots the little ones and hands out large quantities of free food.
There is nothing wrong with going for the best available equipment if you can afford it and it is important enough for you.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

I am curious as to how they'll react to getting nighttime early...

They will all turn on you, demanding their supper. - NOW!

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

I was thinking that maybe it's a realistic idea to have one Muscovy in the flock who would then be everybody's broody mama. Her own ducklings would be sterile (I think?) but they would also look different so the situation would not arise where I give/sell somebody a "good layer" and they get a mule.

... Actually as it seems now (reading along) a mallard-family drake and a female Muscovy create a hinny which does lay eggs although they won't hatch; I wonder what kind of egg production a Khaki drake would bring into the mix - would it be Khaki superstar level or not.

I was told, that if you want to produce any eggs, stay away from Muscovies. The hens are born broody and they will collect everything that even remotely looks like an egg (golfballs, large nuts, even round rocks) and start to sit, viciously defending their Precious…
And if the eggs of your Khaki Hens are fertile, you will be overrun with duxlings in no time.

 

[Supercow]

And that's where your thinking went a bit off track: Wild Mallards do not just lay an egg a day or so. They carefully select a nesting location, then lay a clutch of eggs and start sitting.
Momma Mallard will defend her nest with her life, going on the attack against predators twice her size, pretending to be injured to draw the attention away from her eggs, doing everything in her power to make sure that her eggs and later her ducklings will survive. That includes walking her offspring to a certain HillBilly who is dumb enough to make weird noises when he spots the little ones and hands out large quantities of free food.
There is nothing wrong with going for the best available equipment if you can afford it and it is important enough for you.

Yes, that's the case for wild ducks ... Khakis are a very different situation. They are large-numbers-method followers... Lay zounds of eggs and hope for the best. More like a frog than a mallard So I figured they would need a hand to get to an outcome better than the one nature provides. Since I can't buy experience, I buy equipment.

The incubator seems happy now, needed a tweak with the water pump, I think I have it figured out (famous last words).

 

[Jenbirdee]

Cornmeal and baking soda mixed and set out will get them taken care of.

what happens? they explode?

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

I think I'm already regretting my purchase. They are very cute and much cleaner than ducklings. I guess they are going to run away.

Don't give up so fast! - It is not too difficult to tame them and get them used to their coop.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

My bigger Drake seems to only like a couple of the ducks that I have, they are his favorite and my Calls only seem to like the Mallards and Khaki Campbells, I think because they can reach them better, lol.

If you have a larger flock, they will split up into groups, even single pairs of duck and drake and forage around. Every drake seems to have his favorite ducks, but there always seems to be a single duck that becomes everydrakes favorite…

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Yes, that's the case for wild ducks ... Khakis are a very different situation. They are large-numbers-method followers... Lay zounds of eggs and hope for the best. More like a frog than a mallard So I figured they would need a hand to get to an outcome better than the one nature provides. Since I can't buy experience, I buy equipment.

The incubator seems happy now, needed a tweak with the water pump, I think I have it figured out (famous last words).

One thing that i experienced with my CCI was, that if the eggs are approaching hatch day, they start to produce their own heat. Lot's of heat. So the high temperature alert on my styrofoam-box went off over and over again - it was also very warm outside, so i ended up having to regulate the temperature by opening the lid more or less, like the windows in a green-house.
Keeping the eggs on the cold side is better than over-heating.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

what happens? they explode?

There is that (imho) urban legend that they can't fart or burp and die from the gas-buildup in their intestines. - From hat i have seen them eating in my garage (leather gloves, plywood, styrofoam, shoe-soles,…) they will survive the baking-soda poisoning attempt with ease. You may end up with rocket-propelled mice…