The Quack Shack

[WannaBeHillBilly]

i am doing experiment with my purple potato patch this year i am allowing the weeds to do the hilling for me…. View attachment 3839615this is front of house around crow feeder barrel where i dumped dozens of bags of used goose and duck bedding in a circle, and then added compost and planted potatoes last year they came out awesome this year the weeds marched in - experiment has begun

I run a similar experiment this year: i dumped the last remaining potatoes from last year into one of my raised beds. - I had removed the soil from it to let it rest this year, it is in a bad spot anyways…
Then covered the potatoes with several loads of grass cuttings and kitchen scraps, basically using it as my temporary compost bin. I cannot clean out the dux house at the moment due to the broodies, so my regular compost pile is kind of inoperable at the moment.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

I put these six duck eggs from these two beautiful ladies under my broody hen today. they are my new friends from a flock that was fox attacked and they survived- they had a Drake with them up until six days ago. Which three eggs do you think are from which duck? View attachment 3839617View attachment 3839618

Egg 1,2 and 5 is from the brown duck (Khaki?) and 3,4 and 6 from the black one.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

inside my old run that i like to leave open for an extra hiding place - some kind of mold or fungus? is it dangerous should i keep the run closed until i do something about it ? spray with bleach and scrape off maybe? it’s also a rain shelter for a baby pool filled with dust bath for the chickens . Its old but i don’t really want to tear the whole thing down. View attachment 3840103

Just plain old wood-fungus, responsible for that »earthy smell« of fresh compost soil. Not harmful at all, its the sing that the wood has started to decompose rapidly, it will become "puny" very quickly.
The same fungus that i have observed developing in the piles of wood-chips when those get too wet.
The harmful molds are the colourful ones, especially black and green.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Had five more babies hatch yesterday. Running out of places to put them all, lol! Right now I have a total of 14, three of which are Muscovy (eggs got mixed up in the nest boxes) and one that I purchased last week (a chocolate magpie!). Also have about 2 dozen more eggs in the incubators, all at varying stages.

Here's a slightly fuzzy pic of the fuzzy babies that just hatched, passed out with the 'scovy ducklings:

View attachment 3840126

SO MUCH POOP!

Fuzzy indeed! - I have to dust off my screen now.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

How did you know which ones were the Scovy Babies?

The little bills of the 'scovies have a tiny hook at the end.

 

[Canadian Wind]

Wow, I don't see how you do it. My four in the house was enough to almost due me in and that was why I moved the Rouen ducklings out at about 3 weeks. Cool nights did not hurt them a bit and they loved being separated from the rest of the flock and in a big pen to themselves. My Calls got moved out at 5 weeks and they are also in a separate pen. They will have to stay alone with just each other since one is a girl and my drakes will try to mate her. Will you sell your ducklings at the poultry place that sells poultry that you go to? I would not have room for that many. They sure are Cutie Pies!!!

Believe me, by the end of my indoor hatching season (which is in about 3 weeks!) I want nothing to do with all these birds in the trailer!

I've also got 13 month-old silkie mix chicks that I haven't sold yet, plus about 20 other chicks (Chantecler, Brahma, and OEGB) that I picked up from a breeder a couple of weekends ago. These will be the basis for my breeding program that I'll be starting next year.

How did you know which ones were the Scovy Babies?

In this case, their eggs weren't ready to hatch when the quacker eggs were, so I knew they'd be Muscovy. If they'd all hatched at the same time I would have been able to tell by their colour and patterns. I had more trouble last year with this.

 

[Supercow]

Incubator round #2 progress:

Of the 9 remaining eggs, ALL seem in much better shape since I dropped humidity from originally 45% to 35% for several days. Also been cooling and spraying daily (since day 15 or so).

Air sacs large and we can see movement in every egg. Some (3) have air sacs which are not as fully white-transparent as with the other eggs, not sure what that means; still got movement.

Judging by round #1 and some friend's experiences we expect the ducklings to be probably a bit early, we started on April 30, so I'm thinking this weekend should bring us new ducklings.

 

[Magnolia Ducks]

Incubator round #2 progress:

Of the 9 remaining eggs, ALL seem in much better shape since I dropped humidity from originally 45% to 35% for several days. Also been cooling and spraying daily (since day 15 or so).

Air sacs large and we can see movement in every egg. Some (3) have air sacs which are not as fully white-transparent as with the other eggs, not sure what that means; still got movement.

Judging by round #1 and some friend's experiences we expect the ducklings to be probably a bit early, we started on April 30, so I'm thinking this weekend should bring us new ducklings.

I'm not fan of spraying. But a big fan of ducklings

 

[Supercow]

I'm not fan of spraying. But a big fan of ducklings

I can't decide on the spraying either - but it's only round 2, it will take some time before I can say now I've got some relevant experience and can really decide.

 

[Canadian Wind]

I can't decide on the spraying either - but it's only round 2, it will take some time before I can say now I've got some relevant experience and can really decide.

I spray when I remember, lol!