They're here! Welsh Harlequin, Golden 300 Hybrid, Black Swedish - Meet WO!

[Wynette]

HA! Trouble is the perfect name for her, I guess!

Unfortunately, mine cannot be free ranged much due to me not being home during the day. We have tons of both airborne and ground...borne predators, so they have a Ft. Knox of sorts - I needed to know they were safe when I wasn't home, so we spent a good deal of time on our runs.

DH just called me to tell me he found a small egg in the run (he's recuperating from knee surgery)...they always lay in the nest boxes or just outside of the boxes indoors, so maybe another has started to lay!

 

[Miss Lydia]

HA! Trouble is the perfect name for her, I guess!

Unfortunately, mine cannot be free ranged much due to me not being home during the day. We have tons of both airborne and ground...borne predators, so they have a Ft. Knox of sorts - I needed to know they were safe when I wasn't home, so we spent a good deal of time on our runs.

DH just called me to tell me he found a small egg in the run (he's recuperating from knee surgery)...they always lay in the nest boxes or just outside of the boxes indoors, so maybe another has started to lay!

I bet so...

 

[Wynette]

I bet so...

I am THE MOST blessed person on the planet, I believe!

 

[Miss Lydia]

I am THE MOST blessed person on the planet, I believe!

 

[Carcajou]

Your ducklings are too cute. I hope you enjoy them both as juveniles and as adults as I have. Ducks are just neat to have!

 

[Wynette]

Hello, fellow duck lovers!

It's been awhile since I've posted an update on my ducks, so thought I'd do that now.

We lost Gabby, our Golden 300 Hybrid, in the late fall last year. I've no idea what happened, she seemed perfectly normal. One night, she was having trouble hopping up onto the plank that leads to the pophole door, so I picked her up & put her on the plank, and up she waddled. The next morning, I found her dead in the coop. She seemed perfectly fine. She was called Gabby because she was THE MOST talkative of the bunch, from the moment I picked her up out of the shipping box. It was oddly and uncomfortably quiet in the duck pen for 7-10 days, and then they slowly got back to normal, chitty-chatting to each other all day...we sure miss Gabby. I didn't post at the time because I was just so sad about losing her, but I did have a couple of PM conversations with folks. Thanks, guys...

Anyway, the two Welsh Harls (Dolly & Cookie) laid until probably late January, then one stopped. The other has laid almost every day, going maybe 28 days in a row, taking a day off, and starting back up. It's incredible to me. The other Welsh hasn't started back up again, nor has the Black Swede (who had stopped in the fall). Every morning, I think there will be more than one egg, but so far, just the one!

And...a friend gifted me a Black Runner in the late fall, as well. She was supposedly hatched around the same time as mine were, but she never began to lay last year. I'm beginning to wonder if perhaps rather than a very young duck, may she is actually an OLD one? In any event, we think she's gorgeous, and we've named her Dixie. After she went through the pecking order arguments, which lasted maybe 2-3 days (NOTHING like chickens can get), they all get along great. Her'es a pic of Dixie not long after she came to us:

We put a tarp over the west portion and top of the run over the winter, and then OSB over the top & screwed that right to the posts to give them a bit of shelter from the wind coming from the west, so that's the silver that you see in the pic.

We're looking forward to this summer with the ducks - we bought a premade ornamental pond that we're going to install, and we're going to add onto the run for them; my idea is to have 2 separate runs with a pophole between them, and allow them access to the pond side for a few hours per day, but not all day long. That should make for far less mud in the "non pond" side.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Hello, fellow duck lovers!

It's been awhile since I've posted an update on my ducks, so thought I'd do that now.

We lost Gabby, our Golden 300 Hybrid, in the late fall last year. I've no idea what happened, she seemed perfectly normal. One night, she was having trouble hopping up onto the plank that leads to the pophole door, so I picked her up & put her on the plank, and up she waddled. The next morning, I found her dead in the coop. She seemed perfectly fine. She was called Gabby because she was THE MOST talkative of the bunch, from the moment I picked her up out of the shipping box. It was oddly and uncomfortably quiet in the duck pen for 7-10 days, and then they slowly got back to normal, chitty-chatting to each other all day...we sure miss Gabby. I didn't post at the time because I was just so sad about losing her, but I did have a couple of PM conversations with folks. Thanks, guys...

Anyway, the two Welsh Harls (Dolly & Cookie) laid until probably late January, then one stopped. The other has laid almost every day, going maybe 28 days in a row, taking a day off, and starting back up. It's incredible to me. The other Welsh hasn't started back up again, nor has the Black Swede (who had stopped in the fall). Every morning, I think there will be more than one egg, but so far, just the one!

And...a friend gifted me a Black Runner in the late fall, as well. She was supposedly hatched around the same time as mine were, but she never began to lay last year. I'm beginning to wonder if perhaps rather than a very young duck, may she is actually an OLD one? In any event, we think she's gorgeous, and we've named her Dixie. After she went through the pecking order arguments, which lasted maybe 2-3 days (NOTHING like chickens can get), they all get along great. Her'es a pic of Dixie not long after she came to us:

We put a tarp over the west portion and top of the run over the winter, and then OSB over the top & screwed that right to the posts to give them a bit of shelter from the wind coming from the west, so that's the silver that you see in the pic.

We're looking forward to this summer with the ducks - we bought a premade ornamental pond that we're going to install, and we're going to add onto the run for them; my idea is to have 2 separate runs with a pophole between them, and allow them access to the pond side for a few hours per day, but not all day long. That should make for far less mud in the "non pond" side.

thanks for catching us up, and so sorry to hear about Gabby too. and Dixie is a doll.

 

[Wynette]

Dixie.

Thanks, friend! Glad to have a few minutes to hang w/my duck peeps for a bit!

 

[Wynette]

HOLY COW! I last posted on Thursday, then, Saturday morning, I found THIS in the nest box:



I thought...what in the world...did one of the ducks somehow bring in a large stone, and place it in the nest box??? It was partially buried in the shavings in the nest box. I retrieved it, and HOLY COW - it's an EGG! Dixie laid her first egg!

Then on Sunday, ANOTHER egg, and on Sunday, ANOTHER, each progressively lighter - of which I'm glad, becuase that first one sorta freaked me out:



THE, so my utter surprise and amazement, this morning, she laid TWO eggs! Yes, I am absolutely positive it was Dixie. I only have 3 other ducks, and they all began laying last year, and all lay white eggs. The two on the far right are what I found this morning:




The two from this morning both "seem" to be normal...not thin shelled or anything. I am SURE she won't lay again tomorrow. Poor gal needs a break!

Just wanted to share my exciting news. I was actually wondering, over winter, if Dixie in fact was an old duck rather than a youngster as I was told she was, but with the darkness of the first eggs and her laying two this morning, I believe she IS a young duck as indicated!

 

[Miss Lydia]

HOLY COW! I last posted on Thursday, then, Saturday morning, I found THIS in the nest box:



I thought...what in the world...did one of the ducks somehow bring in a large stone, and place it in the nest box??? It was partially buried in the shavings in the nest box. I retrieved it, and HOLY COW - it's an EGG! Dixie laid her first egg!

Then on Sunday, ANOTHER egg, and on Sunday, ANOTHER, each progressively lighter - of which I'm glad, becuase that first one sorta freaked me out:



THE, so my utter surprise and amazement, this morning, she laid TWO eggs! Yes, I am absolutely positive it was Dixie. I only have 3 other ducks, and they all began laying last year, and all lay white eggs. The two on the far right are what I found this morning:




The two from this morning both "seem" to be normal...not thin shelled or anything. I am SURE she won't lay again tomorrow. Poor gal needs a break!

Just wanted to share my exciting news. I was actually wondering, over winter, if Dixie in fact was an old duck rather than a youngster as I was told she was, but with the darkness of the first eggs and her laying two this morning, I believe she IS a young duck as indicated!

Wow I just saw your post Lady and how exciting is this, yay for you and yay for Dixie, that egg color looks black is that normal for Runners? Congrats.