Things you wish you knew

[neetabeamie]

I am gong to be makeing a YouTube channel featuring my ducks and information on ducks.
I Am trying to gather questions that you had when you were reasurching weather to get ducks. And or what you wish you would have known sooner.
I would greatly appreciate responses. Thank you!!

 

[neetabeamie]

For My first post on my YouTube channel:

I am going to record going to the post office, receiving the ducklings( I am SO excited!)
Then getting them home and all set up in there brooder.
I am gong to talk about:

The ordering and shipping of ducklings.
How the ducks can survive shipping.
Getting to the post office as soon as you can the day they arrive.
Receiving the ducklings ( opening the container in front of the postal worker) if there are any casualties and what to do.

What to do when you get your ducklings home ( this will be filmed at my home)
Showing the ducklings where the water is, Brooder information, what to watch for that first day. What food and supplements to provide etc.

Any thoughts?
Is there anything important or good to knowI am leaving out?

 

[cayugaducklady]

Those are good topics.

My local post office doesn't allow anyone to open their chick packages in the post office. You pick then up at the side/back door and you're expected to head back to your car immediately. It might just be how my local post office is because they receive a LOT of baby chickens through their doors every year.

I wish I'd spent even more months making my winter plan. I started in earnest after the ducklings arrived and I wish I'd started in earnest before I placed the order for them because then I might have had time to do some infrastructure projects (outside electricity, frost free faucets)

I wish I'd learned more about planning for disasters, too. I live some place that frequently has winter weather that causes 1-2 week blackouts while things are being repaired in the county & surrounding areas. I also have hurricanes to deal with.

 

[neetabeamie]

That is interesting that they don't allow you to open the box of ducklings there. On most hatchery websight it explicitly stated that if you have insurance you needed to do this in front of a postal worker incase there are losses so that you can collect on the insurance.

 

[lomine]

This sounds like a fun project. It may be good to add something about contacting the post office beforehand to ask their procedures. I did that so I had an idea of what to expect. I agree it is weird that a post office wouldn't let you open the box.

Something else that might be worth noting is any emergency supplies, like electrolytes, first aid supplies, etc. You may also want to cover what is needed in the brooder (heat, types of bedding, space requirements).

 

[Amiga]

I would have liked to have a better grip on the water management. That may have been the biggest challenge of brooding the ducklings.

And I suspect the reason my ducks don't like to eat anything red may be because I never gave them red stuff to eat. They love peas - introduced them early on, and lettuce, same. But they are much less interested in treats they did not have as ducklings.

Oh, and the stage that many ducklings go through in which they seem to - overnight - go from being comfortable or even cuddly, to being terrified of their keeper. That was rough.

Ditto on the extreme weather and emergency stuff. We have done fine, but I have had some days where I felt really strained to figure things out with weather closing in.

 

[cayugaducklady]

This sounds like a fun project. It may be good to add something about contacting the post office beforehand to ask their procedures. I did that so I had an idea of what to expect. I agree it is weird that a post office wouldn't let you open the box.

Definitely call before hand. My local PO has its own procedures for pickup before office hours so you can get your chicks out of their hair .

 

[Yooperducker]

Did you ever do that youtube channel? If so what is it called?