Thread formerly known as Hatch day is today

[bhhastin]

Thanks, Celtic! Except for a couple of snags, it was a very good hatch overall. 100% hatch rate, not too shabby!

Yeah, Champion, I would imagine selling would be hard. I'm giving mine away to coworkers (I'm a teacher and put out a district-wide email before Christmas break that I was expecting ducklings, and got tons of replies. I was surprised so many people wanted ducklings, had enough takers that I could pick and choose who to give them to).

And Lydia, yeah, I had seven eggs total, the last one didn't hatch until this morning, with much drama, but all seven eventually hatched.

Thanks for the help Marty (and everyone). I am very grateful for everyone taking time to listen as I fretted and all the kind words of encouragement!

 

[Goin Quackrrs]

Ok, got some pics. Is there anything I should be doing? Thinking maybe wrapping in a warm wet paper towel.

I've had a few hatch like that. I see your little one is fluffed up and catching up with the others now. I usually put a dab of neosporin ointment on the swollen part and put in a tupperware in the brooder with the others.

So sorry you had another attack. A good predator is a dead predator. Good luck hunting,trapping it. Hope Crackers recovers for you well and you can get him new friends after taking care of that pred.



bhh............very cute ducklings, congrats and good job with the first hatch. As Marty said it is addictive so dont be surprised if you want to do it again.


Busy as always around here...........Today was official retirement day for hubby from Air Force! had a customer bring us a homemade wine and steaks to celebrate. Fun knowing he never has to report again or be deployed to parts unknown.

Hope everyone is staying warm and safe, saw the winter storm news today. Cant imagine doing waterfowl in snow.

Glad your hubby is finally getting his retirement!

I would love to know what got your ducks so keep us updated. I too have a similar situation except I know exactly what got my $400 worth of silkie ducks. Bobcats in my case but my dog (miniature poodle mix) tracked down the trail that led all the way back to a den along the creek duck feathers at the entrance as well as on the trail leading to it. So far they have not been back (I suspect from our scent all over their trail) but trap is set and waiting I do think the trap needs to be closer to the den but the men in my family always know best

Sucks being under attack and sorry you lost them all

Did you hear back from the person on Craigslist? I saw they reposted their ad.

Honestly, when I saw what happened to your silkie ducks, I decided not to raise them myself. Can't afford to lose that much investment, no matter how cute and sweet-tempered they are.

 

[psue]

So sorry you had another attack. A good predator is a dead predator. Good luck hunting,trapping it. Hope Crackers recovers for you well and you can get him new friends after taking care of that pred.



bhh............very cute ducklings, congrats and good job with the first hatch. As Marty said it is addictive so dont be surprised if you want to do it again.


Busy as always around here...........Today was official retirement day for hubby from Air Force! had a customer bring us a homemade wine and steaks to celebrate. Fun knowing he never has to report again or be deployed to parts unknown.

Hope everyone is staying warm and safe, saw the winter storm news today. Cant imagine doing waterfowl in snow.

for official retirement!!!!!! With all the ice and snow here I was wishing for your weather the other day

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Morning Paula............ We have the front here now that just snowed across the country. Rain all night, grey this morning but 70's. I dont envy those who have to break ice daily. How is Jerry doing?

 

[Marty1876]

Celtic - Congrats on Hubbies retirement! How is is doing, anyway? Felling back to 100%?

I for one (of many many) am tired of breaking ice. I did buy a heated bucket for the community pen (ducks/geese/turkeys), and another water heater for the goats water (yes, I took pains to insure no nibbling of cords). I have one heater left I bough, and I'm debating about putting togather all the chickens for now, so I don't have to keep breaking their water either. That would make life much easier, but I'm reluctant to put 4 month old birds in with 1 year old birds. The Javas are quite large, and the others are still little.

I seem to have a cold or allergy attack this morning. It was not fun going out to do chores before sun up. However, my goat is now giving me just under a quart of milk a day. Much better than the 1.5 cups I was getting the first two weeks. I finally got mad and just went to 2x milking a day, and now she's very happy and giving much more. Its still increasing every day, so I'm making cheese and yogurt. I received a cheese press and more hard cheese starter cultures for christmas, so I'm saving up two gallons to make a chedder.

 

[psue]

Morning Paula............ We have the front here now that just snowed across the country. Rain all night, grey this morning but 70's. I dont envy those who have to break ice daily. How is Jerry doing?

Jerry's doing ok considering. He has surgery on the 16th to remove the rest of his teeth. Then getting dentures March - ish. They tried to just pull them on the 26th but couldn't get it numb.
Rain gives you slippery mudd and snow gives us ice........ sounds like we all need to be careful out there

Celtic - Congrats on Hubbies retirement! How is is doing, anyway? Felling back to 100%?

I for one (of many many) am tired of breaking ice. I did buy a heated bucket for the community pen (ducks/geese/turkeys), and another water heater for the goats water (yes, I took pains to insure no nibbling of cords). I have one heater left I bough, and I'm debating about putting togather all the chickens for now, so I don't have to keep breaking their water either. That would make life much easier, but I'm reluctant to put 4 month old birds in with 1 year old birds. The Javas are quite large, and the others are still little.

I seem to have a cold or allergy attack this morning. It was not fun going out to do chores before sun up. However, my goat is now giving me just under a quart of milk a day. Much better than the 1.5 cups I was getting the first two weeks. I finally got mad and just went to 2x milking a day, and now she's very happy and giving much more. Its still increasing every day, so I'm making cheese and yogurt. I received a cheese press and more hard cheese starter cultures for christmas, so I'm saving up two gallons to make a chedder.

I finally have it so I dont have to break ice with the exceptions of pools if they ice over (

when it get colder then the weatherman calls for) I have 3x as many water bottles for the rabbits as I need so those I just trade out and let the frozen ones thaw in the house.

 

[Iain Utah]

Breaking ice is no fun. I am so lucky to have a year-round mountain spring fed pond and stream on my horse property so I don't have to water anyone there, but I do have to daily clean/refill the dewlaps' water buckets. Hubby (bless his heart) has been doing it for me for the past couple of weeks so I'm not killing my back to do it. Between the horror stories I know of horses getting electrocuted and poor Ruru's goose, I think I'll stay away from heated waterers.

Jerry, OUCH!!!

Best of luck getting through the upcoming surgery. Wish you didn't have to wait so long to get it fixed. Sounds so painful.

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Celtic - Congrats on Hubbies retirement! How is is doing, anyway? Felling back to 100%?

I for one (of many many) am tired of breaking ice. I did buy a heated bucket for the community pen (ducks/geese/turkeys), and another water heater for the goats water (yes, I took pains to insure no nibbling of cords). I have one heater left I bough, and I'm debating about putting togather all the chickens for now, so I don't have to keep breaking their water either. That would make life much easier, but I'm reluctant to put 4 month old birds in with 1 year old birds. The Javas are quite large, and the others are still little.

I seem to have a cold or allergy attack this morning. It was not fun going out to do chores before sun up. However, my goat is now giving me just under a quart of milk a day. Much better than the 1.5 cups I was getting the first two weeks. I finally got mad and just went to 2x milking a day, and now she's very happy and giving much more. Its still increasing every day, so I'm making cheese and yogurt. I received a cheese press and more hard cheese starter cultures for christmas, so I'm saving up two gallons to make a chedder.

Marty, he will never be 100% ever again sadly. Some days he is OK, but most days he is just half ok. Its sad and frustrating for him. he went from running a sprint with 350lbs on his back as a medic to not being able to lift and carry a feed bag from our driveway to the brooder house. He tires easily, over heats easily, and has bad neurological damage in his hands that will never be better. So I do most of the building now, he can hold and help cut but nothing major. Our teen ager is a huge help setting fence posts and moving hay as needed. Its a new learning curve, but we are getting there.


Congrats on the goat relaxing and giving more milk! Look forward to hearing about your cheddar adventure.

Quote: Hope the surgery and new denture fittings goes smoothly. Sounds like Jerry will need to have some good soups and loaded mashed potatoes between procedures. (darn VA can be sooooooooooo slow in getting things done)

yeah lots of mud in bare spots around here. The ramp to the brooder house was slick this morning I slide down on my heals like it was ice lol.


We shuffled the Alfa Dewlap flock to the south east area today. They are loving it since we seeded with yellow clover, red clover, timothy, oat, wheat, and rye. They will get a few weeks on it before resting it again. They can see in the living room now and have sent the morning peeking past the front porch and yelling at us.

 

[Coyote Night]

Did you hear back from the person on Craigslist? I saw they reposted their ad.

Honestly, when I saw what happened to your silkie ducks, I decided not to raise them myself. Can't afford to lose that much investment, no matter how cute and sweet-tempered they are.

Nope didn't get any response back. I'm going to assume they don't want to ship then. I did however go ahead and put in my duckling order with Holderread. This means I won't have anything this year with maybe a small possibility in the fall if some of the girls surprise me with some eggs then. I ordered 5 Top Show Quality because that's all I could afford and filled the rest of the order with 5 Top Show Quality penciled runnners. hoping my order gets to them by monday so I'm in on the 25% deposit.

It was a huge blow to everything we had been working toward and honestly I thought getting 1 drake would not be this big of an issue because the drake to hen ratio means people generally have way to many drakes and not enough hens. I was even willing to put in one of my blue fawn heterozygous hens up for trade. If I could go back and do it again I still would..... They are the cutest little ducks and a joy to watch playing in their pools. We now have a LGD puppy in training and plan to put metal roofs on our smaller duck and chicken yards. Obviously we can't do that for the paddocks the Ancona and runners have but overall pen and building construction is getting makeovers this year. We already have ran electric around the top of our 6' perimeter fence and plan to do more.

 

[psue]

Marty, he will never be 100% ever again sadly. Some days he is OK, but most days he is just half ok. Its sad and frustrating for him. he went from running a sprint with 350lbs on his back as a medic to not being able to lift and carry a feed bag from our driveway to the brooder house. He tires easily, over heats easily, and has bad neurological damage in his hands that will never be better. So I do most of the building now, he can hold and help cut but nothing major. Our teen ager is a huge help setting fence posts and moving hay as needed. Its a new learning curve, but we are getting there.
His learning curve and comming to terms with it will be the hardest part.. Jerry still fights against his limitations. Our best to you guys as this new stage of your life begins.

Congrats on the goat relaxing and giving more milk! Look forward to hearing about your cheddar adventure.


Hope the surgery and new denture fittings goes smoothly. Sounds like Jerry will need to have some good soups and loaded mashed potatoes between procedures. (darn VA can be sooooooooooo slow in getting things done)

They are but at least this way all his records stay in one system... and thats whats best for his health

yeah lots of mud in bare spots around here. The ramp to the brooder house was slick this morning I slide down on my heals like it was ice lol.
Becareful!

We shuffled the Alfa Dewlap flock to the south east area today. They are loving it since we seeded with yellow clover, red clover, timothy, oat, wheat, and rye. They will get a few weeks on it before resting it again. They can see in the living room now and have sent the morning peeking past the front porch and yelling at us.
I'm looking at prices to reseed the area ours graze... lack of water really messed things up around here this summer. I'll also need to put up some dividing fences to allow the grass to grow.