Thread formerly known as Hatch day is today

[JulieNKC]

Julie, old gal. milk jugs with small holes cut for heads at a suitable height it an excellent way to water baby waterfowl in the brooder....and it prevents 70% of the mess. I like to put it in the corner with an old lipped cookie sheet under it, so everything stays nice and dry for about a day and half. Hundreds of little Khakis and pekings later, I know for me its the easiest and cleanest possible way.

Thanks Marty. I've done that with half gallon jugs for chick feeders, I don't know why I never tried a bigger jug for the ducks' water. I've got 2 fully grown "ducklings" inside right now. One I brooded by itself, the other I kept a buddy for, but a hawk got it awhile back and the ducklings chicken buddy just went to Psue's house. My little guy is still learning he's a duck and that the little girl wants to be friends and not eat him, so until he learns that I've got a big mess to deal with.

If she even looks at him he goes nuts trying to jump out of the brooder and knocks everything everywhere. He did settle down enough while "swimming" in the bathtub last night that he stopped trying to jump to mommy and splashed around a little, so I'm hoping a few more bathtub playdates and he'll learn to like her company, so I can move them outside.

 

[Marty1876]

Its too bad so many dugs get the "they are gonna eat me" syndrom. One day sweet little babies, next day complete freaks.

 

[Iain Utah]

Marty, sorry you are not feeling well. I bet the early mornings to milk your goats do not help.

 

[Goin Quackrrs]

We give them a bowl of water every day too, but the water bottle keeps water in front of them 24/7 without the play mess of constantly filling the bowls. It gets pretty messy very quickly so the water bottles work great for us. This is just the way we do it and everyone does it differently

. When they go outside they get large bowls but while in the house the water bottles help keep things less messy and stinky.
Yep. we do offer a bowl of water every day too.
Ours are loud

Weird. Of course, I have pekins and they never stop making noise, so maybe it's a difference in perception.

As in m/f pairs? Does Holderread sell goslings in sexed pairs?

I thought Holderread only sold straight run.

 

[Marty1876]

Marty, sorry you are not feeling well. I bet the early mornings to milk your goats do not help.

Maybe. I've considered that, but honestly, since dad died I stopped taking vitamins/suppliments, stopped excercising, had loads of stress getting all his affairs worked out and finalized, I think I just plump wore myself out and didn't take good care of me.

Bought suppliemnts and joined the gym again today.

 

[Iain Utah]

I bet that is it. Those were tough times and you got a second hit with the dog attack. Good on ya for taking better care of yourself and joining the gym. I have a new year's resolution for my one fat dog to lose weight, so we take daily walks. We are up to 5 miles 5-6 days per week and I'm feeling it. Wished the footing was better because I'd be riding a horse by now with the growing distance.

 

[ChristineR]

Holderread's will sell goslings in pairs, not ducklings. They won't sell extra females.

Sorry you're not feeling well, Marty. Are you sure you don't have a reoccurring infection somewhere? One year I was constantly sick. As soon as I was off antibiotics I got sick again. It was my tonsils. After they were out, I quit getting sick. Another year it was constant sinus infections. I finally got rid of those by using a Neal Med squeeze bottle.

It's pretty surprising how sick an infection in a localized area can make you feel.

 

[QuackerJackFarms]

Oh, and HI QJ, How did I forget her??? I'm so sorry.

RG, GQ, Christine, Iain, Psue, CoyoteNight, CelticOaks, EyeHeart, and now we need Stillmecle....

Did I miss anyone this time?

DG!

I have read most of these post and learned a ton and today is hatch day for us. We are newbies and this is our first hatch and just a few minutes ago our first duckling popped out. How long do we leave him in the bator before removing him?

Welcome!

Bators running & hatching a few Project Eggs & 12 Konzas ~ & some of my own Brahmas ~ All at 97.5 degrees

What are the Project Eggs?

I'm still waiting for eggs here before I fire up my bator.

I'm Always waiting on eggs!

and

She's gorgeous

So here's a question for you all: does Meyer Hatchery actually hatch its own ducks? Cause I was looking around and, lo and behold, nearly all the pictures they use are pictures from Metzer Farms. Makes me wonder.

Interesting!

We have 13 little babies Pekin and Ancona mix and still hatching! Not sure what to do with all these babies my son got an incubator for Christmas since our little girl decided she was too good to sit on her eggs. We weren't sure how many would hatch and so far out of 18, 13 have hatched so far we may need to get us a plan together.

Plans always come together AFTER the hatch. lol

We have switched over to water bottles for the ducklings. Things get way to messy the otherwise. While they are less than a week old they get a normal water cup to drink from but once they are a week or so old we transition them to the water bottle. They pick up on it very quickly because they are attracted to the shiny metal. It's really helped knock the stink down in the inside brooder. Plus frequent cleaning of course.

I'm going to have to try this.

I put a small pan of water in with my ducklings along with a regular chick waterer (mason jar turned upside down). They love it.

Hey Farm Girl!

Ours are loud

I have a couple that are loud like my call hen/mallard. And the others super quiet.

Right! We love hatching dewlaps! Why, it's almost on art form! LOL

Sorry I havn't been on much, for some reason at the end of my antibiotics, I have fallen ill yet again. I don't know what is up with my poor body. I went out and bought a lot of vitamins and suppliments (b complex, potassium, d, iron, a multi, etc) incase I'm short on something. Got to bolster that immunity I guess.

Take it easy there girl.

Julie, old gal. milk jugs with small holes cut for heads at a suitable height it an excellent way to water baby waterfowl in the brooder....and it prevents 70% of the mess. I like to put it in the corner with an old lipped cookie sheet under it, so everything stays nice and dry for about a day and half. Hundreds of little Khakis and pekings later, I know for me its the easiest and cleanest possible way.

I have 50 milk jugs in my basement. Been saving them for some unknown reason. lol
I'll have to try this.

Bought suppliemnts and joined the gym again today.

Garlic and Fish Oil to boost the immune system. I'm a huge supplement girl.

 

[Marty1876]

QJ- always awesome to see you! You really should try to milk jugs.

Now, I eat a lot of garlic, but I don't have any fish oil right now (but I used to take it). OK, that and calcium are on my drugstore list today. I'm actually feeling better since I restarted the supplimens yesterday. I'm not awesome, but I don't feel weak and tired, hopefully all my ducks will be in a row soon, and I'll be back in the hatch fast track.

 

[Coyote Night]

Weird. Of course, I have pekins and they never stop making noise, so maybe it's a difference in perception.

That very well could be because for my comparison I have Runners which are super quiet and Anconas which are not much louder than the Runners. Thats all the duck breeds I have for comparison. I honestly don't mind the noise but I could see if you had close neighbors or a disgruntle husband how that would be an issue. We live out in the sticks ........ the ducks are the least noisiest thing compared to the donkeys. LOL those cute little donkeys we rescued