Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[nuklee0]

Funny story.   DH pretends he doesn't care about the chickens.  However, he got up this morning and checked on the sick chick in the incubator even before he made his coffee!  

After that he made a typical comment about how much more fun chicks are than children.  

LOL!

 

[littleredwagon]

@nuklee0 Awesome. You better let me know when they start hatching then. We are so close!

 

[Mia_]

@Cockatrice Thank you. I love taking pictures. We are down to one viable egg. I candled last night and saw the embryo busy trying to flip itself. Today is day 17. Tiny peeps soon, hopefully!

Today is day 17 for my 5 eggs too!

It's my first time hatching and I'm starting to get nervous. They are from my roo I just lost a few days ago so I'm really hoping they survive.

 

[AimToMisbehave]

I don't have any ducks and considered getting some because we have so many slugs at our place... Are they any harder/easier to care for than chickens?

I'm afraid I haven't had chickens since I was a kid, so I can't give a super detailed care comparison, but people with both usually find ducks are much messier. Mine are determined mud pit excavators, so I definitely believe it! Ducks do love slugs and worms, but some breeds forage more than others; I have runners because they're supposed to be one of the best foraging breeds, plus decent layers to boot. I love them ^_^
[Video]

 

[AimToMisbehave]

Maybe you need to hatch your own ducks so they imprint on humans when they hatch.  Would that make them friendlier?  My neighbor ordered ducklings from a hatchery and they are not social with people.  She loves them though.  They eat all the slugs and quack a lot.  

Imprinting makes it easier, but hatchery ducks can be socialized with treats and patience Our first group was 8 days old and SUPER flighty when we first got them, but we sat with them every day, talking to them and giving them little treats, and now they come running when they see us! They're not huge on being picked up or handled, but that's not a problem for me I have Indian Runners, which tend to be a bit more energetic, so I think the breed has something to do with it too.

 

[nuklee0]

@nuklee0 Awesome. You better let me know when they start hatching then. We are so close!

I'll be sure to do that. So I'm not sure if it was my imagination but I swore I saw a couple of eggs wiggle very slightly. Does it matter if we go into lockdown tonight or tomorrow?

 

[nuklee0]

I'm afraid I haven't had chickens since I was a kid, so I can't give a super detailed care comparison, but people with both usually find ducks are much messier. Mine are determined mud pit excavators, so I definitely believe it! Ducks do love slugs and worms, but some breeds forage more than others; I have runners because they're supposed to be one of the best foraging breeds, plus decent layers to boot. I love them ^_^
[Video]

And they look just as entertaining as chickens! Lol. Thanks for sharing the video.

 

[Frindizzle]

Our first rumpless tufted aracauna egg! I've waited since childhood to be able to hold one of these again, and finally, finally they're starting to lay! We've had a stomach virus going through our house and I've felt like absolute poo pile until now.

Congrats on the egg! Hope you all feel better soon.

 

[Cockatrice6420]

Congrats on the egg! Hope you all feel better soon.

Thank you.

 

[Cockatrice6420]

We went to the mushroom show and took some of what we have here to be identified. Only one of the 5 identified was toxic, but it's used for making dye. It was neat, they have tables set up with all these little micro habitats and live specimens of just about every fungi you can imagine. They had everything in categories of edible, inedible, toxic, and deadly. It's nice to see live specimens rather than just pics and written descrption.