Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[Leigti]

Welcome! What part of the state are you from? I don't know anything about ducks except that the ducklings are absolutely adorable. But some knowledgeable people will be around soon.

 

[heavenlyducks]

Welcome! What part of the state are you from? I don't know anything about ducks except that the ducklings are absolutely adorable. But some knowledgeable people will be around soon.

Thank you,
Spokane

 

[Hinotori]

Welcome! What part of the state are you from? I don't know anything about ducks except that the ducklings are absolutely adorable. But some knowledgeable people will be around soon.

Thank you,
Spokane

Welcome!

I don't have ducks so can't tell you anything really. If you do get a flight capable breed, you can just keep the wings clipped. It doesn't hurt them, but will have to be redone as they molt new feathers in.

 

[Duck Drover]

Hi,
I posted this in the new thread and was advised to post in my state thread.
I've been doing a lot of research and I found this forum to be very helpful. I live in the city with neighbors on both sides of me. I checked our ordinance which allows small flock of domesticated ducks. I am looking at getting no more then three ducks for pets, eggs and weed control. I have a small grassy area about 2500 square feet that is totally organic Kentucky blue grass no weed killer or fertilizer ever! I hand weed dandelions. Is it unrealistic to think the ducks will help keep dandelions down? Also will ducks be good for my grass or kill it if let to forage daily? I'm hoping that's a big enough area for three ducks that they will be a benefit and not kill the grass. I have a six foot fence completely secure. I realize I will need to pick a none flying breed. Best quiet, sweet, pet breeds? I also have a covered dog kennel that I can convert into a duck enclosure at night with a duck house. I'm prepared for them to trample grass in small duck enclosure. I plan to get day old or couple day old ducklings in hopes of imprinting. I work from home so I have all the time. Should I get one duck at a time for imprinting? I would worry at night they would be lonely. If you raise just one duckling at a time what do you do when you have to leave them? With puppies it is ok to leave them in a small safe enclosure for short periods of time alone. Would a duckling be similar? I realize ducks are flock animals as dogs are pack animals. They do better in pairs. Would two or three imprint? Suggestions here? And yes I have dogs and realize I will need to be very careful. However my Chihuahuas are all elderly and have lost their teeth sad.png And my golden retriever also a senior will not be left unattended in presence of ducks. I ordered the duckling diaper package from the mother goose website. I've read on here some people use duck diapers on their pets. Hopefully this will make imprinting cleaner smile.png I would love to just get one at a time but not sure if people have success with this. Any suggestions thoughts welcomed.

Ducks love dandelions and they eat the roots so they are effective at weeding your yard. They will trim the grass and fertilize it at the same time so your yard will be lush and beautiful with ducks to maintain it.

You can get a non-flying breed, which will basically be a meat duck breed, or you can clip their wings after the flight feathers grow back with molting. Meat breeds are not the best layers but if you are not concerned with egg production it will not matter.

We raise Australian Spotted ducks and they are the best layers (eggs the size of chicken eggs) and the best foragers of the bantam duck breeds. I know someone in the Spokane area who bought ducks from us and as far as I know she will be hatching. Of course if you want meat breeds you can get them at the feed stores.

I don't sell less than 4 ducklings together and they have to be over 3 days old so they are off the yolk and eating and drinking before they leave here. I encourage people to socialize ducks but not allow them to imprint so I screen buyers carefully if they want them as young as possible to try to get them to imprint. I have seen ducks get too demanding and loud if they are overly controlling of their caretakers while they are much better pets when they are bonded with other ducks and socialized with people. Ducks are intelligent and social so they can become neurotic if left alone.

If you think you want three hen ducks (the loud ones as only the hens quack while the drakes are raspy so they sound more like croaking frogs) or three drakes you will need to get six ducklings because statistically half of the straight run will be girls and half boys. If you have hens and drakes together you need pairs (unless you get Muscovies) or trios. Drakes can overbreed hens and stress them too much and more than one drake will gang rape the hens. Muscovy drakes can fight to the death for breeding rights so you would not want more than one drake if you have hens. A bachelor group can sometimes get along but they will mount each other and some get overly aggressive (especially Muscovies). Muscovies can't quack,they make a hissing noise, since they are not Mallard derived like most domestic duck breeds. The drakes get twice as big as the hens and they have a larger carbuncle that some people find unattractive.

I hope I answered all your questions. I have raised most duck breeds during my lifetime but the Australian Spotted ducks are my personal favorite. They are part Call but they are not bred to be loud like the Calls.

 

[Duck Drover]

I was at the feed store today looking at everything since there is a 30% off sale going on and I saw ceramic eggs in packages of two for around $6 ($3 each). Then I went to Goodwill and had the fortune of finding a bag of at least 20 ceramic eggs in with the plastic Easter Eggs for only $5 so now I am all stocked up on ceramic eggs. There are white, beige, and brown eggs so I will need to mark them with Sharpie so my husband and daughter know which eggs are fake when they collect. I already have a couple green ones and some beige ones I marked a few years ago but they would end up with the collected eggs anyway so I am not sure where they ended up, lol.

 

[Hinotori]

I had to switch to wood because I couldn't tell the ceramic brown eggs from the real eggs half the time. The painted wood ones feel different and the brown and green colors aren't quite right for me to confuse them. The ceramic ones are nicer though.

 

[LeeRoadPoultry]

Try that brooder deal I just did.......................PIPE tape, plugged into a socket & wrapped round & round in a tub or crate & fire bricks on top, then a sack of playsand..............even if the power goes off for 10 hours or so, the sand will retain warmth.
Inddors, it gets to 120 degrees at 1" below the surface, and on the surface it stays about 80, my new hatched babies love it..it is easy to clean after them with a sifter, and non flammable....and the bricks are a great heat sink.........and an added bonus is that the chicks NEED sand & grit, so they are super happy in their sand box !

I want to go in there with them...

Could you explain more or do you have a link?

 

[Leigti]

Thank you,
Spokane

There is a northern Idaho/Eastern Washington thread also. It is not as active as this one but there are people from Spokane on it and people that have ducks. I usually check out both. Just FYI.

 

[pennyJo1960]

I have the ceramic ones about 6 of them my birds throw them out of the nest
like not mine!

 

[junebuggena]

Check out these cuties.