Washingtonians

[Imp]

Quote:
I'll pick up shipping.

I'm cursed with a large shady yard with lots of rocks and bark nuggets, good plants to eat, plus I'm good about keeping things well watered, in essence a slug heaven. Don't get me wrong I like it all, but get tired of finding slugs in the cat food bowls, in the chicken food, in the chicken treats, on the house, on the windows, rolled up in the cat's fur, on the bottom of my shoes. And yes, in the house. Why can't I have spiders like everyone else.

I guess there is worse things.
BTW I rarely get spiders in the house. I think the slugs are eating them.

 

[Greg Richardson]

Ron. How do ducks do at staying in the yard? Or is that kind of like chickens if not fenced? Constant quacking or?

When I first free ranged our chickens they were out every day all day and they go back by themselves at night. About 4 months or so later they started going closer to the road. Last three weeks or so they been crossing the street also going in the neighbors yard so it's back to the run for them. They get about 3 hours of free time before dark where we have no problem with them staying in the yard. Three of eight are beginning to lay so it's good timing that way but they aren't to happy with being locked up.

 

[brennant]

CHICK UPDATE:

When I got my chicks, one of the BO's had only one eye open. On close inspection, you could see the eyeball moving behind the eye lid. She didn't seem to be bothered by it, and didn't look infected or pecked at by her mates. I figured it might have been a birth defect and let it alone. I figured she liked the pirate look

I was out in the front of the house tiling our entry way when I heard a really loud cheeping from the brooder in the garage... I ran into the garage to see her running around in circles and shaking her head back and forth. Her eye finally opened! I think she scared herself silly.

You could tell she was not used to the new level of sight! She kept looking at stuff from each eye. She was scratching at it for a bit (I bet it might have hurt a little to finally open) but after a few minutes she was fine.

The barred rock is the friendliest so far. Eats out of my hand... My australorp is the smallest of the bunch, but seems to be eating and drinking just fine.

I noticed from last night to this morning both BOs have sprouted little tail feathers. LOL!

 

[rainplace]

Quote:
My ducks like to stay close to the house even though they have a huge area to range. A couple times a day they will roam to the places I walked them to previously, but they sleep a lot against the house. They put themselves to bed each night a little before dusk, all I have to do is close the door. They are easy to pen. Most domestic ducks don't fly. They quack but it's not constant. Mine quack in the morning when I let them out, while they eat, and as they put themselves to bed. There's the mating quack, and the occasional quack like someone made a joke. If you want a mostly silent duck then go for Muscovies, but they can fly.

A few ducks are great layers. Some even better than chickens. Some lay year round 'cept during molt. A lot of domestic ducks never go broody. Their eggs are great to bake with and make the most fantastic omelets.

They are messy with their water. The only thing I know that can make a 10ft mess with a single cup of water.

Donna

 

[RasMama]

for anybody that expressed interest, the date for the Tonasket Barter Faire has been set, 2nd weekend in October. Not many chickens (other than at the petting 'zoo'), but lots of freshly harvested goods & handcrafted wears. I'll be there, hope to see some others!
http://www.okanoganfamilyfaire.net/

 

[weaveagarden]

Quote:
Now the fun really begins. Try getting anything else done for a while! Chick TV is on the schedule for a while. I found that hours had passed watching them before I even realized it. My littlest ones are 3 weeks just now. Just at the stage where the feathers on the body are very much there, but still sort of stick out on the ends.

 

[brennant]

Quote:
Yep. I can hear my wife looking for me in the house... She should know I am in the garage!

 

[weaveagarden]

Quote:
Yep. I can hear my wife looking for me in the house... She should know I am in the garage!

Ah the trick is to get her hooked too!!!!

 

[RonB]

excel
we live on 12 acres (between 3 houses) the pasture behind my house where the barn and chicken run is ,is about 5 acres. so the ducks and chickens have LOTS of room to roam. Where do they spend 90% of their time?? within 20 ft. of our front porch!!! my wife has a squrit bottle to run them off the steps. they quack when we let them them out in the morning. but they aren't really noisy. I can hear them when they are out and about. I'm pretty sure they are both males. My BR rooster hangs out with the ducks most of the time. it is fun to watch those three.. The ducks do a very good job of digging out the slugs! They head for the pen when it starts to get dusk. they don't get to go into the coop at night with the chickens. they make too much of a mess. Poop EVERYWHERE. but they are in an enclosed pen at night. No doubt about who is the leader of the pack. the DUCKS !!!

Rainplace

You are right about the mess with their water, just one of the reasons they got kicked out of the coop!

 

[rainplace]

Quote:
When I built their new pen I just stopped putting food and water in there at night. Problem solved! The other thing I did was making sure that the water and feed are far away from each other outside. That also keeps everything cleaner... keeps them exercised too

I use the deep litter method with them and their house never smells. It requires about 5 minutes of my time every day to stir, add some DE, or more shavings.

And oh my goodness, I think they have gotten almost every slug on my property. The slugs were why I originally decided to get ducks. They also eat all the spiders along the foundation of my house, mosquitos, mosquito larva, moths, gnats... you name it.... well they don't like those rolley polley things...