Recent content by telandra2

I have a broody duck who is sitting on what began as a goose nest but had steathly ducks add eggs. What will happen when the mixed babies hatch? Best case: Everyone will think duck is mom and she'll have freakishly large 'ducklings'. Worst case: Geese steal the goslings, probably killing the...

I don't worry about pine anymore. I tossed a rotting pine log into the pond to be a duckling floaty. The babies had a fabulous time prying off and eating every loose bit. My adults eat bark from the pine trees every fall.

Here is an old thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/plants-ducks-and-geese-dont-touch.246778/ Mine mostly avoid the bulbs and perennials looking for worms and dandilions, but decimated the bushy round leafed sedum in stores now (z6.) Ate off all the leaves off. They avoid herbs...

I have a 'turkey' sized door with light sensor and remote, no longer available from Amazon, that works great. The ducks used it perfectly, then the geese started blocking the doorway. Now they all go into their run but hang out by the door and need to be shooed inside. Its about 30 seconds of...

If it's not too late grab some Easter egg dye markers. Mine are 2 years old and still write. Plus they are food grade. (My birds also don't seem to notice the dates.)

Is it mineral chunks or actual oyster shell? My ducks go nuts for the real thing: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BN39CRR1

Anyone have a spare gander? I've got 2 flirty girls looking for love.

It could also be broken egg mess rotting. Even if she does kick them out you should still candle to double check. (Plus it's interesting/fun. ) I was afraid to approach my goose but when I finally did there were 0 issues with reaching under or picking her up. Next year another goose was hissy...

My first goose was found in the community nest while cleaning the coop.

Ducklings: A rotting pine log I tossed into the pool. A dozen bits of adorable spent all day, every day stripping and eating any bit they could pry off. The adults couldn't get past the duckling swarm.

Did you see this earlier mix breed thread? https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/show-me-your-pictures-of-you-mixed-crossed-breed-geese-please.1510771 There are also some mixed blue geese (I can't find) with iirc a comment mentioning blue is carried by Embden.

One thing I forgot is that the geese can get very territorial during nesting season, so be sure to have an escape route for the ducks. I just have a divider in the coop that is too narrow for the geese. Non-nesting season they press the barrier until I take it down so they can rejoin their duck...

(I can't get the inline quoting to work so I deleted them...) My adult African ganders have been fine with the ducks. The ducks will even lay down and he'll cover the in water. I had a teenage White Chinese that was a problem trying to drown goslings that would also hang on and not let go of...

Yes, they lay eggs in other nests. I have one goose that likes to lay in the cramped duck nests. Last year she squeezed through (what I thought was protected) on day 25 and crushed a nest full of almost hatched ducklings :( Whichever one is broody will sit. If more than one us broody they might...

18 ducks, 4 geese. I started with Ancona, got some geese, then Grey Runner ducklings, and more Runners when I needed more girls. Overall I don't really notice a huge difference in duck behavior. I like the Runners for the greater color variety and my Greys are very, very upright which is a nice...