The Duck Thread

[Miss Lydia]

What age does a duck go broody also when is mating season

If your in the USA mating season is going on now here in NC starts usually in late Jan and goes till Sept. ducks can go broody any time after they begin laying. which is usually 5months onward.

 

[luvmypets]

Ok our ducks are a little over a year and still no broodies... We have swedes and a cayuga

 

[Miss Lydia]

Thanks for responding, So I have so many ants that if I feed outside wow! I feed the ducks outside each morning then pick it up and let my chickens out. I think I will try taking the water out of the hen house each morning that may detour the ducks from feasting in there. I also thought about penning the ducks in an area of the yard with some chicken wire. any thoughts on that? oh I feed the organic mash and it seems these fire ants are protein minded and not sugar?

Fire ants of my goodness they are awful so I hear. Not sure how to deal with them safe and naturally. but they can put a real hurtin on your poultry if they get on them so i'd try and find a way to eliminate them maybe google and see if there is something you can do. I've had chickens the shortest time of my poultry keeping almost 5 yrs and haven't lost a chicken yet from not putting food and water in their house.

 

[trciero]

loved the video, thanks for sharing

 

[trciero]

oh I would chicken wire them around their duck house to keep them safe but away from my hen house. they do go in their own duck house each night at dawn then I go and close the door at sun down to keep the little sweeties safe. Hubby is really fed up with their mess and I am just trying to make it work

 

[trciero]

oops LOL I ment each night at dusk!

 

[holm25]

Man our duck's are growing like weed's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[subhanalah]

[COLOR=333333]I have 12 chickens and now 2- 4 month old khaki campbells.  I got the khaki's because of their large tastey egg productions, but they have really made a mess for me.  my free range chickens were no hassle eating their feed in their hen house without much of a mess.  Now that I have the ducks they have to be fed outside which is drawing ants and then all day they venture in the hen house to make a mess of the chicken's water contaminating it with the food and spreading feed all over the floor of the hen house which has now caused a huge ant problem... any suggesting before I boil me up some Khaki[/COLOR]

vertical nipples at night for the ducks and horizontal nipples for the chickens in the coop. This will prevent the ducks from messing with the chicken water since they can't use the horizontal nipples.

Fermented feed is the best!
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...-vs-horizontal-spring-loaded-watering-nipples

I've had a lot of questions lately when I post my favorite fermented feed guide on BYC.
http://tikktok.wordpress.com/2014/04/13/fermented-feed-faq/

I don't want to hijack that thread, so I'm going to quote it here and answer what I can.


I fill the container a little less than half way, then Fill it past the water level a bit. Stir it through, it should be pretty hard to stir by the time you are finished.

That's when starting a new bucket. If you already have some fermented food, you add a scoop or two to the water and stir it up before adding the dry and incorporating that to a uniform consistency.

Others have said an adult chicken eats from 1/2-1 cup per day. It varies dependent on forage available as well as other things included in the diet, such as scraps.

If they don't have any left the next day, feed more this time. If they have a lot left over, feed less.

As with mixing it, determining how much to feed your flock is too dependent on too many variables for any one answer to be correct.

p.s. I stir daily when starting a new ferment, but not after the first time. If it has been pre treated with fermented media, I don't stir, but I go through it pretty quickly. I keep it covered slightly to keep humidity in. If the sides get food on them, it can cause mold from not being in contact with the ferment culture and drying out too much.

 

[NewToChix]

Here are Scott and "Qack-Qack" growing up! They are a ton of fun, but not so friendly anymore. We know we have one female for sure, but not sure about the KC. Does she look female?

 

[subhanalah]

@ashtree
@learycow