The Duck Thread

[caesargirl]

They actually live in this coop with my chickens:

No added heat. I cover most of the front with clear plastic to keep drafts out, leaving plenty of ventilation. I have three gallon heated water buckets that they have for the wintertime. That's it! Everything else is done the same as the rest of the year. I do shovel their run for them, of course!

That's great! I have a shed for mine, but they do get heat lamps! I came home once last year to find mine had climbed the snow bank and were looking for the pond!!!!

 

[Pyxis]

That's great! I have a shed for mine, but they do get heat lamps! I came home once last year to find mine had climbed the snow bank and were looking for the pond!!!!

Ha! Mine do miss their pool in the winter, but there's not much I can do about that. I don't do heat lamps because they are a huge fire hazard. Someone's entire barn burnt down because of them, and I almost set my workshop on fire this year when a chick someone managed to knock one loose and into the brooder. So now I only use them for brooding, and only if they're very secure. Plus, the birds in the coop outside during the winter can get acclimated to the extra heat, and if the power goes out they can't handle the sudden drop in temperature and they die. So, no heat for my guys! They have down jackets and do well without it.

 

[caesargirl]

It's been a tough day: swimming, pooping, eating...repeat!
And evidently cleaning the brooder 3x a day isn't enough!!!! I'm considering diapers!!
Top to bottom: Popcorn, Memory, Ming-Ming, Chicklet!

 

[Pyxis]

It's been a tough day: swimming, pooping, eating...repeat!
And evidently cleaning the brooder 3x a day isn't enough!!!! I'm considering diapers!!
Top to bottom: Popcorn, Memory, Ming-Ming, Chicklet!

 

[Kaessa]

I understand busy-ness. Glad your cute flock is thriving. Did they all devour that watermelon down to the rind?

Yep, all six of them went nuts on it. Just a thin skin left over.

 

[Kaessa]

Glad to hear things are well! Poor Poke! Do you have Peek and Poke together with the youngsters? Please give them all love from me!

They're all together in the same pen. Peek and Poke wound up at the bottom of the pecking order, but everyone gets along great now. It was hilarious watching four fluffy babies chasing the bigger ducks all around the pen when I first introduced them.

 

[Kaessa]

@Kaessa

What kind of beauty is this???

That's Harley Quinn, my Welsh Harlequin. She is BY FAR my prettiest duck. Sassiest, too. She's always telling me off when I come into their pen. I love her so.

 

[Desert Duck]

I just noticed that one of our girls is "hanging a bit low". Not sure if this is a "normal" duck figure or not. She is eating, walking & drinking fine, not surr about poop because they free range all day. Can anyone help?

 

[Desert Duck]

My Rouen drake is hanging low like your duck is.I thought he was just getting fatter.I wonder if this is just the body shape for this breed?

 

[attimus]

My ducks don't have a mother duck tho.
as I hatched them from a broody hen and after they hatched
The hen attacked both her baby ducks
Lucky I was out there checking her when she was just hatched .
So now we raise them inside
My ducks are 3 and 4 days old.

You can put them in water now for short amounts of time in a bowl or the sink. Its the best to watch. From what I understand its actually beneficially for them to get wet here and there. As for coloring in ducks hard to tell. There's signs as they grow. I've noticed in my own, thicker legs on the males, different colored beaks and deeper shades of feathers emerge along with the slowly emerging quack of the female as they mature. The mallards are tough. Even my adult drakes are in eclipse molt and one looks alot like the females.