The Duck Thread

[Ravynscroft]

Girl it is hard for you to resist that snuggle. .

I know, right? Nothin' like little 'ling snuggles!!

 

[City farm]

Our duck's have a visitor for a bit. Our marshmallow either got prcjed by one of the hen's or the cockeral trying to mount her. Her neck is a little tore up. She's doing so much better out here with the duck's. in this photo Loraine & marshmallow are bonding.

When Lauren is like "what are you looking at"

Then i see Julie making her appearance.

 

[City farm]

I can't remember if I posted these up or not. Our Muscovy's love to roost. when people walk by the front they don't know what to think. Are they fake or real?

 

[City farm]

Okay one more thing, we got to have this girl for just a little bit. She was injured. She is a gilded flicker woodpecker. We took her to a locsl sanctuary and her hip was messed up

 

[PotatoWaffles]

Do y'all have shadow cat or any programs like it? Here you can trap strays and take them to the shelter to be fixed and then release them back to the neighborhood.

I've never actually heard of that before. I should probably look into that. I have to do it discreetly when I take the strays that I can catch to the shelter. Some people around here think because they set out cheap cat food in a tin bowl that the cats are "theirs". They would get mad if they knew. But they don't ever handle them or love them or take them to the vet or ID them. And they just breed out of control, and these so called "owners" just let them. They never bring them inside during the cold or get them vet care. If a cat has no ID and is not on its owner's property, it is a stray, plain and simple.

Here is the last cat I took in to the rescue. The sweetest thing, just came running up to me meowing while i was feeding the ducks. I brought him in my back porch and fed and watered him and he rubbed all over me. He was covered in fleas, and wounds from cat fighting. To me, if you let an animal run around like this, you are NOT its owner. WARNING: GRAPHIC PICTURES BELOW:

Sorry. I get a little heated about this subject.

You're so welcome. I hope you can, too. It's such a treat to see a bird you've never seen before. Or birds i love like quail.

My mom always put out feeders and I loved seeing all the types of birds. And became familiar with identifying many species. I miss it.

 

[Ren2014]

@Amiga did I read once that you supplemented with a liquid calcium? I've got a Pekin girl who continually lays soft shells. They all have free choice oyster shells. Today I noticed her staying away from the flock. She seems to be our drakes favorite and runs from him constantly. I could tell she wasn't feeling well so I took her some meal worms. She ate some of them. A little later I saw her doing what looked like walking in place. When I went to get her to put her up for the night, she was sitting on a small, very soft, completely white and jelly like egg. She seemed better but still not herself.

 

[Amiga]

@Amiga did I read once that you supplemented with a liquid calcium? I've got a Pekin girl who continually lays soft shells. They all have free choice oyster shells. Today I noticed her staying away from the flock. She seems to be our drakes favorite and runs from him constantly. I could tell she wasn't feeling well so I took her some meal worms. She ate some of them. A little later I saw her doing what looked like walking in place. When I went to get her to put her up for the night, she was sitting on a small, very soft, completely white and jelly like egg. She seemed better but still not herself.

@Ren2014 I would get her away from the drake for a while. Sometimes soft shells are from overmating.

I did use calcium gluconate 23% solution for a while - that did help. I put three tablespoons in their feed daily for the flock of ten.

In addition, I found it was less expensive to use calcium citrate tablets - I dissolve them in hot water (or you can crush them, but be careful - it can be a pain in the neck if you don't have a good pill crusher, and if you decide to use something sharp, please be careful!). I would use sometimes 200 mg of calcium citrate mixed into a few tablespoons of thawed frozen peas - mash up a few of the peas so they soak up the calcium solution - and feed that once at night to Romy, who had a bout of soft egg laying. We keep her away from the drake anyway (long story) so it was not the mating. She just had trouble for a while with making shells.

For the flock, I would put calcium citrate at about 80 mg per duck per day if we were having a few soft eggs each day - and that did happen some last year.

I cannot be 100% sure, but I think now that I have them on a combination of Countryside Organic layer no corn, no soy, and Mazuri waterfowl breeder, things look better.

 

[Ren2014]

@Ren2014 I would get her away from the drake for a while. Sometimes soft shells are from overmating.

I did use calcium gluconate 23% solution for a while - that did help. I put three tablespoons in their feed daily for the flock of ten.

In addition, I found it was less expensive to use calcium citrate tablets - I dissolve them in hot water (or you can crush them, but be careful - it can be a pain in the neck if you don't have a good pill crusher, and if you decide to use something sharp, please be careful!). I would use sometimes 200 mg of calcium citrate mixed into a few tablespoons of thawed frozen peas - mash up a few of the peas so they soak up the calcium solution - and feed that once at night to Romy, who had a bout of soft egg laying. We keep her away from the drake anyway (long story) so it was not the mating. She just had trouble for a while with making shells.

For the flock, I would put calcium citrate at about 80 mg per duck per day if we were having a few soft eggs each day - and that did happen some last year.

I cannot be 100% sure, but I think now that I have them on a combination of Countryside Organic layer no corn, no soy, and Mazuri waterfowl breeder, things look better.

OMG, I should have thought to get him away from her. I will separate them immediately. Thanks for all of the help with the Calcium. I will get started on that tomorrow after a trip to Walgreens

 

[Miss Lydia]

OMG, I should have thought to get him away from her. I will separate them immediately. Thanks for all of the help with the Calcium. I will get started on that tomorrow after a trip to Walgreens

TSC carries Cal Glu. too

 

[jtn42248]

@Ren2014 I would get her away from the drake for a while. Sometimes soft shells are from overmating.

I did use calcium gluconate 23% solution for a while - that did help. I put three tablespoons in their feed daily for the flock of ten.

In addition, I found it was less expensive to use calcium citrate tablets - I dissolve them in hot water (or you can crush them, but be careful - it can be a pain in the neck if you don't have a good pill crusher, and if you decide to use something sharp, please be careful!). I would use sometimes 200 mg of calcium citrate mixed into a few tablespoons of thawed frozen peas - mash up a few of the peas so they soak up the calcium solution - and feed that once at night to Romy, who had a bout of soft egg laying. We keep her away from the drake anyway (long story) so it was not the mating. She just had trouble for a while with making shells.

For the flock, I would put calcium citrate at about 80 mg per duck per day if we were having a few soft eggs each day - and that did happen some last year.

I cannot be 100% sure, but I think now that I have them on a combination of Countryside Organic layer no corn, no soy, and Mazuri waterfowl breeder, things look better.

One of the most important "tools" in any home, I have found, is a mortar and pestle. If you don't have one, get one. They are cheap and make pill crushing a breeze.