The Duck Thread

[mischievouslady]

Good morning all. I have another question. SURPRISE...
Anyways what is the best time to let my ducks out of the coop now that they are laying. My hubby says with what he has found on the Internet 10am. To me that keeps them out of the sun to much. Any ideas? I let them out as soon as there is enough light out that I can see what I am doing.

 

[mischievouslady]

Been getting two eggs a day now. One white one a light green. I have 8 girls and 6 boys

 

[jenniferlamar70]

Hi i googled "Duck diseases" and found this:
http://www.raisingducks.org/common-duck-diseases

hope this helps in your search for your precious ancona duck who passed from an unknown cause.
im sorry for your loss. it is difficult when we dont know why or how come.

Thank you for your help. My duck was much older then this. About 12 weeks now. She didn't have any of these syptoms either. Just a slightly lost quack. Other then that she was running around and acting normal for the most part. She did have slightly labored breathing as well but at the time I chalked that up to a big wildfire in our area. So far none of our other ducks have shown any symptoms. I'm thinking she may have ate something she wasn't supposed too.

 

[luvmyduckies]

Mine stopped for a few months, in the winter, but we also had some pradators so I am not sure of the cause.

 

[CyndiD]

Good morning all. I have another question. SURPRISE...
Anyways what is the best time to let my ducks out of the coop now that they are laying. My hubby says with what he has found on the Internet 10am. To me that keeps them out of the sun to much. Any ideas? I let them out as soon as there is enough light out that I can see what I am doing.

it depends on what you want. do you want to collect their eggs easily? then leave them in the coop longer. ducks lay eggs at different times. mine have been laying anywhere between 6am & 9am, sometimes a little later and i will find an egg or 2 in the yard. but not too often. i let my ducks out about 8-9am. in the winter time i will let them out earlier cuz the days are shorter and i want them to have the time outside. so a stray egg ot 2 does not bother me.
My ducks are free-range. if your ducks are not and they are in a fenced pen area, then letting them lay eggs in the pen area will be easy to find. you could even give them bedding in corners place it where you see them laying or make little houses for them to lay their eggs in. make sence?

 

[luvmyduckies]

I agree with Cindi about collecting but since it is only me and my husband and they are free range on a large pond I am not concerned with getting all the eggs. The other issue though is the free range ducks will make hidden nests and hatch babies that you may not want to raise.

 

[CyndiD]

I agree with Cindi about collecting but since it is only me and my husband and they are free range on a large pond I am not concerned with getting all the eggs. The other issue though is the free range ducks will make hidden nests and hatch babies that you may not want to raise.

i bring my ducks inside their duck house ea night, so they do not make and sit on nest outside of the duck house. they make their nest in the duck house. i have 4 ducks sitting on nest now. i keep the door open so they can get outside anytime they want.
i do a roll call (count heads) ea night, so if anyone is missing i would go looking for them. but i have not yet had any gone missing or nesting outside the duck house... kwim? make sense?
hope this helps anyone.

 

[mischievouslady]

it depends on what you want. do you want to collect their eggs easily? then leave them in the coop longer. ducks lay eggs at different times. mine have been laying anywhere between 6am & 9am, sometimes a little later and i will find an egg or 2 in the yard. but not too often. i let my ducks out about 8-9am. in the winter time i will let them out earlier cuz the days are shorter and i want them to have the time outside. so a stray egg ot 2 does not bother me.
My ducks are free-range. if your ducks are not and they are in a fenced pen area, then letting them lay eggs in the pen area will be easy to find. you could even give them bedding in corners place it where you see them laying or make little houses for them to lay their eggs in. make sence?

you sure do.

 

[mischievouslady]

My ducks don't like leaving there fenced in area. I leave the gate open and they never go out in the yard unless I herd them out and they never stay out long. I leave the door to there coop open except at night. They out them self up at dark. I just go out and close the coop door. They are good Giles and boys.

 

[mischievouslady]

Ok I just had my first cooked duck eggs. I have gotten 10 so far in 4 days.

Fist thing I noticed is the shell is not so easily cracked. No one had cracking these babies open. Next they are heavy. I started scrambling them right off I could tell the yolks are more dense I guess you could say. I cooked with up like I would scrambled chicken eggs. I noticed had this small white dot on them. Is that a sign of fertilizEd egg and or life???

Any way the verdict is in. They taste like a egg. I really don't taste much different between chicken and ducks. Could that be they are first eggs layed or there diet??

I will not eat all 10 scrambled eggs mind you. My dogs (4) are waiting for a taste.
I'm drying out the shells then I'm going to mash them and give them to the ducks with there daily snack.
I think I will like duck eggs. Eating a little at a time. Making sure I'm not allergic. Yes I'm smart some times.