The Duck Thread

[dan26552]

 

[Miss Lydia]

Okay then I won't spend so much time worrying about it when they get here. I believe the instructions from Ideal were. Dip beaks in water as you put them in brooder. Let them have water for 10 min then remove water for 15 min. Repeat twice to make sure they don't drink to much to fast after shipping. But if no one has heard it before its probably not as big of a deal as I thought. First time getting ducklings so I wasn't sure. Got water over some mesh over a container to catch water and new non poisonous non medicated 24% feed. And waterer that they can clean nostrils with but not drowned in. Anything I'm missing? 90° like chicks correct. Here are the babies before they died.

Is that the normal size for ducklings or are they smaller? Have Muscovy coming and curious if they will be the same size or bigger. Thanks.

What breed @yoopergirl1211 they look tiny but probably just the breed. where did these come from? Everyone looks so healthy. and listen what ever direction the hatchery gives is the one you should follow with your new babies.

 

[Ducks4us]

Okay then I won't spend so much time worrying about it when they get here. I believe the instructions from Ideal were. Dip beaks in water as you put them in brooder. Let them have water for 10 min then remove water for 15 min. Repeat twice to make sure they don't drink to much to fast after shipping. But if no one has heard it before its probably not as big of a deal as I thought. First time getting ducklings so I wasn't sure. Got water over some mesh over a container to catch water and new non poisonous non medicated 24% feed. And waterer that they can clean nostrils with but not drowned in. Anything I'm missing? 90° like chicks correct. Here are the babies before they died.

Is that the normal size for ducklings or are they smaller? Have Muscovy coming and curious if they will be the same size or bigger. Thanks.

All the ducklings i have had dont like it that hot. They stay maybe around the 85 mark for a couple days. But the opposite side of the brooder is usually 65-70 and they spend alot of time on the cool side and sleep near the heat .
And by the end of the first week they def dont want it any warmer than 80.. or they are panting and getting further away.
What kind of feed did you find at 24% protein?
My duck book i beleive says 18 % -20 % protein is whats best . I buy nutrena all flock. And i add nutrional yeast
And i gave my ducklings water asap after arrival, no one over drank...
I ordered from metzer and there were no instructions like yours.
I hope your next batch does better! Thats so sad you lost all of them! Maybe it was something to do with shipping?

 

[season1223]

We soaked once but we're planning on starting back again today. He is doing a bit better everyday but thankfully my inlaws are good about giving him his pills and such

I haven't been on in a week or so & don't get on as much as I used to so it put me a month bk on posts...as I was reading thru them I saw urs...I was just wondering how ur feather baby is doing? I thought I would add that soaking in epsom salt/warm water also helps keep the bacteria down just in case that swelling is from the nail injury! I sure hope he's feeling better now & u was able to enjoy ur vacation as well!

 

[EmilyP]

I haven't been on in a week or so & don't get on as much as I used to so it put me a month bk on posts...as I was reading thru them I saw urs...I was just wondering how ur feather baby is doing? I thought I would add that soaking in epsom salt/warm water also helps keep the bacteria down just in case that swelling is from the nail injury! I sure hope he's feeling better now & u was able to enjoy ur vacation as well!

Thanks for checking on us!! We started a new antibiotic today (saw the vet yesterday again) so fingers crossed this one will work! Otherwise we are getting a culture in 2 weeks. We were able to enjoy our vacation once the two days of my FiL (caring for the birds) being hospitalized and getting a pacemaker put in was back home. Everyone thankfully is doing well! We did lose a clutch of eggs to a raccoon

We let our mallard make a nest in the pen corner where a raccoon could just get his arm into the pen and scoop them all out. Reinforced that corner when we got home but not gunna let her do that again!!

 

[yoopergirl1211]

All the ducklings i have had dont like it that hot. They stay maybe around the 85 mark for a couple days. But the opposite side of the brooder is usually 65-70 and they spend alot of time on the cool side and sleep near the heat .
And by the end of the first week they def dont want it any warmer than 80.. or they are panting and getting further away.
What kind of feed did you find at 24% protein?
My duck book i beleive says 18 % -20 % protein is whats best . I buy nutrena all flock. And i add nutrional yeast
And i gave my ducklings water asap after arrival, no one over drank...
I ordered from metzer and there were no instructions like yours.
I hope your next batch does better! Thats so sad you lost all of them! Maybe it was something to do with shipping?

I might have the percentage wrong from bag. Actually believe the food is what killed them along with chicks in 4 different brooders. 23 total. Sucky day all around. Penn state is testing everything for me.

 

[yoopergirl1211]

What breed @yoopergirl1211
  they look tiny but probably just the breed. where did these come from? Everyone looks so  healthy. and listen what ever direction the hatchery gives is the one you should follow with your new babies. 

East Indies from Ideal. They were doing okay for a little bit. Only one little chick survived out of the batch. Hoping for better luck this week. It'll be warmer this time too.

 

[season1223]

East Indies from Ideal. They were doing okay for a little bit. Only one little chick survived out of the batch. Hoping for better luck this week. It'll be warmer this time too.

Hope u have better luck this time around! That's a lot to lose at once! I think it's really awesome u have penn state testing everything for u tho! Maybe that'll give u some kind of idea why they all died! It could've been the food or maybe they had something wrong with them from the get-go (some kind of illness or parasite maybe) or possibly contracted something during shipping...I don't know how far they had to travel but U mentioned it was colder then & birds in general r prone to getting pneumonia so maybe they got sick from temp fluctuations during their travel! It sounds like u did everything right tho (followed all of the instructions u were given)! Did the place that u got them refund any of ur money or replace any of them for u!?

 

[jackoeVogel23]

Tonight we were giving our Pekin ducks water. I have one that is a heavy breather so I have been keeping my eye on him. I gave them water from the garage spout. As he was drinking, all of a sudden he squealed and ran around crazy.. we were so scared and didn't know what to do. My husband then caught him and pixked him up, he calmed down after a few seconds. We thought maybe he had a brain freeze, maybe the water was too cold or could something floating in the water (like bedding) get suck in his beak hole. I replaced the water with luke warm water and he was fine after. Has this ever happened to anyone's ducks? It was very scary and we didn't know what to do!!

 

[season1223]

I'm super excited! I mentioned a few weeks ago that I wanted to build my ducks a nesting box & I finally did it! I only made one for now...mainly to see how well it works out but I also don't really want more than one setting at a time cuz I only have 4 ducks (3 girls & 1 boy)! Hopefully this nesting box will solve some of the problems they had last yr! Here's some pics!

This is the front view with the door closed...the door slides in from the top!

Side view with the curtain closed! The string in the top center of the curtain is attached & hangs on both sides of the curtain so the curtain can be rolled up and tied open for fresh air so they don't get too hot!

Here's a side view with the curtain open!

Here's a pic of the inside...the bk is solid and both sides r wired (hardware cloth) with curtains (made from empty feed bags...recycled--woohoo!!)!

This is the front view with the door open...the door doubles as a ramp so the don't get hurt getting in & out & the handle on the door keeps the ramp from sliding out when they walk on it!

The front panel is removable to make it easier to clean & it goes on the inside to hold the nesting material (hay) inside & keep the hay (nest) from getting in the way of the door! Then after the eggs hatch, I can pull the front panel out, slide the nest out & toss it!

Summary:
The curtains can be closed for privacy or warmth or tied open for fresh air, the door is also the ramp and the handle keeps it from sliding out when it's being used as a ramp, and the inside front panel is removable to make it easier to it clean out! The bk is closed off and the sides r wired so nothing can come in the sides on em (the other ducks, chickens, or snakes)! I made the solid part of the sides tall enuf to build a good sized nest of hay & the front panel goes on the inside so the hay doesn't get in the way of closing the door or allow the hay to fall out the front when the door is open!
What do u think?