OH the SMELL! When can they go outdoors!

[Frogdogtimestwo]

Alright I moved them out, they were not super thrilled but they seemed comfortable as I tucked them into their bed for the evening, hopefully they will be fine, I always stress the first few nights when you move little ones outside.

 

[Puddle Foot Farm]

My geese and ducks are so smelly they got the unfinished master bedroom, the biggest room in the house and the only one that can be locked and not smelled anywhere in the house. I keep the windows in there open, but that is now our designated brooder room. I doubt the stench will ever leave.

We currently have 12 goslings and 4 ducklings inside. The ducklings, by far, smell the worst. Seriously, they smell like puke. I cannot imagine ever brooding 30 ducklings without a HASMAT team to clean their brooder every 3 hours. Seriously.

Good luck getting your goslings out!

 

[shelleyd2008]

My goslings have been outside since they were 1 and 2 weeks old. The first week or so, I'd bring them back in at night, but it got to where I was getting scratched all to pieces trying to bring those canada goslings back in! Eventually I just started leaving them out, and when the canadas were sold, I let the toulouse and african babies (1 each) out with the adults. They are both over a month old now, and haven't been inside for at least 3 weeks. The older geese protect them, but they don't 'brood' them. The babies don't need it.

I'd kick them babies out fast! The only thing I have inside now are my button quail (for lack of other options) and some newly hatched pheasants, quail, and guineas. New chicken chicks have a brooder on the porch, no light during the day.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
I agree, ducks are the worst by far! Try using the pelleted bedding instead of shavings if you aren't already. It is much more absorbent and doesn't get that sour smell when it gets wet like the shavings do.

 

[OmaBird]

I had a refigerator repair man at my house last week. I tried to explain that my house does not always look like this. It is just seasonal. I have 8 geese in my kitchen, 2 cages full of baby chicks, 40 plus turkeys of all ages and 22 ducks in my dinning room. It does not smell half as bad as the bad egg I found in my incubator in my bedroom this morning. I did get 20 turkeys out last weekend. Just in time because I am having 20 more ducks and 18 geese shipped on June 7th.

 

[Frogdogtimestwo]

LOL, yes I am mortified when people come to the door or to get eggs! I am explaining why they can't go out and apologizing for the dust and smell that seems to permeate everything when they are brooded in the house. If we did not have so many predators around they would all be outside. NOTE TO SELF: NO DUCKS IN THE HOUSE after reading these comments!

ShelleyD2008 Do they ever mistake the pellets for food? Are they litterbox pellets? I have been wanting to try these, but have not yet.

 

[shelleyd2008]

They are pine pellets, I get mine from the feed store, they are used as horse stall bedding. But you can get the ones used in pellet-burning stoves, just be sure they don't have an accelerant. They are pretty big, so the babies try to eat them, but can't. Once they are big enough to be able to eat them, they know the pellets aren't food.

 

[OmaBird]

Thank God, I don't get many visitors. I think I can count all my visitors the last 6 years on one hand. I can imagine if I did, I would be on the night time news report. Crazy bird lady found in the desert.

 

[duck walk]

OMG not kidding! I have 37 ducklings in the brooder but thankfully I have a storage building right beside the hosue to keep them in...if they had to be in the house, I would have to move out...the stinky little things get cleaned up three times a day and they still make one heck of an odor in the building...thankfully they grow fast, the temps are warm and they can move to the next stage very soon, which is a secure 8'X20' chainlink dog kennel on concrete with top, shade, shelter, and double wrapped in chicken wire...when they are fully feathered they then join the main flock in a hot wired night yard with a house and a day pasture for bug hunting and grass munching...but darn...the smell is bad until...

 

[OmaBird]

When I first moved here I tried raising them in my barn. I have large barns with upstairs and a 4 car garage with a upstairs. The night time temperature seems to fluctuate to much. They pile and I have alot more losses than when I raise them inside my home. I can here and see them. If there is any problem, I know it. I get up in the middle of the night if I here anything.

I am lucky my husband who was a city boy is now use to the farm life. We have many farm animals needing TLC in the house at one time or the other too.