Ok Tell me about ducks

[lovinarabs]

Tractor Supply has them! I'm getting some now! I thought I had to order them from the Hatchery and they were spendy. You had to buy like 15 or something!

 

[Shari]

Raised ducks for years. All time favorite breed hands down... Dutch Hook bill Ducks. The drakes were not over sexed and kind to their girls.

No other breed had such a wonderful temperament.

However... Ducks are messy...very...very messy. At the old Farm they had their own house that was cleaned everyday. And their own pasture. This saved me time in keeping the other animals water troughs clean.

They were great at getting rid of the slugs and bugs! Wish I could have them here..but not set up for it.

Oh my goosh sterling..Aflac is wayyyy too cute!!

 

[PaintedPromiseRanch]

oh yeah messy messy messy!!! but i do miss ours, not the big loud quacks but the little chatter sound they make is so sweet

:

as far as the eggs the one thing i noticed is, when i made quiche, it was really thick and flat with duck eggs. however i could mix a couple in with the chicken eggs and it wasn't a problem.

 

[~Karen~]

We raised a variety of call ducks, Paekeens lol, raised a duck I can't even spell, ha ha), Indian Runners, and "Scobies". I must say, my husband and I HATED the Scobies. They are so mean to the others, and killed some of our ducks trying to breed them, they wouldn't stop, and just tore them up. Also, they tore around the edges of our small pond so much that it started breaking the sides down. If we get the property again, hubby and I want to get the Indian runners and some little call ducks again. I don't know if it is common or not, but it was soooo funny... the ducks played a game alot. One duck in the water would raise up as high as it could, and swoop back down, when that duck came down, all the rest would copy. It was different ducks that led, so it wasn't a male or female thing.

Anyways, we miss them, they were fun.

~Karen

 

[lovinarabs]

We're pretty sure we'll be ordering some ducklings and goslings to raise up, but the one thing I'm confused on is making the waterer. The sites I have read all say that the chicken waterers will become too shallow and narrow for the waterfowl, after watching some this weekend, I can see why as they douse their whole head. But they also say you can't just put a dish in there as they will get in and get wet and could catch cold. Any suggestions on how to make the waterer, or better yet, any pictures of your own?

 

[Shari]

Baby ducklings do not have water proof feathers because they have no mother to oil them. The first few weeks of life you want to only use a shallow chicken waterer set up so they can't get their full body wet. Iused rocks around the rim so they could only drink. If they get wet they will chill and die. They need water to be able to swallow food properly.

When they are finally mostly feathered out they will need a water bucket...I used the large low side heavy duty rubbemaide cattle pans. These were much easier to handle and keep clean compair to kiddy pools.

Adult ducks need to be able to get their whole head and neck wet. If they can't they will get sick.

Would be a bounus for them to be able to bathe their body too.

Be forwarned though...they will muck up water like nothing else out there.

 

[Sterling]

I use something as shallow as a clear plant dish for my ducklings. It's easy to clean and dump and they can readily climb out of it without any problems, and it's a perfect wading size. I play games with them by sprinkling some crumbs of food on the bottom and they play around looking for them. This is Aflac when he was a duckling and his clear plant dish. For a whole flock of them we have used anything from a cake pan which is only about 1/12 to 2 inches high. Also slate rocks inside a deeper dish make an excellent step up.