Ducklings - your experience please.

Discussion in 'Breeding, Raising, Feeding and Caring for Animals' started by sun burn, Nov 3, 2010.

  1. purecajn

    purecajn Junior Member

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    i also read something to the effect that if an animal lives indoors then it is considered a pet, but i'm not bringing the chickens in, at least not yet. when i build the green house attachement to this house I could attach the chken coop to the back of it and maybe get away with saying they technically live in the house
     
  2. ecodharmamark

    ecodharmamark Junior Member

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    Concerning planning law, my friend, it's all in the definition ;)
     
  3. sun burn

    sun burn Junior Member

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    Important!

    This is something i learned from Farmer Joe today, the man who i bought my ducks from. I had just told him that i'd put down a concrete slab floor from broken pieces. He then started telling me how after some of his ducks started getting some sort of crippling problem from sitting too much in muddy ground (why people let their animals live in such conditions in the place i can't fathom) for too long. Someone who knew about this problem told him that he'd have to put his ducks down as they won't get better and nothing can be done with them. So then he poured a concrete slab in his ducks pens. No more problem.

    So if anyone reading this has water problems in their pens, please deal with it somehow. If you like the crazy paving idea, take a look near any building site or in building skips where they often throw this stuff out. In the meantime anything to absorb the water and keep the ducks dry overnight is a good idea. Any sort of slightly raised floor, softened with a bit of straw.

    I just want to say again that my ducklings are so adorable. I just want to suffocate them in a bear hug. I love how when they run about their little feet make a funny magic. Gosh, so adorable. I think i will have to let all batches of eggs hatch a couple.
     
  4. Stingray

    Stingray Junior Member

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    hehe sunburn ...
    ours have dirt floors .. but lots of hay/straw about and some areas are packed pretty hard.. so no leg probs :)
    they are cute arent they .. hehehe
    our named one .. lol.... Daffy has come into his(her? .. lol.. still not sure) colours.. head is still speckled ..but back/tail has gone a real nice dark black :)
    still have a week (from rough calculation) until next batch hatch ..
    am gonna have to make the decision what to do with this lot.. lol....
     
  5. Stingray

    Stingray Junior Member

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    Hey sunburn :) (and everyone)
    Found 14 new lil surprises when I went out to feed the animals this morning :)
    [​IMG]
     
  6. sun burn

    sun burn Junior Member

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    What a beautiful shot. They all look frightened to death thought don't they. have you noticed how timid and untrusting ducks are in general. It makes me suffer too as i know generally how benign i am for most of them.

    I must say i have come to prefer the pure white ones. The people i bought mine off were breeding them so most were white but i choose a drake with a black tipped head and now i get quite a few black headed ones. Also one female of mine has a black head. At least i can identify her but its hard when they are otherwise all the same.

    Still ...


    So during the cyclone, stingers, i was anxious about what to do with the ducks cause i wasn't confident that my cage was the best place for them if there was lots of rain and a fierce wind so i had decided to put them in my old car which i had kept for the occasion. But its hard to catch all these creatures since they dont' like being caught. In the end, i did it in the middle of the night and that is my tip for you. If you have to catch a lot of birds and move them, do it in the night its so much easier cause they can't see well.

    In the car (a subaru) i had lots of straw in front and back and gave them plenty of water and extra food as they had to stay in there for quite a long time. But it gets hot in the car and the fumes from their pooo are foul (pardon the pun) so i had a few windows open a bit. And I went along often to open the door and let a good change of air happen. It would probably have killed them if i'd kept hte windows fully wound up simply from the fumes.

    I still got all my eggs.

    My two little ones are doing really well. Its good to see them amongst the big ones and they are competitive adn will dive in and eat at the big ducks bowl. I have to separate them and mum off so they can eat their baby food in peace though. They are eating lots of insects so maybe i won't need to buy them yeast this time. All day they seem to run about chaseing insects.
     
  7. Stingray

    Stingray Junior Member

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    wow :)
    glad to hear you made it thru ok, I forgot you were up there :}
    much damage your way?
    Spent a nice 1/2 hour this arvo putting some mesh along the bottom of the fences .. lol. (what i meant to do last time) so the ducklings cant escape :)
    In our 1st batch we only had one (daffy) who had a large "black" section (that's now turned black) .. with a couple that had "speckled" heads ...
    in this batch there's at least 6 or so with the black markings :)
    I am wondering if some of this lot are fathered by the new drake as well as the old one .. I didn't separate them so who knows.. lol ..
    If i am right in thinking most of the 1st lot are female, then at least 2 of them will be put in a separate pen with the new drake :)
    I've also got a friend who would like to buy 2 off me, plus the neighbour wants a couple 2 .. so that would mean I only need to work out what to do with 2 of them :)
    and 1 of them I think is a boy so he's definitely got the nickname "roast" ;)
    - Daz
     
  8. sun burn

    sun burn Junior Member

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    I'm practically a vegetarian you know and I am not really looking foreward to eating these ducks. I can live without the horror of killing them. I'd rather not eat duck but i have to kill them cause I can't afford to feed them.

    When you give them away in pairs are they two females?
     
  9. purecajn

    purecajn Junior Member

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    So don;t eat. Sell the extras and make a little money. Give someone else the chance to have a duck tractor.
     
  10. Stingray

    Stingray Junior Member

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    cost of meat means we eat vegetarian most nights of the week :}
    which in a way is good for helping to lose this extra weight i got.. lol ..
    i cook alot of str frys and laksa.. and curry when i get some cheap beef :)
    (well theres always bacon in our freezer .. lol .. just not a lot of other meats)

    I agree with purecajn .... I am selling some as a lil extra $$ (only for $7 each)

    yeah , hoping to be able to tell definitely who's who in the next week or 2 .. :)
     
  11. Stingray

    Stingray Junior Member

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    Just an update :)
    Below: Mumma duck and here 14 3 day old ducklings :)
    [​IMG]

    Below: Drakes and the 8 remaining ducklings from 1st clutch (worked it out today .. they are only 12 1/2 weeks old)
    Drake in foreground is the father of the 8 from 1st clutch .. drake in background is the new one I got and I think he fathered a couple of the new clutch (as I didnt keep them all separated when she was laying and I saw him mount her a few times)
    [​IMG]
     
  12. purecajn

    purecajn Junior Member

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  13. sun burn

    sun burn Junior Member

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    I find it a bit of a strange thing. There is no air circulation when the door is shut, or is it never shut? How easy would it be for the chickents to get up that ramp? I don't know but i wouldn't try to build one.
     
  14. Stingray

    Stingray Junior Member

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    I like it ....
    1st thought I had was a set of wheels and "mesh" fence so I could move it about as a "tractor"
    :)
     
  15. Stingray

    Stingray Junior Member

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    okies.... havent posted for nearly a month (i know.. been slack ..lol) :)
    anyways.. the ducklings are almost a month old now (and the last clutch are almost 4 months old)
    I have a *mega problem* .. I go for spinal surgery on the 10th .. and need to get rid of all the ducklings (and mum and drakes) before then.... :{
    I have tried https://www.farmstock.com.au but I never recieved an activation email and have tried numerous times over the last few months (even created new account with a diff password) yet no emails.. so cannot try to sell them on there ..
    i replied to someone wanting some .. yet after a few emails they didn't come to see them....
    I have resorted to giving them away .. so if anyone wants .. or knows anyone wanting some ducks/ducklings.. let me know :)
    - Daz
     
  16. purecajn

    purecajn Junior Member

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    wish you were closer
     
  17. annette

    annette Junior Member

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    Hi daz, sorry to here that you need surgery. There is a place at Caboolture that will do the ducks for $2 each, that includes killling, gutting and plucking but you need at least a dozen for them to do. So if you want to eat the ducks, except the ducklings, look up Zarbelles. I found them excellent and guy there will buy some off you too if you like. He bought one off me for $20. You could also try and sell the ducks at Caboolture markets. They go very quickly there.

    good luck
    Annette
     
  18. Stingray

    Stingray Junior Member

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    hey Annette .. thanks :)
    this is revision surgery to fix last years one.. lol
    I know zarbelles :) we used to regularly buy from there :)
    Will give them a call tomorrow :)
     
  19. sun burn

    sun burn Junior Member

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  20. Stingray

    Stingray Junior Member

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    OKies, i've been slack.....
    update: I had planned to take the 2 drakes and 7 of the 4 month old ducklings to zarbelles, they were going to charge me $5 each (plus he wanted to keep on to eat himself..lol... so i was happy with that) :)
    how ever the ducks were saved at the last minute by a lovely couple from up blackall ranges way who wanted to take them all to their farm to live :)
    So we were happy with that :)
    we kept 2 ducks for ourselves .. the mum and one of the 4 month old ducklings - the black n white one the kids had called Daffy :)
    so they are living happily in the big pen with the 3 chooks and we are currently getting 1 duck egg a day with the chook eggs and they taste delicious MMMmmm :)
    I have had surgery 3 1/3 weeks ago and been out of hospital for 1 1/2 weeks now and alls goin well :)
    but still atleast a month or more until I am allowed to do any gardening so our beds are bare except for a scraggily tomato bed :)
     

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