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Post by Deleted on Jun 15, 2012 13:55:41 GMT -7
That was my thought I would keep them in the brooder until they get their feathers. Give them a shallow bowl of water large enough they can get in it and clean out their sinus but not deep enough to drown. I also remember they can choke on their food if it is too dry and they don't have water to wet and rinse their airway. I start mine out with a kitty litter box for water and a ramp inside and outside with strips of woods along them to help with traction, then as they get a little bigger, I graduate them up to a large sized blue kiddie pool with the same kind of ramps and eventually change the ramps to a set of stair type blocks and bricks. They love it. I also found that they love when I throw a handful of corn chops in the pool for them about once a week...they will go bottoms up and sift through the dirty bottom to ge tthe wet corn and sputtle through the top of the water to clean up what floats. Much like searching for food in a pond. Its a great way for them to practice!! The funny thing is I usually have to put them in the water by pushing them up the ramp and them takeing them out teh same way a couple times with teh litter box before they get the hang of it...but then htey are all ove rthe water!! I don't change the water very often though. I leave the dirt in the bottom because they like to sift through it...looking for bugs and such. If it gets to thick in the bottom, I just iuse an old dust pan to scoop some out...they will then play in the mud I throw out in the pen for them! LOL!! I am looking forward to seeing more pics as they grow! |
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Post by wtrfwlr on Jun 15, 2012 14:01:01 GMT -7
Good stuff to know. Like I said, I don't know quack about raising pet ducks. Wild ones, yeah I can toot my duck whistles and make em wanna come and see me but I've never raised any babies.  |
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Post by woodyz on Jun 15, 2012 18:37:09 GMT -7
The duck pond is a buried kiddie wading pool so no turtles or anything to worry with. I brought them to the brooder with the thought of keeping them in it until they get their feathers in. But I wonder how much they are going to miss that mom and pop would teach them between now and then? I don't worry about mom and pop not taking them back. pop was feeding them from his mouth when we took them away so we are making a paste of the dry wood and water and got them too eat it off of our finger and then from the bowl. I will make up a new batch every day to keep it fresh.
I'm thinking once they are good and established eaters and drinkers we should take them back to mom and pop. They kept the eggs warm to hatch so I am sure they will keep the babies warm.
I am worried about the pool though, it is right at ground level but there is a slight step up to get out. Maybe I will arrange some brick steps in several places so they can get out of the water.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 16, 2012 0:05:02 GMT -7
I think that would be a good idea...and setting the bricks around would give them resting places if they want to stay in but be able to stand as well as easy access to get out. Just keep a close eye on them to be sure they continue to eat when you put them back out and that the hen takes them back since they will need her to keep them warm. Good luck and let me know how it works!!
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Post by woodyz on Aug 14, 2012 13:10:51 GMT -7
Well to continue the duck story. We hatched 8 they are pictured on this post just under a week. When they were 3 weeks old we took them out the mama and pop but left them in a pin. They seemed to get along fine but as soon as we let them out pops killed one of the males. So we have 3 black and 4 chocolate left. We expanded the duck run with the idea of keeping the male separate, but the mom decided to sit more eggs. They started hatching last night. We are going to leave these with mom and pop and see if it works better. Here is a pic of them at six weeks old, I will get some better ones and some of the new babies soon These couldn't have been better colors for what we wanted to get.  |
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Post by woodyz on Aug 16, 2012 15:47:29 GMT -7
Mama hatched six of her ten eggs and we have left them with her.  Mom is chocolate, pop is black. Last hatch we go four of each but two males. This time we got five chocolate and one black.  The first hatch have really grown to just be 2 months. |
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Post by woodyz on Aug 16, 2012 20:42:38 GMT -7
After I posted I looked and counted five little ones. But if you look at the water in front of mom you will see wake, that is the other one. It is in another pic but just mom. They were all in the water when I went to get the camera but all but one out when I got back.
We were cleaning out the water after this we had a downpour yesterday and a lot of tree trash washed off of the roof of the coop into the water.
I have some duckweed ordered to help keep the water filtered, ducks are nasty.
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Post by woodyz on Nov 1, 2012 15:56:57 GMT -7
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