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whatlike_withacloth on scored.co
1 year ago1 point(+0/-0/+1Score on mirror)1 child
You're either not giving them much water or you *just* changed that bedding to take a picture.
I have a 4' long brooder for mine with the water on one side and food on the other, and like 80% of the bedding used to be wet by day 2 after a fresh change. I've gotten it down to ~60% by adding drain holes in the brooder box just below the water... really seems to help.
It's a 6 foot trough with only 4 ducks. I add more bedding until it gets awful then do a complete change. They will only be in this trough for a week or two then they go to the horse trailer (16 foot).
My typical workflow is
3-4 weeks in the house in a small 3 foot plastic tub. By week 3 it's just awful.
1-2 weeks in a shed in the metal 6 foot trough.
Last 3-4 weeks in a horse trailer. Then they join general population if the temperature outside is good enough.
Haven't lost a duck yet. My incubator is only 7 eggs so I usually just get 4 ducks to hatch.
Hatched like 20 ducks through the winter every month 4 at a time.
I think this next batch of eggs incubating will be my last for this season. We will have like 25 or so ducks total. They live with our 40 or so chickens.
My goat area is around the chickens and ducks so they all run together with one livestock guardian dog on the inside and one English shepherd on the outside to keep everyone safe with dogs out 24/7
Ducks are hilarious and fun to watch. Hope to sell more duck eggs but most of our customers are still chicken eggs fans.
Your livestock situation sounds like us in about 5 years (already got the "40 or so" chickens... I think people like us just stop counting at 40). We've only got a few ducks, but that's because we don't have a big water source for them... which is my project this summer (digging a pond).
>Hope to sell more duck eggs but most of our customers are still chicken eggs fans
I don't really get this at all. The duck membrane thickness is a little annoying, but aside from that I tend to prefer duck eggs. Though farm fresh eggs are better than store bought, so maybe that's good enough for people. We got a boiled egg for my son from Buc-ee's a few months back, and he hated it lol. We all tasted it and though it was pretty bland and bad; we've been spoiled on homegrown!
I have a 4' long brooder for mine with the water on one side and food on the other, and like 80% of the bedding used to be wet by day 2 after a fresh change. I've gotten it down to ~60% by adding drain holes in the brooder box just below the water... really seems to help.
Glad to see another duck keeper - we love ours.
My typical workflow is
3-4 weeks in the house in a small 3 foot plastic tub. By week 3 it's just awful.
1-2 weeks in a shed in the metal 6 foot trough.
Last 3-4 weeks in a horse trailer. Then they join general population if the temperature outside is good enough.
Haven't lost a duck yet. My incubator is only 7 eggs so I usually just get 4 ducks to hatch.
Hatched like 20 ducks through the winter every month 4 at a time.
I think this next batch of eggs incubating will be my last for this season. We will have like 25 or so ducks total. They live with our 40 or so chickens.
My goat area is around the chickens and ducks so they all run together with one livestock guardian dog on the inside and one English shepherd on the outside to keep everyone safe with dogs out 24/7
Ducks are hilarious and fun to watch. Hope to sell more duck eggs but most of our customers are still chicken eggs fans.
>Hope to sell more duck eggs but most of our customers are still chicken eggs fans
I don't really get this at all. The duck membrane thickness is a little annoying, but aside from that I tend to prefer duck eggs. Though farm fresh eggs are better than store bought, so maybe that's good enough for people. We got a boiled egg for my son from Buc-ee's a few months back, and he hated it lol. We all tasted it and though it was pretty bland and bad; we've been spoiled on homegrown!
At first I thought duck eggs tasted differently then my wife stopped telling me which was chicken or duck egg and now I can't tell the difference.
Just a bigger yoke and more vitamins and protein in duck eggs... And better for baking
Keep us up to date on your pond project