Here is Part 2 of our Duckling Brooder segments. This one shows the brooder where it is in our basement, and how we have it set up. The ducklings are in this video, too!
Duckling Brooder – Part 1
We made a series of videos showing our duckling brooder, how we made it, how we clean it. Here is Part 1. Keep checking for more…
DUCKLINGS DAY SEVEN
The ducklings are doing well, on day seven. Here is a current photo, with “Whitey” front and center as usual. The big guy does always seem to be the most bold, and I don’t think it’s just because he’s the only one we can pick out. I’ve thought about giving them colored bands, just so we can keep track of who’s who, but maybe it’s just as well that we don’t single any out, since one day some will be dinner and all…
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| Ducklings Day Seven |
Duckling Feed
We are fortunate to live in an area that is plentiful with livestock and feed shops. As we researched options for duck feed, and particularly organic feed, we discovered that the most affordable organic feed available to us is produced right here in Fort Collins at Ranch-Way Feeds. We can buy it right at the mill, where we’ve already been buying horse feed for several years. They don’t make waterfowl blends, but we’re combining their turkey starter with chick starter and some oatmeal and a little grit for our ducks’ starter feed.** That combination was recommended in Storey’s Guide to Raising Ducks, by Holderread, so hopefully that will do the trick. I suppose we’ll mess around with different combinations as they grow, and do the best we can. We want to keep them organically fed.
**One part turkey starter, one part chick starter, ½ part oatmeal, with some grit sprinkled on top.
The Ducks Are Here!
Our ducks arrived at the post office this morning, so Tim went to pick them up soon after. Our order was for 10 Welsh Harlequin ducklings, and along with the 10 we received one White Appleyard as a “bonus”. One of the 10 arrived dead, but with the bonus, we still have 10 total.
They are very cute, of course! We put them into the brooder that was all ready for them, and it’s amazing how quickly they wander around exploring. Right away we gave them water to drink with a little honey in it and some chopped up greens. After a bit we gave them their food, and one by one they figured out what was there and began to eat. Within no time at all they were jumping over each other and over the food trough to get to the other side. The one White Appleyard is the largest and boldest of all. He will be pure white, so I’m already calling him (or her) “Whitey”. Of the others, we think there are 4 females and 5 males, based on the bill color. With this breed, you can tell the sex by their bill color within the first couple of days after hatching, with 75% accuracy. Apparently, the ducks with a lighter bill color are females. We have no idea what sex Whitey is, but hopefully we’ll have at least 4-5 females out of the bunch for egg production.