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.
Updates: Seedlings, Ducks, Grass, Rain
Seedlings: The indoor seedlings are doing well! This week I transplanted all the peppers and tomatoes from the MINI blocks into their MAXI blocks, and they’re taking off. A few more seeds were sown for basil & other herbs and some marigolds. The beets I’d started were transplanted to the cold frame about 2.5 weeks after sowing inside. This is one of the things “not recommended” to start indoors, but as with many things, in the blocks I’ve found it’s fine to give them a quick start inside and saves time and wondering which or how many will germinate.
Ducks: Our order was delayed due to high volume of orders, and we weren’t able to get the ducklings the first week of April as we’d hoped. We’ll be getting the duckling delivery the first week of June. We’re really looking forward to getting the little buggers. We’ll have plenty of time to focus on the garden and other things before we get the ducks, and it’ll be warmer more consistently later on, so they may be able to get outside in less time after we get them.
Grass: We decided to try planting some grass seed in the area where the ducks will live and forage, in hopes it will be better for them. One advantage in the delay of the ducks is that it may have more time to get established and growing before they to out there. Tim cleared the area, broke up the soil a bit and planted the seed yesterday.
Rain: It finally RAINED! It has been so very, very dry this winter, it was exciting to hear some thunder, see some lightening, and later hear rain on the roof during the night. Not a lot, but it’s something!
The Ducks Have It
After tons of research, we’ve decided on DUCKS. Not only that, we’ve decided on a breed. We’ll be looking for Welsh Harlequins. They should be good layers, and are considered “rare”, so by raising these we will help prolong the breed.
We’re making all kinds of plans: how many, when to get them, how to house them, etc. Like we need something else to do! It’ll be fun, a new adventure. We’re planning on making a “duck tractor” or portable pen/house, so we can move them from place to place, letting them forage in the garden when not planted or when plants are established, to eat weeds and unwanted insects.
Chickens or Ducks?
We are thinking about getting chickens or ducks, for eggs and/or meat. We are still only thinking, and plotting out how we will do this, where they will be, and whether we want one more thing to tie us down. If we do it, we will build some kind of moveable coop that can be moved around to different areas, so they can dig up the weeds and eat snails & grubs, one area at a time, and deposit their manure for us. We might design something that would fit over most of our beds, so we can move it from bed to bed during the winter, and leave it on vacant beds in the summer. Or, we can put them in the weedy area that isn’t planted. We are finding a few plans in different books, and looking for more books and information.
There seems to be difference of opinion about whether chickens or ducks are better. Some prefer one, others the other. Some say ducks have nicer personalities, some say ducks are noisier and messier. How about you?