So I was in touch with the lady that I may be getting some ducks from. She has two kinds of rare breed that she raises. Ancona ducks and spotted australien ducks. We were expecting that there may have been some babies coming anyday now, but they had a power outage for a day and a half and lost all the duck eggs in the incubator. So if I decide to do the Anconas, it will be a little over a month. She has some of the spotted australien ducks hatching out right now so I have the potential to get those this weekend. I am very undecided. I really like the way the Anconas look. We will be going to her house on Saturday to look at them all. I'm already scheming in my coniving brain to get 2 of each kind! The ancona's are excellent egg layers. Have to convince hubby of this. 4 ducks too much???? Also, basics I would need to set up brooder for 2 babies, should I come home with two. I already have a heat lamp and a place to put them. What to use for food and watering dishes?
maybe getting ducks this weekend
you need four ducks. if you get two, and something happens to one, the other will always be lonely...
so, assuming that line works on DH, you need, IMO to find that link iposted to the feathersite waterfowl care page LOL
i didn't keep my ducks inside long. and i used a tall round tupperware container for their drinking water right newar their food, which i put in a small pie pan.
by the time they were old enough to need to bath, they were outside.
don't use medicated feed. they eat a larger quantity of feed, and would OD on the anitbiotics. get chick starter and turkey starter and mix 50/50.
once they go outside, keep a tall ubcket near their feeder for drinking. like a huge cat litter bucket... they will eat lots of grass... and milo in the evening, though mine will eat anything, including leftover chicken starter!
we have two ponds. both used to be sandboxes... now that i have another baby, time to find a new sandbox LOL
congrats on the ducks! you might want to be sure you only gget one male. or if you want one male of each breed then you will need two females, at least, for each male...
have fun!
tf
u dont always need 4 i put 12 ducks in the incubator and only one hatched but it stays with me for most of the day anyway
Thanks for the replies. I'm definitely getting excited! Trying to figure out where to put them in the house to begin with. I have the chicks in the basement right now, and boy oh boy do they stink! I need to get them outside ASAP! I'd like to keep the baby ducks in for at least a short time for some bonding time. I'm going to have to ponder this for a bit. How long are they on the 50/50 mix of the chick and turkey starter? Trying to figure out what size bag to buy of each. Cant imagine these babies are going to eat 100lbs of food, but I guess you guys would know better!
i would guess a few weeks, depending on how much there is for them to eat once they go outside. ducks stink 10 times worse!!!
if you have leftover turkey starter, it makes a great treat to boost your laying hens protein, or give it to someone with guineas. also, the ducks could eat sttraight turkey starter as adults i think.
i dont' recall how many chicsk you have, but just figure 2 bags of chick starter and 1 of turkey each time you pick up feed. the ducks consume a larger amount, and are a little wasteful too.
janastasio,
I'm raising baby ducks right now (3) and I was using the shelf liner on the bottom of their brooder. It did an excellent job of keeping them from getting splayed legs.
I give mine game bird feed mixed with grit. Occassionally I mix in some chick feed but haven't found this to be very important. Some places said not to give medicated but others said it didn't matter. You have to decide for yourself on that one.
In addition to the feed I've been giving mine buttercrunch lettuce, dandelions and yesterday I added earthworms. They scarfed those down fast!! They also enjoy some handfuls of grass. Mine were hatched 5/5 so they aren't very old.
You need to use a water dish that they can get their whole heads into. it's important to their health. I only had a 2.5" bowl and not only did they dip their heads they jumped right in! They've been having a blast in the water since they arrived here!! I have an 85 watt red spotlight over them and they go under the light to preen themselves till they're dry. Yesterday was a big day in that they and the geese and chicks all moved into the greenhouse. They also got pine bedding instead of their shelf liner since at night it's a little cooler out there. They seem to be adapting very well to the changes. They've more than doubled their size in one week's time.
MollyD
I went to the feed store at lunch time. They had 10lb bag increments, which cost wise, prob. isnt so wise, but just seemed like an easier amount to manage. I bought a 10lb bag of unmedicated chick starter and unmedicated game bird starter. Now I just have to convince hubby that I want 2 more ducks in a month! It doesnt help that we just had a stray cat/kitten show up and make house in our garage. Our kids love her, she's incredibly sweet. We already have 6 cats. I started putting food out in the garage for her.........Its only a matter of time before she's in the house!!! That is unless I can get my mom to adopt her. She's about 6mos old. Anyone want to kitty!!!