Woohoo long weekend! I have five million and one things to do, It is early autumn and the garden could do with a good clean up (so many weeds.. stupid black nightshade) Thankfully I had some fluffy helpers. Not too many weeks ago the fluffy butts steered clear of me in the garden, now they like to follow me around to find the bugs and treats that pop up
Blue helps load the wheelbarrow
The girls inspect the old duck house once the black nightshade plants were removed from around it. (for something that is about 60% cardboard it's doing okay!)
Every area was inspected
Some were used for dust bathing
Lacey took time out of her busy day to preen my pants (or just bite me)
Time for a late afternoon break! the ducks inspect their new clean water, blue shows off her feathery butt, lizzy eats a bug and Lacey checks out a tree
After a busy day of gardening everyone was a bit tired
Last year in preparation for the bird babies arrival I tried to absorb as much information as I could.
One of the things I came across quite often were those lists '5 things I wish I'd known before getting chickens', honestly most are lovely. A lot of people talk about not realising how much they would love their chickies, how they didn't know they would get so attached or how relaxing it can be to watch them bok boking around the garden, chasing each other, searching for treats (destroying the tomatoes...). Fluffy butted birds so full of personality.
I do love reading about people who love their animals!
If I were to write a list, it would include the joys of loving your bird buddies, but number one on that list would have to be
I had no idea how hard it would be dealing with illness in chickens and ducks.
I forget exactly when we discovered Roo was a little boy, but he must only have been about 2 weeks old. His little pink waddle and comb, thicker legs and upright stance gave him away, for ages he had looked so much like his brooder sisters.
He could be bossy, and I remember telling him off for picking on Blue but mostly he was a fair chicken leader. A Gold laced Wyandotte with a few little white spots here and there on his feathers.
2 weeks old gold laced Wyandotte cockerel
The idea of 'no boys club' had become, 'well, the boy ducks are quiet anyway. It would't hurt to keep one' and 'let's see how we go with a rooster after all. If he's loud we can deal with it then'
But.. looks and personality wise Chuck won hands down, if we kept a boy it wouldn't be Roo.
Trying not to get too attached before he was eventually sold or eaten we simply called him Roo Boy until that became his name.
That doesn't mean we ignored him or he didn't get treats and affection of course.
cuddles with sleepy Roo
It was a busy Spring and Summer looking after 10 rapidly growing birds. Keeping on top of brooder cleaning, feeding, keeping water clean, trying to get the coop sorted, giving everyone outdoor time when possible...
I wish I had paid more attention to the little bugger.
I do remember sitting in the coop after they had all just moved in, the chicks all started their evening chick pile. Purring away and trying to be in the middle, Roo tried to squeeze under Whitney duck but she told him off.
Sometimes the chick pile would squash against me until I left them so I could worry about other things.
6 week Wyandotte cockerel Roo (at back, right)
with his girlfriends Blue (to his left), Lizzy (centre) and Lacey (front
6 week Wyandotte dust bath party Roo is second from the front, you can see how big his comb is when he turns
December, in the evening the birds clambered into the coop as usual, treats before bed time! everyone scurried around claiming theirs... except Roo who scooted past and straight to the chick pile corner. Weird, oh well, when the chicks decide it is bed time they are often more interested in sleep than food. He's probably just tired?
Nope, the next morning while his friends foraged he puffed up quietly beside the coop door and barely moved. Crud! we rushed him inside, and made a hospital box from a cardboard box with wire mesh windows.
It was the first signs he had shown us he was ill, but he was all puffed up, eyes closed, suddenly bright green poop. He wasn't interested in food or water.
I had made plans to collect first aid items, but at that stage it hadn't happened so we raced around town for supplies. Unfortunately not many useful stores are open on the weekend past 12 on a Saturday. We managed to find a wormer, but I had to order medication for coccidiosis so I also ordered a wound spray, syringes and a vitamin supplement (i now have a much better first aid kit for the birds than myself!)
It was a difficult time.We hand fed Roo scrambled egg and helped him drink. I tried adding vitamins and electrolytes to his water. Wormed him, carried him outside with me for fresh air, cleaned his hospital box and googled frantically for answers. What was wrong with him?
By now he didn't move much and miss A suspected he had a fever so we gave him cool baths.
The internet taught me his symptoms could be caused by many things. We wormed him and started him on a coccidiosis medication.
We had been unable to get him to a vet earlier and on Christmas Eve, Lacey Chick made some blood poops and puffed up in the coop. Finally free of work I called around, thankfully living in a rural location meant there were still vets open that saw chickens.
Roo was quite thin, he hadn't been eating for a while, he recieved an antihistamine for his fever and antibiotics (baytril I think) he had coccidiosis, a rather unpleasant parasitic organism - plus a secondary infection, I understood that the medication was to give him a chance.. not that he would definately get better from here.
Both Chickies also came home with 5 days of antibiotics and Baycox (for coccidiosis) to treat their water.
All the sparrows and wild birds, the field mice and other visiting animals can bring in disease and sickness, we cleaned up in the yard where our babies free range and trim bushes where the mice hide, I gave the coop a good clean out and scrubbed the floor. The healthy birds had their water treated with coxiprol and the ducks were let out during the day so they didn't drink too much of it (they had clean water outside)
Roo and Lacey had a big hospital box to share inside, with sick birds it is important to separate them from their flock friends, healthy birds can attack sick birds to keep them away from the flock, also we didn't like the idea of passing illness to the healthy chicks.
I gave our girl a soft toy for company as Roo spent all his time sleeping, she was not interested but he often cuddled into it. She was far too busy eating or smooshing against Roo.
Roo (left) cuddles his soft toy friend Lacey rests between eating
Daily we would mix up medicated water and syringe the antibiotics into Roo and Lacey as the vet had shown us, Lacey fought and complained where Roo was mostly compliant. As often as possible we would carry the hospital box out into the warm sunshine of the fenced off front yard. At first Lacey stayed close but began to wander and forage, Roo rested by me and ate the food I managed to place in his mouth that Lacey wasn't stealing out of my hand. He decided at one point he had had enough! glaring at me he shuffled into the bush to nap. It was the most I had seen him move for quite a few days now.
Lacey tromped in after him to see what wonders he had found, she was becoming jealous of his special treatment and would often plant herself between me and the boy.
The rest of the flock would spy us through the fence and encourage their sick friends to get back.
We had been talking for at least a few days over what to do. At what point are you keeping the poor guy alive trying to help him get better, because you are worried about letting him go? we loved that puff ball, and decided to at least wait until the antibiotic course was finished to make a decision.
Lacey bounced back to her happy, chirpy, pretty self. Roo seemed to get a bit better, but only for a little while. His poops weren't bright green but he wasn't digesting food, he had stopped preening, still no interest in food.
I will always remember the second to last day of the antibiotics, I took the chickies out to the front yard, Lacey raced off to eat the fuschia flowers which she loves, Roo laid on the grass. It was the first time I noticed his beautiful iridescent green tail feathers coming in. He would have been such a pretty boy.
'He looks so sad' T said, and he did. A ball of bones, fluff and sadness.
And we knew it was time.
The next morning I called a work friend who also keeps chickens, miss A could not bear to watch but I stayed. He passed quickly and did not suffer.
We laid him to rest in the flower garden with his soft toy friend while Lacey peeped around confused.
I'm sorry little guy.
Roo boy sunbathes in the coop
Roo has gone and not how I had pictured he would leave us, but taught us a lot! Miss A noticed he would peck the air a lot, and looking into it we found that often sick birds will pretend to eat to hide illness. Thinking back it had been strange for a while that while offering treats Roo would just peck your hand really hard rather than eating or peck around food.
As prey animals chickens and ducks will do their absolute best to hide sickness, they won't be noticeably sick until they are *very* sick... it's important to keep an eye on your flock. Watch for changes in behaviour, lack of appetite, check them for mites, check their combs, waddles and whether they are under or over weight, look at their feet and remember to watch their poop! but do keep in mind that some foods can make it funny colours, and them drinking a lot can make it runny. Also! coral coloured urates are normal in poop... in fact there is a huge range of *normal* for poultry poops...
It is good to learn what is normal for *your* flock, some birds are just shy and quiet (Stevie), some just make really odd noises because (Sunny, I'm looking at you here!) where some are more out going and crazy (Bonnie...).
It can be a good idea to have a first aid kit ready to go and finding out whether there is a vet in your area that sees chickens is a good idea. Just in case.
Only a week ago now Whitney graced us with two eggs thoughtfully laying amongst the wood shavings in the coop.
Sunday found half an egg under the cherry tree. Monday my brother brought a monster egg out of the coop, she seemed to have caught up, the shell was lovely and thick.
All going well! I'd heard that you have to lock up free range ducks in the morning or they lay anywhere and you can easter egg hunt constantly, so Tuesday morning when the birds had scurried past me out the coop door I searched around quickly, no new eggs.
The plastic training eggs placed in the chicken's nesting boxes and the darkened corner (the one with tarps the ducks refused to live in) had become partially buried but I put it down to the chickens scratching.
We all tried searching for Whitney's mysterious Tuesday egg with no luck. Oh well, maybe she won't lay every day?
Wednesday morning found... still no eggs? weird. Whitney quacked around outside. Now the plastic egg in the dark corner was gone. Crud I'm already a bit late for work. I'd better search for that plastic egg, what if a rat took it? I don't want them coming in here taking eggs.
Better start in the last place I saw it, digging around in the wood shavings and there it was! completely buried, along with two little duck eggs!
wait, ducks bury their eggs?
Not always apparently, Thursday she laid it on top of her nest in the corner, but apart from her first couple of days there has been an egg a day in that same area. Sometimes she digs right down to the concrete floor and gets distracted before covering it again, other days you have to find it but so far it's always there. Friday evening she got a big fright and we found a half formed egg in the duck pool and another next to it, poor girl. Saturday I was not surprised to find nothing, but Sunday she had laid another giant egg!
Mondays huge egg next to Wednesdays egg
My first thoughts were that the bigger eggs were normal sized for her, but it turns out they were both double yolkers
As usual the birds didn't take too kindly to the addition of new layer food with their grower food, I've been mixing the two together. Chuck in particular picks out what he doesn't want and makes a pile next to the container. The layer feed I've chosen is less processed than they are used to, I like that you can still see the grains and bits in it, but found my picky eaters would leave most of the smaller dustier things behind. Mixing water in has fixed that and they go nuts for it now! Whitney has even been spied nomming up the free choice oyster shell, although that gets tipped all over the place more often than not.
I had been concerned about whether the entire flock should be eating layer yet, the 'dottes are a few weeks off laying yet although I expect Whitney to start soon, and the boys won't lay ever. Layer feed has added calcium that young birds shouldn't be eating, mine all do free range though so they can supplement their diets with bugs, grass and whatever else they decide they like. Which apparently is not yogurt...
It's exciting to see the chicky girls little combs starting to develop, I understand they will get big red combs and waddles, maybe start squatting when heading into the time they will start to lay...
I don't mind if they take their time though.
I can entertain myself by learning how to cook duck eggs in the meantime. I've tried frying them, they are quite good!
To me they taste pretty much like a chicken egg, although the whites have quite a different texture as they have considerably more protein so it is important not to overcook them.
I can also distract myself by trying to figure out whether the little egg yolks show a simple tiny white dot, or the concentric white circles that display whether Stevie has figured out how to fertilize them or not... I'm pretty sure no at the moment, but he has plenty of time until spring.
Chuck is a beautiful blue laced Wyandotte cockerel...
And he knows it.
His lacy edges usually look shades of grey, but in the right light are a lovely baby blue to dark aquamarine
His iridescent fire engine red wings glow like red hot glass and his bright blond mane makes his comb and waddles seem eye searing deep geranium red.
But don't let his good look and charms fool you...
Chuck is a big dork.
He crows like a(n adorable) wee dork.
He reacts to new treats like a dork (pick it up, freak out! Drop it)
And he is in love with the ducks (like a dork?) yes, that includes poor Stevie.
He's also a big jerk.
It's kinda hard to find examples of young cockerel behavior online. BEFORE they figure out the proper way to court a lady hen... He is very much still at the 'push them out of the way for food, remind them who is boss on the roost and sneak up behind them for mounting, then act like it *must* have been someone else when they get upset' phase. There is no pretty wing dance or cooing that he has found his girlfriends a tasty treat and the hens aren't laying yet so he feels no need to inspect nests for them, although I understand this is rooster behavior, not cockerel behavior.
Chuck is only almost 22 weeks old and still a spring chicken.
Sooo... Chuck the CHicken dUCK? does the name have anything to do with his deep and desperate desire to make chicken/duck hybrids?
Nope! he got the name as a little baby chicken who had aspirations of becoming king of the ducks.
There was for a while always one tiny chicken parked in the pile of ducklings
whether sleeping
or while they attacked their reflections.
To be honest no one was sure it was the same chicken every time,
those 6 like chipmunk striped chickies looked so similar ... except the smallest little one, the others all had wings that stretched down their bodies, but tiny chick had little nubby wings, a curious little thing he was the first baby to earn a name
Chuck (the chicken duck)
Chuck loved the mirror too, if you heard endless non stop tapping, chances are good he was wondering who the handsome chick looking back at him was. While the other chicks would nestle in your hands (before they figured out how to fly) chuck would demand to perch on your shoulder... with his tiny fluffy butt in your face.
His friends all got puffy tails and shoulder feathers, but Chuck managed to get pretty lacey wing tips and a bigger pink comb (well, Roo boy got his too...) it was apparent pretty early that we had a slow feathering little roo!
Roo boy on the left, Lizzy to his right Lacey far right and little Chuck at the front
sunbathing
It's probably worth mentioning again that we hadn't originally planned to keep any boys, Chuck managed to get around this by being beautiful and cheeky. As brooder babies, the ducks ruled (still do... so far) with Chuck's nemesis Roo Boy being head of the chickens. Where Roo was serious, bossy and standoffish, Chuck was chatty, friendly and a baby jerk. When he figured out his brooder sister Blue would be offered meal worm treats if she perched on top of the brooder to greet us, he would immediately jump up beside her, stealing treats from her mouth, crawling all over your arm to get at them and your freckles and even standing on the meal worms so she couldn't get to them. It meant he could no longer find them either, but oh well!
Out in the coop we sit with the birds so they get used to us being around, as littlies the chicks loved to climb on you if you sat still, Roo wasn't interested, but Chuck would happily perch on your leg to poop on your clean pants.
Pretty 6 week old chuck on the first day in the coop
During Roo's illness and after he passed, Chuck happily took top spot. His waddles and comb grew bigger and at about 13 weeks old he started jumping on to the water tanks every morning to crow his majestic baby cockerel song.
It has become a bit deeper, a bit louder and slightly more frequent than 4 times in the morning
but to be honest, what I though would be awful, obnoxious, constant rooster crows are (at present) adorable and kinda funny. Sometimes we go out to watch him announce his manly presence.
These days Chuck has three things on his mind, making babies, sleeping in a big puffy chicken ball and food.
When he hears a house door open he perks up incase T is coming for a visit, Chuck loves T, T often has grapes for him.
If you have treats for him you could be Chuck's favourite person too
We were greeted early today with cold and drizzle. Blarg Monday. Also a perfect duck egg! partially buried in the wood shavings under the roost stairs again. I've come to the conclusion that both of Saturdays eggs were Whitney's, no wonder she was so tired!
On my break at work I admired photos of her pretty white egg and realised I'd taken a video of her Sunday morning frantic quacking
(It starts with Stevie rasping and following his ladies around) for a while now I've been thinking of making a post about boy duck noises and girl duck noises, these are only my first babies and I'm still learning as I go. Still trying to figure out why they make some of the noises they do and what each different head bob means. But I do have a much better idea of girly quacks now than 22 weeks ago. (I'm sure my first lot of ducklings will show me how wrong I am!)
These days Stevie is the chatty duck
He's not loud but this is what raspy boy noise is like. He's a good boy, keeps watch over his girlfriends and looks out for threats. Although if your duck is about 20 weeks old and has a curly tail and a different coloured head or is one solid colour like Whitney
then you are probably aware if it will eventually lay eggs or not
As 3 week olds it was Whitney who was the chatter
That's her quack at the start of the video, as a little duckie it startled her as much as everyone else. She found her voice at a much, much younger age than anyone else.
And her other favourite noise, 'look I've found a tasty treat!' or 'I'm excited about something!' it sounds similar to one of those soft toys that you tip up to make it moo, except you are shaking it really hard. You can hear baby peeps from the boys too Her quacks and noises don't change an awful lot from here, although she has learned 'angry duck cackle' when she's defending all the food from those pesky chickens or telling Chuck the cockerel to stop jumping on her back and the loud 'WAK WAK WAK WAK WAK' I'm not usually around when this one happens, I think they do it for attention?
And here is (mostly) 6 week old boy squeeks. If I had my camera going earlier you would also hear boy duck "where are my friends?!' shrieking as he was carried inside to frantically check what he'd done to his left wing tip. At the time I was much more worried about stopping the bleeding, covered in blood and looking like a serial killer to think of such things. My guy settled in to the hospital box but chatted constantly with his duck buddies who hung around the windows as they missed him. You can hear whitney honk part way through.
(don't worry, I sorted out that wet patch of shavings, he had a bad habit of sitting in his water and wetting everything!)
And their first swim together after he got out
Whitney quacking and the boys peeping and squeeling (and being bitey) Hopefully I'll have a better idea of who is who in spring when we raise a new batch of little buddies!
This Sunday morning began with a sort of easter egg hunt, the birds burst out of the coop as usual and Whitney was unusually noisy.
She quacked around the yard non stop, in and out of bushes, into the pool, out of the pool... I followed her for a while keeping my distance. Is she trying to find a spot to lay? at one point I crawled into a particularly awful corner under a bottle brush tree, positive I had spotted a new egg...
Inspection showed it was just a large, very round seashell.
After a while I left her and her duck friends to loudly dawdle and forage.
After coffee I decided to check again and found everyone congregating in what is left of the vegie patch. Dark little duck eyes spotted me and they sauntered towards the pool, Whitney had quit her constant chatter. Interesting
As they stopped to drink I caught her poop some clear fluid... egg white.. Uh oh...
Internal laying? apparently it can be common in new layers and her egg has been soft shelled yesterday. I scooped her up, time for a warm bath and a check over.
Whitney settled in, biting at the running water and wary of my company. Suddenly she heard Stevie calling through the window, realising her duck friends weren't there she became a bit upset. Normal for the ducks though, they hate to be separated.
I talked calmly and she seemed okay, shooting out a big normal duck poop, no whites or yolk, just digested food. Okay! that works, good!
I've always found it interesting that chickies daintily squat to poop, but ducks shoot it out like a noisy water gun.
I finally scooped her out of the bath, quickly cocooning her in a towel to calm her, mainly because... have you ever tried to locate a ducks vent under all those fluffy butt feathers? finally found it, no redness or swelling in or around the area, everything seemed fine. She joined her duck friends to chat, preen and swim and also probably to discuss what the awful human had just done.
Then I found a goopy egg under the cherry tree, the birds favourite area. At first I was convinced it must be an older egg, but it seems likely Whitney laid this and the shell didn't form properly which would explain why she pooped the rest of the white separately. Hopefully she will continue to eat the layer feed and it will help. You have no idea how wary our birds are of new foods
It is early autumn here and time to be thinking of tidying up outside.
Time to trim the trees and bushes, clear the millions of oak tree babies and clear up what started as good intentions for my usual summer garden that got neglected by the arrival of baby chickens and ducks.
I started with a mass of agapanthus by the driveway, my brother gave Chuck a moth which he devoured in his usual Chuck way (pick it up, freak out like it might eat your face, stare at it, then gobble it down before Blue steals it) then he napped under the oak tree with his friends. Lacey came over to inspect my work
Eventually there was a stampede, they love recently cleared areas
If only they could dig the darn weeds out for me and trim the trees! (rather than murder the corn and tomatoes)
EGGS! two of them!
The alarm went off this morning and I could hear Chuck singing his cockerel song from the water tank. I shuffled down towards the coop with a coffee in hand, time to move the food out and change the mud filled water A little brown duck face peeked around from behind the coop, odd they are usually all over the lawn by now! I sat on the water tank to see what they were doing, Stevie rasped to announce I had arrived with treats so everyone raced over to see what I had... they weren't shy to show their disappointment in me showing up empty handed. I noticed Whitney had her tail feathers fanned out, her fluffy butt looked a bit odd and she seemed
utterly
knackered.
Okay, either she's had a busy time today with Stevie in the pool or she's laid an egg! I've been sort of expecting to see one for a while now, probably in the area I pulled agapanthus out of not too long ago, Bonnie likes to climb in it and go nuts. I was hoping she just eats bugs in there because I really don't like the idea of digging around in it.
I've made a private area in the corner of the coop using tarps, at one point I thought the ducks might like to sleep there instead of under the chicken roosts (nope!) and someone had tried to make a nest in it, no eggs there though.. but under the steps to the roost nestled in the wood shavings were two pretty eggs! A larger one with a soft shell and a smaller harder shelled one!
I'm guessing the bigger one was Whitney's, poor girl, and the other would probably be Bonnie's since the pullets are showing no signs of being at point of lay. No red combs or waddles, they aren't squatting at all.
Whitney climbed into the pool with Bonnie and tried not to fall asleep Blue the pullet stood traumatized in the doorway to the coop, either she isn't impressed with the whole egg laying thing, the smaller one was hers, or (more likely) she thought I'd put special food treats in there and was wondering where they were.
Chuck has been trying to jump on the duck girls for a while, he hasn't figured out the chivalrous way to woo a girl yet and simply waits until they aren't looking to throw himself at them which they don't appreciate. Silly boy. He has as of yet to try anything with the pullets
Chuck the cockerel and Stevie the drake
Hmm, time to whip out oyster shell in a separate container and find some layer feed. I've placed white plastic eggs in the nesting boxes and in the corner duck nest so hopefully they'll make it to the nice quiet corner tomorrow if they lay
By the afternoon everyone was back to their usual chatty selves.
If you look around for opinions on whether or not to brood chicks and ducklings together you will find plenty of people who will tell you not to do it.
Ducks are *messy*,
they grow a *lot* faster than your chicks and will bowl them over,
they play with their water and will turn a brooder into a horrific wet muck hole..
This is very true! the last point is particularly important as chicks don't do well in damp and constantly wet conditions, it can lead to some pretty bad health issues.
On the other hand, if you manage these issues you will be fine.
We planned for our birds to live together in a big coop when they were old enough, figuring that if they were raised together from the start it would save issues later on reintroducing them.
I tried to do as much reading as I could to be prepared, but there was still a lot of surprises along the way
Brooder 1.0 before birds!
The first step is to set up the brooder before your babies arrive, turn on the heat source so it's already warm for them, put out food and water.
The brooder
I can't remember off the top of my head how big this was, but we started with 3 quite large boxes. Cardboard has done me quite well so far, it's been used for a brooder, hospital boxes, vet transport boxes and even a time out box for Bonnie when she was being a tart.
You will need to line it with something so it doesn't just disintegrate when someone splashes water everywhere! I've used carwrap vinyl (being a sign writer has to be good for something right?)
I've seen people use large plastic containers, a bath tub or kids swimming pools as a brooder and these are great ideas, but what I love most about cardboard is it's easy to find, cheap or free and easy to add on another 'room' to your brooder as the babies grow. Plus when you are done just recycle it!
Of note... I actually thought this box would last for a few weeks then the birds could move into a bigger fridge box and then the coop... haha noooo...
I follow the author of http://jackshenhouse.com/ on a chicken forum and she had mentioned adding wire covered windows to brooder boxes. they are great ideas! you can see in and your birds can sit in front of their window and watch out.
Just make sure they are higher than the level of your bedding, when your chicks learn to scratch around they will back up and boot stuff out the window alllll over the floor
Birds enjoying the window
It's up to you where you keep the brooder. It's noisy and too warm in our garage, I had considered the bathroom but wanted to keep an eye on the birds so it came into our lounge. It gets lots of sun and there was a nice big area they could go into. We placed a tarp on the floor which was a life saver when the chicks learned to perch on the side to poo off the edge.
Bedding
Quite a few people who have raised chicks before have their preferences already, I would advise against newspaper as it can get very slippery when wet and cause spraddle leg in your birds.
My own preference is wood shavings, I didn't have any issues with the birds eating them and they absorbed dampness pretty well when stirred up. They were also reasonably cheap which is great as I went through HEAPS of the stuff!
A heat source
looking around I could have purchased a new heat lamp set up, or for roughly the same price I could get an ecoglow.
I read many horror stories about heat lamps.. burns to babies, bulbs burning out at the worst time, unexpected fires... I'm sure many people have used lamps for years with absolutely no issues but the ecoglow sounded fantastic. At 12v It uses very little power and is safe, the heat plate is warm to the touch but the yellow plastic top doesn't heat up, which is great as your birds *will* climb on it.
It can be a bit of a pain to adjust the height by wedging the legs off and there are only three height options, but this was fine for me.
Our idiots were used to a heat lamp when they arrived, they were so confused! where do we keep warm? we tried placing them under the warmer and they ran out, tried to keep them under for a few seconds and they still ran. T had to place it over them while they slept in a chick pile and from then on they -loved- it.
Stevie duck loved it even when the only part of him that would fit under was his head. He claimed it as his own
Things that fit under and ecoglow 20 - 6 x 3 week old chicks
or half a duck
Food
You can feed ducks chick starter, you will find people will tell you to give ducklings un medicated feed. They will eat a lot more than chicks so some of the medications can cause issues for them.
When we picked up our babies, the breeder sold us a chick starter with rumensin as a coccidiostat, she has been using this for years with her babies and they all do well. Ours all grew well from it.
If you are unsure, and can find it, they will be fine with un medicated feed, you should be keeping the brooder dry and clean and be making sure there is no over crowding so there shouldn't be issues (hopefully) anyway.
Ducks need niacin, if you are lucky enough to find a duck feed your chicks can have too then you shouldn't need to worry. But for those of us that can't, you can add brewers yeast by sprinkling it over food. Niacin will help your ducks have nice healthy legs.
One thing I was unsure of was how long to feed chick starter, I wanted the chicks to get the most from their food too, but the high protein in starter can lead to angel wing in ducks. My starter feed suggested changing to grower feed from 6 weeks so that's what we did and despite my worries it worked out well.
I had originally planned to make feeders from bottles, but settled on a feeder from a farm store. Just be aware if you give food in an open dish your birds can and will climb all over it and poop in it, which you don't want them eating! (erm, ducklings sometimes do eat poop though, apparently it's normal, I checked...grubby little things)
Water
Your ducklings need deep enough water that they can clean their nares and eyes (hearing little duckies blowing water out their nose is adorable!) but nothing they can swim in on their own. They will get water everywhere, it's what they do!
Ducks need water with their food so they don't choke so place the two close.
One thing that will save your sanity is to place the waterer over a big dish covered in wire netting, most of the water will go into the dish and not all over their bedding.
One thing I have learnt though, don't just buy the cheapest waterer... I made the mistake of buying one that refilled itself part way and then stopped for no reason. Looking around apparently quite a few in the similar style as shown below behave in this way.
There are other bits and pieces you can add to a brooder, We added a mirror which the babies spent ages pecking at! they loved pecking at the bird staring back at them
Some people add soft toys for snuggling and company
Something your chickies can practise roosting on. I made them a little roosting platform from wood and they did sit on it, but not often. They didn't sleep on it together and played a game of angry peeping chick pile for quite some time, the winner of angry chick pile, surprisingly, is the one on the bottom in the middle.
Dried and fresh herbs can be good too. I liked to tie fresh mint to the wire windows, the ducks went utterly mental for it and it made everything smell nice.
There are many food treats you can begin to give your new buddies - scrambled eggs, chopped up vegies like broccoli, bugs and our ducks favourite peas
If you give your buddies treats, you shouldn't be giving them too much. their starter feed provides the nutrients and vitamins they will need to be healthy birds, but a few treats now and then is fine and they will appreciate it. If you start feeding more than the starter feed they will need grit, apparently fine granite is good, but I can't find it anywhere here, you can however dig up a clump of grass with dirt, roots bugs etc all intact (This I also learnt from Jacks hen house) , just trim the grass so it isn't too long or it can tangle up in your birds crop. The clump will provide food, grit and entertainment! plus introduce the birds to pathogens that may exist in the area they will one day inhabit.
The brooder, 2.0 (week 2!)
As mentioned above, I had expected to keep everyone happily in the first brooder for at least a few weeks... by the end of week one the ducks were already so big they were having trouble fitting under the ecoglow, everyone was getting a bit irritable, it was obvious they needed more room already.
Frantically I wrapped the fridge box in vinyl, added windows and joined it to the smaller brooder (in the above picture it is on the left).
A second waterer and feeder were added.
It's important to provide the babies with enough room at all times. Over crowding can lead to illness, fighting and bullying.
The brooder 3.0 (week 3...)
And to further prove how wrong I was, by halfway through week 3 I added a further 4 boxes to the right hand side of the original boxes. I also managed to not take a decent photo of this, but in my defence the brooder was now too big for a very good photo..
Check out those scruffy birds! Stevie parked under the warmer as usual.
When Stevie started parking his fluffy duck butt in the middle of doorways and complaining at anyone trying to get past we had to remove any internal walls. this was fine but it made collecting the ducks for outdoor time and bath time rather difficult.
Thankfully the brooder didn't grow from here, our babies went from here to the coop
Scruffy muffins
That's pretty much it! you can choose to put a lid of some sort on the top to keep the chicks in, eventually they will realise their tiny wings are great for parking their butts over the side of their home to poop off the side, and when they get slightly older and braver they may decide to take themselves for adventures outside their box. We didn't often use a lid, but it did mean scraping poop off the tarp floor covering.
I also made a habit every night of emptying the full water trays, refilling feeders and waterers, clearing wet shavings from around the water stations, as much poop as i could find from the bedding and replacing with fresh shavings. One of my cockerels was particularly excited to see me digging around and always came to investigate, all the babies were interested in the bottom of the box they lived in and checked out the bare areas during cleaning. Once dry shavings went in, the crazy dust bath parties began!
One last thing, remember to take lots of photos! they really do grow up fast!
12 -20 Weeks
Whitney duck quacked around the yard, followed closely by her goon squad Nigella and Frankie with Stevie in the back quietly minding his own business. At this stage Nigella and Frankie made raspy boy noise, Whitney's voice was clearer and more 'traditionally duck sounding' like a hunters duck call. But Stevie was confusing. Sometimes he honked, making noises that didn't sound like a boy or girl, but mostly he was just my shy super quiet very stompy like dork.
We figured he was a he, but I held out hope that maybe Stevie was a girl... It wouldn't be fair to keep more than one drake with one duck hen. No matter what, Stevie was staying, but I liked Frankie too.
Frankie was beautiful.
7 weeks, from left Stevie, Nigella, Whitney and Frankie
12 weeks
By now they were moulting again in the Summer Heat, baby fluff and feathers everywhere like an explosion in a pillow factory. Exploring the yard, they spent most of their days pooping under the clothes line and pooping under the cherry tree.
A few of the chicks had suffered a serious illness, Coccidiosis. Head cockerel Roo boy didn't make it, but Lacey did. The ducks hid absolutely any symptoms if it affected them at all, resilient, but noticing the absence of their flock members. Whitney was the first to see Lacey and Roo out in the fenced off front yard, she called the duck clan over where they called through the fence, Lacey was too ill at the time to pay attention, but it was interesting to see the ducks telling her to get her butt back with them. Also probably jealous that she had access to tasty treats they couldn't get to!
13 weeks
Nigella Started getting his light gray drake face first, with Frankie getting a darker head second. In true Stevie style it took a few weeks more for him. I would blame it on head birds maturing faster, but honestly I've never really known what order if any the ducks hold themselves in. Chickens are more obvious, and one of Stevie's favourite pool time games was biting Frankie and riding in a circle. Pecking order or attraction? I'm not sure with him.
almost 15 weeks
For the last few nights it had been the same, Chuck the new head cockerel was the last in to the coop, but he didn't come all the way in. He stood in the doorway surveying, checking, turning and running away... coming back, repeat until he was encouraged to enter. He would scoot straight to the chicken pile corner (they wouldn't roost for a bit yet) bypassing the mass of birds digging for night time treats and hunker down for sleep. Poor little odd guy.
Then I received a text from T, 'When I let the chickens out this morning I couldn't find chuck, he had wedged himself under a pallet, couldn't lift it, had to poke him out. He's lost a few feathers but is ok'
What? the only pallet in the coop was under the unused nesting boxes and were much too small for a little cockerel to fit in? but he had... and the drakes were to blame...
Well, one drake..
at 15 weeks hormones were starting to surge, Nigella must have been starting to see Chuck as competition. Luckily a work mate of mine had incubated buff duck eggs just before I got mine and had been 'threatening' to give them to me. He found me at the right time.
'I've just sold part of my farm, and can't keep the ducks by the house. I don't like to give them up but you can have them if you want?'
Yes! a perfectly timed solution, I would swap two of my boys for what he assumed were his two girls. Sorry Nigella and Frankie, but Stevie is definitely a boy and he's staying.
The introduction of Bonnie & Clyde
just over 15 weeks
On the morning scheduled for the swap, the run had been set up again around the coop. The new birds would have to spend a week in it to get used to their new home, plus it would make catching the boys a lot easier. The chicks came outside slowly in a group, Nigella circled from around a tree, parting the chicks, singling out Chuck and chasing him! no wonder he's so upset (if I'd known it was that bad earlier I would already have organized some sort of solution)
The swap went smoothly, my work mate left with dinner and I still had four ducks, a little bit younger than ours. Unfortunately the voice of one gave away that he was also a boy, but the other sounded exactly like Whitney, so eventually we would only have 3 ducks. But that's okay it means there is room for ducklings at some point...
The new ducks were TERRORS! she pushed everyone around, shuttled between food stations chasing everyone away and hogged the pools. He followed her around like a love struck puppy. I was confused - Whitney was my bossy girl! but with her goon squad gone she didn't even fight back, now she spent her time pretending she was a chicken, hiding with them and Stevie never was one to push his weight around. The new ducks walked all over everyone.
Miss A named them Bonnie and Clyde.
I know, You are supposed to separate new birds for a bit so they get used to each other first, even after the hard time Lacey chick got after being reintroduced we had been convinced by friends they would be fine. Besides everything I read suggested it would be the existing birds that would be pushy and territorial, the online sources also only brought up the males being the issue, but it was the Bonnie the new girl who crowned herself their new leader.
I had noticed for a while that Stevie was very skinny, his keel bone stuck out and felt a bit sharp. I was worried, but he had no symptoms of being ill. He pooped, ate, drank, preened, flapped his wings, chatted... all exactly like a healthy big boy. A trip to the vet and we were both stumped, he received a wormer just in case. I was told to keep an eye on his food intake and watch for diarrhoea to make sure he didn't have an infection as he seemed fine (he hasn't had diarrhoea, Stevie is just a slim boy it seems)
The point is, we couldn't have a food hog. We had the idea to separate Bonnie for a few days then re introduce her, hoping it would knock her down the pecking order. So out came the cardboard boxes!
She came inside, with food and water available and a soft toy for company (hey, it works for lonely baby chicks..) we spent as much time with her as we could and gave her plenty of bath swim time.
Did she calm down? heck no.
She cried constantly for Clyde.. we felt bad, but her behaviour with the other birds was not going to work out. That night she calmed down a bit. The next day she stopped calling for Clyde, I gave her a mirror so she could entertain herself with her reflection and she hissed at it, I've never heard a duck hiss! then she started hissing at A as well. By day 3 she hissed at everyone. On Day 4 she was placed in a fenced off area outside, the others could see her but they couldn't get to each other, Clyde hung around a bit but the others carried on like usual. Bonnie stayed separated for a week, although she escaped on day two to bite everyone else and chase Whitney from the food so she went back to her run.
17 weeks
I sit on the water tanks by the duck pool after work to relax and watch the birds sunbath and muck around, coming up to the ducks being 17 weeks old they were splashing around in their pool as usual. Whitney had been enjoying the attention of two drakes following her around the yard, flirty head bobbing and showing off for Clyde and on this day she head bobbed at Stevie then laid herself flat across the water surface... uh oh, if they are going to start trying to mate (if you've ever seen akward teenage duck love in action you will understand the -trying- part of that sentence) then it was probably time to reduce our duck flock, two drakes could injure each other and the girls during periods of raging hormones. I enlisted the help of another work mate to teach me how to cull and dress a duck, our interest in raising ducklings means knowing the processes involved would be a great skill to have. Drakes after all, like roosters can be difficult to sell or give away, and it is very unfair on a bird to dump it. Why not raise it for food if you are okay with that? give it a happy life and good, healthy things to eat first.
It went well, quickly, it was important to learn properly so the duck wouldn't suffer. His bird friends fell silent. Sorry Clyde (we did it well away from them, don't worry)
Bonnie climbed on the water tank the next morning, but by the afternoon she was clambering around the yard eager for Stevie's attention. She calmed down a lot! part of the flock now.
18 and a half weeks
As a drake I had wondered when Stevie would get his drake feather, at bang on 18 weeks of age we started seeing little curls. He was also enjoying his freedom as the only boy with two hens hanging off him. Whitney occasionally gets jealous of Bonnie flirting with him, but they get along fine now.
Stevie has become the watch duck, warning the others (ducks and chicks) when we approach or calling them to us when he thinks we have food although Whitney still seems to be the one to call them in for the night. He's a good boy though, he loves his girls and they love him!
20 weeks old
Chuck is now as big as the ducks, but they are still in charge. Mostly they are good leaders although occasionally they claim food sources or water for their group (like the Grandpa feeder..) Stevie is still skinny and they are all a crazy batch of feathers and hormones right now (the ducks anyway)! Head bobbing, wing flapping, water splashing hormones.
There are no eggs yet, unless Whitney has found a secret hidey hole which really wouldn't surprise me. But it could still take a few weeks. Mostly I'm hoping they start closer to the chickens laying (if it happens before spring) so I don't have to worry about supplementing food just for them
Buff Orpington ducks are described as active, dual purpose, flightless layers of large tinted white eggs and are apparently a rare and rather hard to find breed. I can tell you, they are crazy (not so) little characters! full of personality. Friendly? well I suppose it depends on your definition of friendly... ours will eat out of your hand but they aren't lap ducks, although Stevie will settle for head rubs if he's in the mood. Then he relaxes and squinches up his eyes it's adorable
Our 4 little peepers charged around the brooder, murdering mint and discovering an undying love of peas. No duckling is waterproof, usually mama duck covers her babies with oil from her oil gland but with an absent mama duck we had to be careful that they had water to clean their eyes and nostrils at all times, but nothing they can swim in so they don't get waterlogged and drown or cold and sick.
The cheap paint tray I had purchased for duckies first supervised swim was waaaay too small, so a few days after arriving they were carried to the bath tub.
That's broccoli in the water, and probably poop
They loved paddling around in the luke warm water. You can also sort of see, there are 2 slightly smaller darker ducklings and 2 larger yellower babies, one baby (Stevie) has a yellow beak, while all the others had purple-y brown beaks. Neither of these things indicate sex in a Buff duck if you are wondering (at least in none of the 6 ducks we've had so far).
3 of the little fluffy butts above are boys, and only one was a girl - the noisy little siren and watch duck, the first to find her voice. The one who sounded like a dog toy while being dried with a towel after ducky swim time and the scratchiest least co-operative of all. Whitney.
She's the little darker baby top left, her brooder brother Frankie top right, and brooder brother Nigella bottom left.
By about 3 weeks of age they already had stripes of light brown feathers poking though baby fluff
Ah I miss post bath duck cuddles!
and by 4 weeks there was smatterings of brown feathers on the wings, lower back and all across their tummies, their downy baby fluff quickly making way for juvenile white fluff. One thing I was less excited to see was their tiny wing tips starting to poke out and away from their bodies! Cue the constant googling, was it angel wing or normal wing development? new blood feathers growing in can be heavy for tiny nub wings and they can hold them funny until the muscles develop, but I didn't like the idea of doing nothing and disfiguring my jerks if it were actually angel wing caused by a protein heavy diet. I was convinced to leave them be for now, surely they would grow out of it?
In mid November the southern hemisphere late spring weather brought warmer days. Early morning meant rounding up the 5 week old ducks before work and herding them across a stretch of concrete to the backyard run complete with plastic shell pool and wire fencing.
Herding was interesting, near impossible at first with ducks running in circles screaming, they soon figured out where to go (Hey, ducks like a consistent routine) that still doesn't mean it was easy.
Stevie stomps when he walks - still does - his legs and feet are fine, it's just Stevie. But he was slower than the others, Nigella, Frankie and Whitney would charge off ahead. Stevie would bring up the rear, stomping along until the others were too far away, then sit down and cry until his friends rushed back to him... needless to say it was often easier to carry him.
The ducks have always been a strong unit, as a unified group (and being considerably larger than their brooder chick friends) they rule the pecking order no question, with Whitney as head bird.
No duck is left behind.
By 6 weeks old all ducks had their right wing laying against their backs like they should. Nigella and Frankie had tucked their left wing in too, but Whitney and Stevie still hadn't figured it out. Compounded by fears that a blood feather injury suffered earlier on that wing would mean my boy at least would never tuck it in, I discovered a post on backyard chickens about using vetwrap and a stocking to correct it's direction. This as with so many things, is so much easier than it sounds...
In Whitney's case I would imagine gift wrapping a rabid hedgehog would be easier.
Ow my precious arm skin!
the second she touched the ground she houdini'd herself out of it. The stocking was just as bad. Head holes and leg holes were cut in the stocking, then the tube was stretched across her. She promptly flicked her legs through the holes and clawed her way out in a matter of seconds. It was as impressive as it was frustrating. It took a few attempts before we realised this was not going to happen.
Stevie at least made things easier. Sort of. Indifferent to the tape and wrap he plonked down in the brooder, managing several times to get one leg in the stocking but no further meant we would find him worm crawling around in the wood shavings. Of course we kept a close eye on things and only left the stocking on for a few hours. Miraculously all ducks tuck their wings in like normal with no extra treatment. Did the wrapping help? maybe? I can't say for sure. but in Stevie's case he figured it out by the time the stocking came off.
Every week we added more room to the brooder box, in the last few days of November I was rushing to finish the roosting bars in the coop. Our buddies grew so fast, they needed more room!
7 week buff ducks enjoying their new home
They spent the first week indoors to associate the coop with their home, a safe place. The ducks of course claimed the area directly under the chicken's roosting bars to sleep. Which was okay, the chickens chose to make an peeping chick pile in the corner every night anyway.
I was worried for a while, would they free range and return at night? for a short while during their first week in the coop, the ducks went into a run attached to the coop so they could swim. I had thought the chickens and ducks were simply co existing, but they hated to be separated! oh how they complained! the chicks would sit by the door separating them until they were reunited, and the ducks would call to them.
At last we cautiously let them all out together, free of fencing. Whitney would keep an eye out for danger (including rogue hedgehogs) and call everyone in at night.
Things were going well, for a while. The birds discovered their favourite place was under my cherry tree and climbed into the netting to get at the fruit of the one plant I didn't want them eating. At first seeing a blur of feathers rush past with a beak full of fruit was entertaining, finding Stevie sitting in the netting like it were his own personal hammock was adorable. Even after they stripped every last fruit from the trees braches they still sat under it as their favourite place.
Together the chickens and ducks explored the yard and gathered in the coop for night time food treats
