Ducks Running with More Space

 The ducks are three days old today and true to their name, they love to run around. We cleaned out the new brooder, giving them lots of space now to run.  They seem to like to wipe their wet bills on the wall, so there are wet smears on the walls in the background. They splash the water so there are water droplets on them in some of the photos. Just like with chicks, they are difficult to catch crisp photos without some level of motion. They are quivering all the time even if they are not cold, they just seem to shake when they take a bite of food, shake when they drink water, and shake with they are interacting. They don't spend as much time under the warmer as chicks do, but when they are ready to warm up, they know to go there and they find the area that meets their warming needs. There is still plenty of room for them with only eight under my smaller warmer that will warm up to 15 chicks at a time. I have it tilted so they can find the right height for their needs. 

We plan to keep one of each color, Fawn, Blue (Gray), Black, and Chocolate, and sell the rest, if we can.  

Update on Hemp Shavings/Bedding for Cornish Cross Chicks

 Using Hemp Shavings from the start was actually a smashing success.  

Typically, baby chicks (particularly Cornish Cross) will gobble wood shavings which causes digestive issues and contributes to pasty butt. In the past, our first week of Cornish Cross involved changing out cloth covering on the floor of the brooder every day, and washing those poopy sheets, which I would not so affectionately call, "Sh!tSheets." Stinky and messy, but it made a huge difference in our chicks' survival rate.  Once they figured out Food, a little more than a week later, we would put them on the shavings, and change that out every few days.  It is a lot of work staying ahead of the wet, dirty shavings, and the smell.  

We started using hemp shavings last fall for our layers. They seemed fine with it.  It does have a different smell to it than the aspen shavings (our preferred shavings). The smell is not overpowering, and does not seem to impact the hens.  So we tried it this year with our layer pullets.  We did start them on the sheets, like usual, and transitioned them fairly quickly onto the shavings (about three days in).  With Layer Chicks, even on the sheets, we still experience some level of pasty butt (usually just a chick or two) during the first week, but that can be caused from other health issues and potential dehydration caused from shipment from the hatcheries over the span of a few days. As soon as we were certain that the pasty butt problems were done, we moved them onto the hemp shavings and they did great.  

Several weeks later, our meat chicks (Cornish Cross) showed up and so we decided to do a bit of an experiment.  Because Cornish Cross grow twice as fast as layer chicks, we decided to put them directly onto the hemp shavings on the first day. They did great. No Pasty Butts out of 25 chicks, and no deaths in the first week or two. The hemp does a much better job of regulating the smell and is much more absorbent than the wood shavings, so we were able to go a full week on the hemp without changing anything out.  As they got bigger, we did need it change it more often, but it was still not as frequent as we would need to do with the aspen shavings. Seems to be more cost effective, but also labor effective. 

This year, another thing we did differently was to use large square puppy pee pads under the shavings (and under the sheet).  This also helped a lot.  The pee pads are fairly inexpensive, and we actually were able to use them multiple times by shaking them out and putting them back down.  Just make certain that the plastic edges are folded back under the pad so that the chicks don't peck at them. 

All in all, the hemp (and the pee pad) experience has been a more productive and effective process for our chicks, and now ducks. If you are wondering how much I'm paying for the hemp, I look for the large bales (about 25 to 30 pounds) and have been paying about $2 per pound with shipping and handling included in that price.  I have yet to be able to find any feed or pet stores in the area that sell it.  I keep asking around.  I have found a local source just outside of our major town that hemp is their sole business called Hemp Solutions. But since I'm stocked up with several hundred pounds of hemp shavings, I will wait until I have used that up before I contact that company to see how their prices compare. 

New To The Duck World 2022

 So yah, we are trying a new adventure this year, partly for pest control, but also for eggs and entertainment. We picked up eight 2-day old ducks that are all supposed to be females.  I've been told that, unlike Turkeys, you can comingle your female (hens) ducks and chickens without any issues.  The only problems are if you have drakes (males) with hen chickens. So, we chose all females, at least to start with to see what comes of this.  Ducks are much better than chickens at pest control. Ducks love slugs and other bugs, which we have a lot of "both." 

So, we are into day one. Similar to day old chicks, ducklings need extra heat for the first few weeks.  About 90F ambient heat. Just like with our chicks, we are using a brooder warmer in lieu of a heat lamp. At first, I thought, "oh no" they aren't going to figure that warmer out.  Well, they are using it now.... it just took a few hours of them wandering under and back out before they figured out that it actually is warmer under there.  We read that the warmer base needs to be set higher for ducks so that they can easily walk under it.  I may tilt it a bit so that one side (front) is higher than the back side so that they can snuggle closer to the back with a bit more warmth when they lay down. But, yah, they finally figured it out. 

Water and food.  I have a three pound feeder, just like what I use for my older chicks. But for water, I'm using the feeders that I would typically use for my day old chicks.  I have the quart bottle attached even though there is no water inside of it. The bottle keeps them out of the center so that they don't get totally drenched in the water because they walk right over the top of the waterer, and the feeder, just like chicks. But the holes are perfect for their little heads to scoop up water right after they take a bit of food. They kind of shake and shutter when they scoop up a bite of food until they go over to the water to wash it down, then they kind of shake again, after the food goes down.  It is interesting.  We will need to fill the base of the makeshift waterer several times per day since it only holds about a half cup of water and ducks drink a lot more water than chicks. Also, with the food, we don't seem to need to grind down the feed crumbles.  

We are using the same organic chick feed that we raise our pullets on, but we are supplementing that with brewer's yeast for the vitamins, probiotic, and niacin that is contained in the yeast. Everything I have read is that young ducklings need the niacin for bone development and after they are mature, they will get those nutrients from the other things they will eat around the yard. 

Not certain yet whether ducklings struggle with pasty butt caused by stress and dehydration.  Time will tell. 

Day old hatchery ducklings don't have feathers (similar to chicks) and they also don't have the body oils that wild or domestic ducks would get from their Momma Hen Duck. So, even though they can swim at this point, briefly, they don't have the natural water repellant they get when they grow feathers. So, the key is to keep them fairly dry until they have those feathers. But also, they are natural swimmers. A lot of people will set up a mini water pool (a plastic shoe box or a casserole pan) to let them swim for a few minutes every other day, then dry them off and put them back under their heat source (heat lamp or warmer station). But don't leave the pool in their brooder because they will head right back to it and cause a mess or could even possibly drown.

So this is all we know for now.  It will be a steep learning curve with ducks since we are more pullet focused and have our brains geared for taking care of day old chicks, and not so much for day old ducks. 

A Roo, a Sour Crop, and a Sad Day 2022

This most recent flock of birds has been super eventful. One, we had 28 birds to start with (more than we have ever had in one flock) to start with. Second, we received a special order a week in, and needed to purchase eight more birds from the local feed store.  We were successful in obtaining the chicks the customer wanted, and started them in their own space.  We needed to integrate some of the older birds into the newer birds, so we built a second brooder.  The price of lumber is out of this world, so we decided to use chipboard that is covered with a formica product to make this second brooder.  We will see if this is the better option.  I think it will be easier to clean, that's for certain. So, two brooders and 37 chicks about one week apart in age, however a few did die and we dropped down to 34 chicks. 

Then, two weeks later, our meat chicks came in.... now that's the next move.  We had another 25 new chicks to find space for.  We decided to move the Cornish Cross Pull Pen into the garage, put down cardboard and a tarp to contain the shavings, and actually that worked pretty well. We used dry grass hay instead of the hemp shavings because of the overall size of the pen.  Cleaned out the one larger brooder to put the meaties into and get them started. 

So that helped with extra space for the first 26 primary birds and gave us a good space to get the meat birds started without needing to bring them inside the house. The eight new birds were in the smaller brooder.  We gradually introduced the older birds into that second flock for the special order until there were 10 birds in there. So that seemed to solve that integration problem. 

But, while all this was going on, we started noticing that one of the Australorps in the first flock was being too aggressive. Considering that the Australorp are supposed to be a very calm breed, we wondered if it was just having a difficult time adjusting to all the switch up, i.e. a lot of different birds peeping in the background, and being in a cage like environment without the enclosed walls of the brooder. 

We knew we would be delivering the Australorp to its new home within the week so we basically put up with it chasing all the pullets around the pen for the time being, knowing that there was plenty of space for them to get away. But, I mean, it was really aggressive! 

Delivered the four birds to the new customer and bang, five days later, she calls to say that "My Australorp is being aggressive with the other pullets.... is that normal?"  Okay, well, we had one more Australorp in the remaining flock, so I offered to switch it out OR exchange it for a different breed.  She really wanted an Australorp in her flock, so we did, and, at that point, it was pretty obvious that she had a Roo. He had developed a bright red comb and his tail was perking right up, just like a rooster's would. 

We now have him separated in his own cage (dog cage) to avoid anymore damage to the flock.  He is NOT happy, but has calmed down considerably since being in that cage. 

Plus, over the weekend, we sorted out the pullets that we wanted to keep and which ones do we still want to sell.  I noticed that one of the pullets had a very spongey feeling crop, all bloated and obviously was having an issue.  But, she was still eating food, which didn't make any sense if she was having digestive issues. I took her out and isolated her with just water and grit, hoping that, since she was still eating, the grit might break down whatever was going on in her crop. Long story sort, it did not help. The crop ruptured and we needed to cull her before she suffered any longer.  

In the meanwhile, I checked all the other pullets first thing in the morning, after a night without food, to ensure that their crops were "empty" like they are supposed to be first thing before they start a new day of feeding. Their crops all felt normal. I am assuming that the one pullet ate too much of the dry grass hay before we got them outside, and either didn't eat the grit that I had put in their pen or she did eat the grit, but it wasn't enough to help her with digesting the hay. 

As of today, all chicks are outside. 14 pullets are in the Pull Pen modified with a roosting section, 10 pullets are in a smaller A-frame coop/pen (one of our earliest pens), 25 Cornish Cross out outside in a new Pull Pen, and a Australorp Rooster in a Dog Pen.  All pens are now covered in various tarps for the next week worth of rain that is coming in from the Pacific Ocean. LOL 

And on to the next adventure.... we are going to raise some ducks. 

Chicks are Pullets - 2022

 The chicks are, mostly, pullets now.  Their heads are getting feathered, and the older ones are in the garage without any heat.  They should be ready to move outside next weekend. I have a few chicks that are a week younger and they may need an extra week, or I could put the brooder warmer into a coop outside for a week to help them adjust.  We had three families purchase 18 of the chicks. That leaves us with 15 to figure out which to keep and which to sell in May. 

All the meat chicks survived. They are almost two weeks old which is good.  They are growing fast.  Little porkies.  Will need to stop feeding them at night after Monday to help with a better growth rate to cut down on them out growing their leg strength. 12 hours of eating per day so that they don't get too big too fast. 

Snowy April 2022?

Now this is frustrating.  Planted all our trees (fruit and Christmas stock), berries and grapes a few weeks ago only to have freezing and snow happen!  Not sure what all we'll lose.  Hoping we won't lose them all. Ratz! 

Spring Chicklet Update 2022

 This is a photo of the chicks in their brooder with hemp shavings.  It lasts longer, smells better, and easier to clean! We had doggie pee pads down under it, but now that the chicks are getting older, they are more curious and peck at everything. Switched over to kraft paper to line the floor under the shavings. While I can tell them apart, it may not be so easy for the untrained eye. There are Barred Plymouth Rock, Australorp, Welsummer, Rhode Island Red, Easter Egger, and Silver Laced Wyandotte in the brooder. 

The younger chicks (one week younger) are in a large box still, but not for much longer as they will start flying around here too. They are not yet on shavings, but will be in a few days.  They are Lavender Orpington, Black Copper Maran, and two more Australorp. They can't hold their own yet with the older birds. So for now, they are their own little flock.  As they get taller and faster, they will be added into the larger flock.