My camera has not been working right for a couple weeks so I have several updates to make. First, a livestock update. 4 weeks ago we brought nine new chickies home: 7 are Araucanas and 2 Buff Orpingtons. 1 of the Araucanas is a rooster.
The ducklings are 1 week older than the chicks.
For the first 3 weeks they were each in these cardboard brooders that I made solely from leftover moving boxes.
After one week, I started using the large waterer for the ducklings.
The ducklings' wet habits destroyed their first cardboard brooder. It got holes all around the outer edges. I bought a 60 inch plastic kiddie pool from Toys R Us and built cardboard walls around it. It is working pretty well. I still have to change their bedding very frequently, about every other day. Ducks are so messy! Today it was up to 80 degrees and we decided to take the ducks outside while I cleaned their pool. Here they are at 5 weeks old.
One of them is suffering from a niacin deficiency. I did not know that I needed to add it to my feed. I feel lucky that I caught it early enough that only one has long term side effects.
The ducklings day out quickly escalated to a pool party. I emptied the wood shavings and let them have their first real playtime in the water. The Khakis are land ducks so they don't need a pond or anything, but clearly they still love the water.
They were plunging their heads in and throwing water on their backs. They kind of shake themselves like dogs too. I did not make the water too deep. They don't have enough oil on their feathers yet to keep from getting soggy and kind of sinking.
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