I give mine a small feeder pan of water overnight. I need it in order to get them in the coop at night. I give them a treat when it gets dark (some canned corn or scraps) dumped in the pan and they go nuts over it. Then I sneak out the door and lock them in. I solved the muck problem by putting the pan on some of those flat patio bricks. This arrangement is at the edge of the pen so I can dump it through the fence to the outside. Really keeps the smell down. Like everything else, where there's a will, there's a way. We humans are supposed to be the smart ones, after all.
So from my experience. 1. Food and water is served together at my duck farm. clean water for drinking is in dripplet system, and outside tub for bathing and keeping clean feathers. 2. they do lay in nests, IF they have private nests, every duck want's private nest, they do not like to share nests, hence they need way more nests than chickens to lay in them. They also need to not be overcrowded, if they hear other ducks nearby or see them, they will try to find place away from other ducks. So giving them peace and space is important for them to always lay in nests. 3.They are feed twice a day, morning and evening, 2parts of owies, 1 part of corn and 1/2 part of chicken layer mix, they do not need a lot of high end feeds to lay nicely. 4. they are hosted in their coop on grid , and hay, so there isn't any wet mud being develop. 5. ventilators, for ventilation system, air draft causes less amonia buildup, and drys out hay. 6. they herd better, you can move them from property to different posture , stick together nice and tight , prevents them from getting lost outside coop and being axed off by predators. 7.Extreme resistance causes them to be salmonella and bird flu resistant, their meat and eggs are safer to eat raw cause of it.
I raised my ducklings with my chickens. My ducks all lay in the nesting boxes alongside the chickens, but sometimes on or two lay in a corner of the coop. They only lay inside the coop, never outside it. They are let out in the early morning and put themselves to bed with the chickens in the coop. They have only ever laid in the coop :)
"you really dont need a pond." Well true, but it would remove almost every negative if you did. They are water birds and just having baby pools is going to exponentially make things harder.
If the ducks are cared for, like this man cares, they are fine. I've never known a duck to contemplate not having a pond. I am currently digging a duck pond, can't argue with aesthetic.
Thank you! This was so informative....i have always kept geese Turkeys and chickens but never ducks however i just got my first pair of Khaki Campels 7 days ago, i will keep comjng back here for insights. Lucky i bought an incubator and it just get delivered today
Thank you for your vid … i found black belly whistling duck egg on my patio … incubated and now she is 8 weeks old then found another over two weeks ago and that one is coming along great … ducks are awesome!!!!! 🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🦆🐥🐣🐥🐣
Great video !! We've had chikens for over 20 yrs and got ducks last year too. They are so much fun and definitely worth the extra effort to maintain them 😍🦆💚
Thanks 👍 you too enjoy the weekend. Me, I'll be working on this chicken house but It might rain here both sat and sun. we'll see how much work I can get done lol. otherwise I'll just play around with Molly and the duckies.
I must have missed what the first rule was 😬... Tomorrow is my birthday and my daughter brought me over three little yellow ducks yesterday for a birthday present 😂..... I'm trying to watch videos and do everything I can to make them a very nice place to stay and make it easier on me as well... Any tips
Awwww, your geese love you! Do you pet them and spend goose time with them? I have never seen such calm geese. My Mom was born and raised on a farm, but she was afraid of them because they always chased her with bad intentions in their ♥️s
Haha I do in fact pet them Leona when they allow me too. Maybe they’re approachable because in the father goose but they sure do honk a lot. Ducks on the other hand always stay 10 feet away from me 😆
Fantastic video! We are on our 3rd year. You're bang on with every point! Only thing I'd mention is that you definitely have to have a balance of hens and drakes. We also had 2 breeds Ancona and Pekin and they hate each other. We have introduced Cayuga's with more hens and fingers crossed they will balance everything out with the extra hens.
@@scotthill9445 thanks bud, appreciate the comment. We actually hatched a bunch of white ducks from the khaki Campbell, it’s very cool. The Mysterious Legend of Our Great White Ducks ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-dLda3k3IDeQ.html
Yo I love this and I got to tell u we got em to save them from being let do as babies to be eaten by predators so we got em for 5cents a piece and I started using the hose today and it was like watering the flowers lmao
Loved video. Do you have predator issues? And rats. When food is left "available" it draws rats. Happened to me. Just wondering how u handle these issues.
very informative video! I breed and sell ducklings at duckling age and get frequent requests for a single duckling, obviously to keep as a pet. My minimum sale is 3 so it somewhat controls the dumping of a animal that isn't an appropriate house pet. At least with 3, there's a better chance they'll be treated as "farm animals" and provided with a safe outdoor coop and pen.
Hey thanks, I honestly don’t think the ducks would eat adult fish maybe baby fry fish they would though. I do think nothing can keep it clean though unless it’s a really big body of water. Ducks just need their own little area to get nasty. 🦆
Hidden Spring Farm is a well balanced reality life on a farm. Chad enjoys working, learning, and playing. Work, educate, and play. Take only one of these out of the equation and it isn't fun anymore.
I knew a woman who's son had a pet duck when he was young. She said to me "Do you know that ducks poop every time they quack?" She said that with a straight face.
Yeah... I broke that rule right away, started getting stuff together for chickens, and went and bought 2 ducks... and 2 more the very next week, now the older two are showing me through their puberty voices, one is definitely a female, and the other is a much quieter male, the smaller two- nothing definitive until maybe the end of next week or so at the soonest. I've also got 8 eggs from my cousins ducks in the incubator.
It started March 15th with 2 then 4 more totaling the 6 ducks. Today I saw some more and wanted these black and yellow ones and my oldest son said we should get 4 more, to make it 10 ducks total. My second oldest said noooo we already have ducks lol. But we are definitely learning. First time having ducks. We built a little pen that we can add onto. I believe we have four different breeds at least and we don’t know what they are. Also trying to figure out how many hens and drakes we have. Tractor supply does not sex the ducks and do not have Them specifically breeded. And that is how I came across your video is trying to figure out if they were drakes or hen. I am glad that I found you I subscribed, and I can’t wait to learn more to help us along our adventure. 13:44
Their feathers at the tail will tell you. If it has a little curve/curl then it’s a drake if its feathers do not curl then it’s a hen. Hope that helps a little
I just watched the video yesterday where the lady said you turn them upside down, time to move the tail feather out of the way with your finger. And then use your other two fingers to kind of spread the feathers away and you'll find their little private area when you kind of push on it just a little bit or spread the feathers away a little bit you will be able to see if they have a penis or not. She said that they have a curved penis. I haven't checked mine yet I'm not ready for that😂
Great video! I have 4 Rouen ducks and 2 Pekin ducks. I love them, they're so fun. I'm getting anxiety though about how I'll manage their water needs for winter. I'm in Michigan and Ive only had my ducks for a month
Thanks. I’m with you. Zero water in the hen house - I change the water in the run daily. The pool sits in the corner so all the wet stays there. Is it safe to have straw around them? I put a bale of straw in the run for the chickens to sit on, and it looked like the ducks were trying to eat it is that dangerous choking hazard?
My RU-vid display changed overnight. I had a hard time finding where to make my comments. Just wanted to say, I love your Channel as you explain things in a way anyone can understand. But with Ducks, can I say Poop!! I was surprised to find out you don't put food and water inside their house at night.
Thank you for watching Lee, I’m glad you found our channel. Yeah those ducks ruin the bedding in a few nights if there’s water inside I learned that pretty quickly. Once they reach adulthood they should just sleep at night like all the other animals 😆 thank u always for the kind words, I’m really trying to make this channel a bit of everything… fun edutainment.
Another thing too Lee is they have access to the run 24/7 so there’s always water and food available in the run and the run is fully protected from any predator.
@@HiddenSpringFarm , I've been a subscriber since you got the kittens. I don't know why RU-vid now has a new format and display. I don't like it, but was happy to see I could still communicate via your Channel.
I just ordered my kids 14 baby indian runner ducks.. they hatch on April 4th and will be to my house by April 6th. Any advice u didn't mention in the video u can give me to better prepare for them I have them a mess free water system already built...
Well congrats the kids are gonna have a fun summer. Ducklings will be messy regardless but if you can have the water on top of a screen then the bedding won’t get as wet. Once they get big enough in a few weeks you’ll move them out of the brooder and into whatever you’re housing them in. Time on grass is best I find as the water just disappears into the ground, but they will squish the grass if not rotated. Make sure you add niacin to their feed if you don’t have duck food and the food should be a mash of feed and water so they can swallow. Good luck and have fun, Chad.
Is that a new batch of ducks or they are just in a process of molting? Because the last time i had seen your drakes had green head and s khaki body. If I'm not mistaken, it's the video about identifying the sexes of ducks.
Ur right about the green heads they’ve been changing colour while melting. Same batch since last year although a hen died recently. I did hatch out 3 new batches last spring, sold a bunch of ducklings and kept some from the last batch. That’s why there are smaller teenage ducks in the fenced pen area. I think soon I’ll integrate the flocks though cause they’re getting pretty big.
I have duck and chickens. I have nine chickens and four ducks, and they really do mix up food and water together truly annoying and they do poop everywhere but they are really cute and adorable.
Wow you have ponds, cool. I want to create a pond but it’ll be expensive. Yup can. geese can be very aggressive. Mallards are beautiful to watch though.
From my experience: Yes its true you dont need a pond (i dont have one) baby pools are fine but need to be cleaned at least every 2 days (deppending on how many ducks you have) i currently have 2 adults and 6 babies and i clean the baby pools every day so i would recomend having a pond but its ok if you dont Ducks arent like cats and dogs, they do not prefer to be pet and prefer to hang out with their own kind If they have accses to food, they MUST have accses to water, ducks use water to help eat their food and the ducks must have clean water to dunk their bills in so that the nostrils dont get clogged Ducks are prey creatures and must have predator proof housing, there are many predators that would like to make your duck their snack (sometimes even neighbors dogs!) If you are keeping ducks as pets, you might not want to free range them, while free ranging has its perks you have to know that eventually a duck will disapear, my ducks are pets and i dont free range, mine have a very large enclosure. Ducks DO make nests (mostly) i have never had to hunt for duck eggs as mine consistently lay in nests. And ducks do prefer to have their own nests Having to many drakes can lead to death to your hens! Male ducks become aggresive during mating season and have aggressive mating rituals, ducks often gang up on females to mate which can lead to death of the hen, i recomend 1 drake (male) to every 2 hens (female) Lastly, if you dont have enough area for ducks to free range, they will ruin lawns/gardens, so if you have a small property and lots of ducks, you might not want to free range Make sure to have a proper set up before getting ducks! ❤
Well I have to say, this video is as transparent as it could be. Father-in-law has got some ducks on a plot of land without running water and I have to care for them in the evening. I want to kill them all! They stink. They shit in the water, food and anywhere else they can. We have ponds on the same land (2 acre or more) but father is adamant to keep them caged up... I think it's a control thing :)
free ranging the birds was the best thing I ever did. They protect our orchard from insects too while fertilizing the pasture. So much less mess and less work. We don't have a pond I just use water tubs and fill em up in the morning let the ducks and the geese out and forget about them till it's time to put them to bed. I just did a video on some solutions to duck raising if you care to take a look. Biggest difference is one just has to accept that water fowl just need a place to get nasty. If you're trying to have a no mess setup you'll fail. Having them forage in the orchard means I have to feed them less too. Win Win.
Well we use guard geese free ranging with the ducks. Haven’t lost a duck yet to predators. The sheepdogs will keep any predators away during days, the geese help defending against aerial predation. No one messes with a goose.
Well we keep a few guard geese with the ducks, everyone gets put to bed at night and also our two sheepdogs are out and about during the days so it hasn’t been an issue at all. The houses and runs are built tough.
I live in uk i av 1 pekin duck lives in and out house hes like a human / dog lol loves tomatoes ,corn peas,lettuce etc he 3 years n he wont eat as his main anything than chick feed
I don’t see why not, ducks are not aggressive at all. I sell ducklings to families with kids to teach them some responsibility and the parents think it’s a great experience.
Watch this recent one and tell me if I’ve improved at all in 4 years. Appreciate the feedback on it. Why Every Orchard Needs Working Ducks & Geese ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-coQfX4zwXBg.html
