Tag: Muscovy Ducks

No Cable Here, But “Chicken And Duck TV” Is On All Day

~ Carrie

Chicken and Duck

One of the best things about living on a farm is being able to turn on the ever-entertaining and variety-filled “chicken and duck” (and rabbit) channel. You never know what you’re going to see!

This past winter, we spent a lot of time with the chickens and ducks lately after finishing up morning chores because that seemed to be when the hawks most commonly appeared. While it’s within the realm of possibility for a hawk to swoop down and grab a chicken and duck right in front of a farmer, the hawks like to hunt when people or other livestock guardians aren’t around. Why? Because they’re opportunists: they want an easy meal with low risk of injury to themselves. Unfortunately, a young, inattentive chicken fits the bill. Continue reading “No Cable Here, But “Chicken And Duck TV” Is On All Day” →

The Incubator’s Fired Up: Spring Ducklings Will Be Here Soon!

~ Carrie

Spring Ducklings

Last year’s spring and summer hatches of ducklings are now laying their own eggs, enthusiastically. With Spring upon us, it’s time to hatch some of those eggs. Chicken eggs, generally speaking, are very easy to hatch; Muscovy eggs require more maintenance and monitoring, but are worth the effort.

While it’s tempting to candle the eggs earlier, we begin candling to check Muscovy egg development at day 10. At this point, the viability of the egg can be determined with reasonable confidence: you should see the network of blood vessels and the embryo, and the embryo will probably react to the light by moving around. Any obvious “clears” – infertile or non-developing – are removed now, as are any where development has stopped (like a blood ring). It’s early enough in incubation that bad eggs shouldn’t have reached the point of exploding, but far enough along to allow you to see real development. Candling is fun and nerve-wracking at the same time: it’s easy to fumble an egg and even drop it as you’re trying to candle – and a dropped egg is most likely going to mean the end for that developing embryo. So far, we haven’t dropped any eggs, but the risk is ever-present. Continue reading “The Incubator’s Fired Up: Spring Ducklings Will Be Here Soon!” →

Duck Tales: Co-Broodies and a Poopy Shirt

~ Carrie

Co-Broodies - 2 Muscovy Ducks on Nest

When you spend time with ducks, you learn not only about their behavior, but also when their coop needs cleaning. A large coop like ours can go weeks between cleanings, but wet weather (and wet ducks) can shorten that timeline. Maintaining a clean and dry coop helps ensure that the ducks stay healthy, so yesterday was cleaning day.

In anticipation of upcoming wet weather, I decided to forego the grass hay we’d been using in the coop. It forms a nice, easily-removed mat from the damp and the poop, but it’s not the most absorbent material. Pine shavings not only absorb moisture really well, they smell nice…a real added bonus. I’m primarily concerned about keeping things relatively dry and clean, especially with regard to the nest boxes. Continue reading “Duck Tales: Co-Broodies and a Poopy Shirt” →

Hello Vernal Equinox: Longer Days Mean More Eggs

~ Carrie

Basket of eggs

Today is the first official day of Spring, even though it’s felt springlike for several weeks (well, except for the recent cold snap). The days are growing longer, meaning there will be more time for the animals to forage. It also means that the chickens and ducks are laying up a storm!

Winter is difficult for farmers in many ways. One of the challenges for those who raise poultry and waterfowl for eggs is the lack of daylight, which can cause egg production to drop dramatically. There are ways to stimulate egg production (like using lights to extend “daylight” hours), but we lean toward letting the animals do what they naturally do, even if that means fewer eggs during the winter.

As you can imagine, it is a joyous occasion when you get that first duck egg after months of no eggs, and it’s also fantastic when chicken egg production doubles or even triples. Our newest layers have also begun laying consistently, so we’re getting lots of pullet eggs, too. In short, it’s an egg extravaganza around here. We even had to buy a much larger egg collection basket to hold all the eggs we’re getting! Continue reading “Hello Vernal Equinox: Longer Days Mean More Eggs” →

Duck Coop Additions: Nest Boxes And Roosts

~ Carrie

Duck Coop Nest Boxes & RoostsDoes it sound strange that we added roosts to the duck coop? It actually isn’t – Muscovies are tree ducks and like to roost. In fact, we’ve previously found ducks in the chicken coop, happily perched on a roost along with the hens. Since it was time to add the nest boxes to the coop, we also created a couple of roosting areas.

The interior of the duck coop we built this summer was basically just a big open space. When the older ducks were laying last year, we had the nest boxes lined up against one of the walls; we used the same location for the nest boxes again because it allows us relatively easy access through the large front doors, but knew from last year that we needed to protect the tops of the nest boxes from poop barrages. Continue reading “Duck Coop Additions: Nest Boxes And Roosts” →