There’s a parallel with having children here. You forget just how fast they grow!
Only a day or two old, the ducklings are thriving. The pictures are taken a little distance from the brooder so as not to frighten them. The cardboard wall is to prevent too much Aubiose from being kicked out onto the floor!
Maybe if we huddle in the corner and ignore the big scary humans, they’ll go away!
Posted in Allotments, Poultry
Tagged brooder, care of ducklings, ducklings, electric hen, hatching ducks
This is a slightly sad posting on two counts. First, after the early hatch of three ducklings, we had no more. Two more eggs pipped, and one of those almost made it, but the remaining five just didn’t start to hatch. I’ve asked advice on the specialist forums, and it may be that the humidity levels programmed into the incubator were insufficient.
Second, we’ve had to hand them over to their owner. It’s inevitable that you get sentimentally attached to cute fluffy creatures, even ones as messy as ducklings!
Posted in Allotments, Poultry
Tagged ducklings, hatching ducks, Ixworth chickens, poultry brooder
Three ducklings had hatched by this morning. A fourth had started to emerge, but sadly it looks as if it hasn’t made it. Six eggs to go.
We transferred the three into the brooder under the nice warm electric hen. They are much less lively than the chicks we hatched a month ago. They didn’t take much interest in the food and water until later in the day, and they don’t scamper about as much. Maybe that’s just one of the differences between chickens and ducks!
Here they are earlier on, huddled in the corner because I’d briefly lifted the electric hen for a photo opportunity.
I mentioned that we were incubating some duck eggs for a friend at the allotments. Duck eggs take a whole four weeks to hatch, and the exact due date is 6pm tomorrow evening.
The first one has arrived a day early.
Continue reading
Posted in Allotments, Poultry
Tagged ducklings, hatching ducks, R-Com 20 incubator, R-Com 20 Pro
John Norman's Blog 