2021 Update – Part 3 – Lots of Ducks!

Next, fowl adventures or possibly, the tale of our first of two poultry additions to our homestead.  That’s right, we were after some laying and meat birds at this point so again I did some research.  After a lot of reading about different kinds of ducks, I decided on the Silver Appleyard as our breed of choice.

I found a breeder at Metzer Farms in California that would mail me newly hatched ducklings.  Apparently, the U.S. Postal Service does a great job of moving live baby birds across country fast enough that they don’t die en route.  I would just need my husband to pick them up the morning they were delivered to our post office.

Before we ordered our birds, we purchased a brooder kit with a heat lamp, special electrolytes for young birds, a thermometer and a waterer.  I decided

that the downstairs shower would make a draft-free space to put our ducklings, at least for a little while!  Then we ordered 10 ducks, eight females and two males.  There’s not much in the world cuter than ducklings!

But they grow so fast.  Look at them after only a few short weeks.  It became very obvious that we would need to

keep them in a larger space and that turned out to be a black rubber cattle waterer that someone gave us before

we moved to our property.  We cleaned it up, brought it inside and moved the ducklings out of the shower stall.

Within a few weeks, they had outgrown the cattle waterer as a daytime space and needed more sunlight and fresh air.  The next place we moved them was

out on the deck with some tarps laid down to catch the duck poop, some hardware cloth and Styrofoam panels to keep them contained, and a few clear corrugated roof panels to keep out any potential predators.  The cattle waterer was moved to the deck so that we could keep them safe outside at night and I moved the ducklings back and forth between the two spaces twice a day.

Luckily, my husband had also put together a duck house in the garden with a pond where they would soon have a permanent home.  We got plastic grid boards for the floor that were recommended by Metzer and would keep the

inside drier.  The only major mistake we made with that was using ½ inch thick wood strips on the ramp.  Shortly after the two-month-old ducklings were moved to the duck house, we found that two of them were having trouble walking.  The first week I found one duck limping and the second week another one.  Both ducks were brought back inside to recoup in the cattle waterer.

A very expensive trip to a local vet confirmed that they had both developed bumble foot, a disease that starts with a sore in the foot and then gets infected, usually from walking in poop.  We put them on antibiotics, gave them a special diet, and created a special pool in the shower where they could both swim and exercise each day.  At that point, I had eight ducks outside and two in my home-made duck hospital.  We also replaced the boards on the ramp with thin rubber stair treads and have not had a lame duck since.

The duck hospital was eventually moved to the deck and a small kiddie pool was put out there also so my recovering ducks would get fresh air and exercise.  The first one that went lame started getting better immediately.

The second one would swim but refused to walk.  The two had become hospital buddies and got upset if they were apart.  I eventually took them to a different vet who was more familiar with ducks and decided a stronger antibiotic was needed.  This took the improving duck to a full recovery.  The sores on their feet healed up completely, but the other duck still refused to walk.  I took him back a third time and got an expensive blood test done, however the vet could find no reason other than possible arthritis for his condition.

By this time, I had moved the two ducks off the deck and into a pen near the other ducks but on the goats’ side of the fence.  They stayed in one side of the

goat shed at night and this was a much better solution.  I tried re-integrating the walking duck to the flock, but she was attacked in the pond, and I moved her back out again.  After a few weeks of being next to them but on the other side of the fence, I tried again, and she was accepted pretty readily.  The lame duck has since been

reintegrated into the flock.  He uses his wings to walk around but seems like a survivor.  I am still hoping that he will make a full recovery.  As for the rest of

the flock, they are fully grown and patrol the garden wherever I will let them and sometimes, even where I don’t.