rachels.haven's Journal

[rachels.haven]

As a side note, I have been asked never to keep these in the house again because they REALLY stink. Oily, poopy, kinda like vomity, stink that comes to you through your nose and your mouth, and I change them daily. So yes, I will not keep them in the house, basement, bathroom, kids room...
I agree with him. Plus, the kids are always feeding them people food. And eventually they will jump out of the bucket to get said food from said kids and then they will quap, quap, quap all over the floor in pursuit of food. I've only been doing this 4 years now, so I know he's right. Rat proof garage brooder it is then, just as soon as I get in a trip to the hardware store for little nuts, bolts and washers to bolt the hardware cloth to the bucket lids of my two brooder buckets. Just in time too. A fat, over weight fox came and cleaned out a bunch of orps. I opted to part ways with the remaining orps, so I have mcmurray ameraucanas and true blues coming the 22nd and we'll start over with something a little less curious, fearless, and calm...and I guess ultimately less meaty, but I guess that's what I've got muscovy for.

 

[rachels.haven]

Those are layer duck mutts, in my house.
Speaking of Muscovy:
I also picked up a lavender muscovy Old Drake. I named him Samson. I discovered the next day after pickup that he's missing an eye. Fitting, I guess. A blue muscovy Old Duck came with him. I'm a happy goose-duck breeder. Cocoa, my chocolate drake (profile picture) should probably be culled or sold to someone who feeds less. He's fatter than last year and developed angel wing. I like the size, he's truly magnificent at over 15 lbs, and his ducklings grow super fast, but I don't like the tendency towards obesity and the angel wing. His replacement would be a black Young Drake from this year's early february/april batch that is recessive for chocolate and may carry a gene for lavender dillution (Out of my pet Elvis, who I lost to hardware disease this spring). I could cross him to his two partial pied sisters, or to Samson's hypothetical offspring year after next. I don't want to keep the partial pied girls because this year I'm taking out the pied and going for solids-or at least I think I am.

I could also keep Cocoa until after Spiteful sets her first nest in February so I could get a Spiteful/Cocoa baby (Spiteful is unrelated to Cocoa and despite her nastiness, is one of my foundation females because of her early and long yearly duration of lay), but I'm continuing to tell myself I do not need more great, big, hulking drakes. It's cute how they hang out in a big, useless group though. I could also just keep Cocoa forever until he falls over dead of a fat induced heart attack, but line breeding to him would not be responsible. Assuming that he never gets too fat to breed. He's already not the ladies choice, probably because of his weight vs. theirs.


Samson and the unnamed Old Duck. I might just call her Blue. I might not. We'll see how she acts later and I'll let her name come from that. I dig Samson's sweet headgear.

 

[Devonviolet]

He's fatter than last year and developed angel wing. I like the size, he's truly magnificent at over 15 lbs, and his ducklings grow super fast, but I don't like the tendency towards obesity and the angel wing.

Pretty ducks! I love your Lavender Muscovies! We have Lavender & White Muscovies.

Here's a fun one of one of the hens bathing.

We had a chicken set on some Pekin eggs two years ago. One of them developed Angel Wing. When I looked it up, people were saying to bind the wing to the body, to flatten it out. That didn’t work. Then, I learned that it was caused by a vitamin B deficiency. So, we started adding Nutritional Yeast to the feed and haven’t had a problem since. Although, the angel wing on our Pekin hen never went away. That didn’t stop her from laying eggs though.

 

[Devonviolet]

BTW, we kept our first batch of chicks in the spare bedroom, because we didn't have any where else to put them when we first moved here. NEVER AGAIN!

They created a huge amount of dust. And stink??? OMG! It was awful! Once we built the barn, we started putting them out there. Now the barn gets dusty & stinks. But that is just fine!

 

[rachels.haven]

Hmmm...sounds like I need a barn!

Maybe if I bring this up with the husband he'll make it a priority next time we decide to change locations.

I love those muscovy. You've got consistency going on! That's really appealing. And they're a cute color combo too.

 

[rachels.haven]

I guess I could vitamin B him up next molt. He's kind of a free-range guy, so I'm not sure it will work, but B is water soluble, so even if anyone eats too much of it, no problem.

 

[Bruce]

I think we'd need more acreage out of respect for my boys before I got any goat boys so the bucks can be far away from them because bucks apparently stink.

And put the boys (the goat boys!) in the direction that is generally down wind from the house and get a REALLY big fan to set outside the house when the wind shifts.

 

[Bruce]

They created a huge amount of dust. And stink??? OMG! It was awful!

I really do not understand this. I've read it on BYC a hundred times but I've now had 4 shipments of chicks and while the last 3 were broody hen or Mama Heating Pad brooder (last 2) after a few days indoors the first 12 were in a bathroom for nearly a month and no one in the house ever mentioned stink or dust.

 

[Devonviolet]

I really do not understand this. . . . the first 12 were in a bathroom for nearly a month and no one in the house ever mentioned stink or dust.

You had a lot fewer birds, than we did. Ours would not have fit in a bathtub. But since we don’t have a bathtub, it’s a moot issue. Having a lot of birds, we put tarps down, on the floor and then put wood chips down. In the end, that is what caused the dust. Also, more birds produe more poop, which is difficult to keep clean. That is what caused the stink.

 

[Devonviolet]

I guess I could vitamin B him up next molt. He's kind of a free-range guy, so I'm not sure it will work, but B is water soluble, so even if anyone eats too much of it, no problem.

I doubt giving him vitamin B would help at this point, as it did not help our little girl. I believe the out turned wing is caused by a malformation of the bone in the wing. Therefore, it is important to give thevitamin B from the beginning when they are small.
I personally believe that it is important to add nutrients in the form of food, whenever possible. That is why we bought bulk nutritional yeast, and add it to their fermented feed daily.