Some Kind of Wonderful

I absolutely love my stall mat! I was nervous because of the expense, but it was well worth the money ($37.99 at tractor supply). It is so easy to clean its almost fun! I've heard of some people using the play mats that fit together like puzzle pieces that you get at wal-mart and Toys R Us, but The material isn't as tough so they won't last as long. They also are not rubber and look porous to me which would make them virtual sponges for bacteria and germs, not to mention liquid waste and odor. I'm all for saving money, but not cutting corners. I'd rather spend the extra and get something that will be more sanitary and probably last the duration of their lifetime and beyond.

I think the ducks are a lot happier. I never realized before how much poop I was missing when they were on straw. The larger more solid parts at the surface were so few, I now know I was missing the bulk of the waste. I feel really bad! I should have been changing all their straw every day. I had no idea. Well, on the bright side, they are in a much cleaner and healthier environment now. Interesting thing though, they have not pooped at all in their doghouse since the change. They still lay their eggs in it, but no poop. I guess the run was so nasty before that they ran out of room, but now that it is clean all the time, they use it instead of their house, and they concentrate the poop by the door too. They are really smart.

Today I plan on doing garden cleanup and filling in the pond. I'll probably advertise it in the paper along with the pump and filter box. It would make a great goldfish and/or ornamental pond for someone. Its just not big enough for the ducks. It gets nasty within days, even with the rainwater inflow and filter. Ducks are truly dirty creatures. The mortar mixer is great. I wish I had gotten one of them instead from the beginning. My advice to anyone who doesn't have a natural pond already would be to forget the pond idea. Unless you can afford to empty and refill it at least every weekend (no, I am not exaggerating) and don't mind the cleanup, man-made ponds are just not practical.

The ducks do perfectly well with dunking buckets and bathing pans. They are much easier to keep sanitary, and much cheaper to keep filled. I use Fortex rubber & Fortiflex rubber blend 2 gallon buckets for their dunking/drinking needs and a 3 gallon, 4 inch deep Fortex rubber pan for their bathing water. I rinse and refill these every morning, and brush scrub them out with dish soap every few days. I offer the mortar mixer only on very hot days so they can cool off. I try to keep water easily accessible to them all the time. I put one dunking bucket in the front yard next to their feed pans, and one in the backyard next to the garden. I put their bathing pan in the backyard also, on the other end of the garden. This setup works great for me, and they have clean water when they need it.

Being free of the pond is very liberating! If you learn from my experience, then all my mistakes will have been worth it. Here's to happier, healthier ducks and happier keepers everywhere!

Cleaning day!

Here are the foragers in action! You can see the unearthed pond in the background and the hole left behind covered by a mesh screen so they can't fall in.


Here is a front view showing the amount of space between the tarp and the pen. It is not attached to the run at all, rather it is hooked to the privacy fence on the left and the garage wall on the right. It offers much more light and air than before. The difference is amazing.


Here is the re-positioned tarp, silver side up.


Here is a view of the inside of the run and doghouse. The mud you see is just from my feet as I walked in to gather the eggs this morning. They concentrated their poop at the doorway, and I hosed it off this morning easily. Wow! I wish I had bought a stall mat back at the very beginning!


Here is the fruit of all my efforts! I think it looks good, and it smells a whole lot better!


Today, I completely mucked out their night pen and cleaned their doghouse. I usually spot clean and change their bedding completely once a week, but I had noticed their night pen was getting foul smelling faster since they had started laying. Their poop seems to have a stronger smell than it used to have. In the process of cleaning, I discovered the source of the foul smell; mold under the doghouse. Luckily they didn't have access to it, but my husband had put a bed of straw under the house to facilitate drainage, and it had molded badly.

I decided to completely eliminate all straw in the pen, and not to use it anymore. I also realized that the tarp I had draped over the pen's yard in an effort to create a daytime shade area and keep the straw dry was in effect holding in odor and moisture. I took it off, dragged the house and pen up the hill, raked all the straw out of the pen and onto the tarp and dragged it down to the compost heap. I also pulled up some flowers that had grown up too close to the pen that were making it hard to get in and out the door. I took the house apart and hosed it out, then scrubbed it down inside and out. I set it out in the sun to dry for half the day.

I then went to the Tractor Supply and bought a rubber stall mat to use as the floor of the night run. I waited for the ground to dry, then placed a layer of sand on the entire area, with a deeper area under the doghouse where the mat would not reach. I angled the slope very slightly so when I hosed off the mat or when it rained, the water would all run downhill and away from the house. I chose not to use any substrate on top of the mat. It should be easy on their feet as is, and it will make it easier to clean and more sanitary if I don't use substrate. After trimming the mat to size, I put it in place. I then put the pen enclosure on top and slid the doghouse into the back.

As for the tarp, the underside was silver so I decided to put eye hooks in the garage wall to hang it on to get maximum rain drainage away from the house, plus get maximum airflow in the pen. The silver side out should reflect heat and light, making it cooler underneath so they will have a shade option during the day. I refilled their doghouse with wood shavings deep enough for them to make a new nest.

I am pleased with the results of all my labor and the ducks seemed curious about the whole process. I feel bad that I didn't figure all this out earlier, but it sometimes takes a while to figure out what works best in your particular situation. When I locked them in tonight, they seemed fascinated with the rubber mat, and commented curiously about it while tapping it with their beaks. They are already used to rubber because I feed them in Fortex rubber pans. I think they are easier on their beaks and the rubber isn't porous, so it doesn't harbor bacteria like plastic does. This is another reason it should work well as a floor for their run.

Eggs, & Bugs!

Here is a picture of the nest they built in their doghouse. I have found all their eggs in this for the past week.


Here is Ariel enjoying a float in the the mortar mixing pan I got for them today at Lowe's. We have emptied the pond and plan on filling in the hole, and selling the liner & filter if we can. It is just too much water and too hard to keep clean. The Mortar mixer is great! Its easy to empty & clean, and takes a lot less water.


My girls have started laying eggs! I am so excited! I am glad now I started switching them to a laying feed at 18 weeks, because Ariel started laying at 20 1/2 weeks and Juno at 21 1/2 weeks old. Juno's eggs are bigger than Ariel's, and I can easily tell them apart. Juno worried me though, because she laid her first two eggs in their water tub and they were soft. I was afraid she was having problems, but they have been normal ever since, with nice hard shells.

It was funny how I found the first egg. I had been checking their night pen every morning and evening for eggs because they had built a nest in the corner of the yard in front of their doghouse. I started them on a laying feed at 18 weeks because I was afraid they would start laying soon after building the nest. I called Orkin to come out and do an inspection and the inspector noticed my duck pen and asked about it. I explained how they stayed in it at night, and had built a nest in it but had not yet laid any eggs. He laughed and said, "Well, I see an egg right there!" I looked and sure enough, there was an egg right in the middle of their night run. It was smaller than I expected, but I had read that the first year they usually are on the small side.

I was getting one egg each morning since that day, and then a week later like clockwork Juno also started laying eggs. Now I have two eggs each morning. I cleaned out their night pen last weekend and they built a new nest inside their house, which is where I have found all the eggs since then. It is nice for all my hard work raising them to finally bring me something tangible in return! LOL! I had never eaten a duck egg before, so I fried one up to get my first taste and it was amazing! I love duck eggs! They have such a rich, delicious taste. I am very glad I chose ducks instead of chickens.

Last Monday evening, I fed my girls as usual, but when I went back inside to put up their scoops, I discovered small bugs in their feed. I only saw a couple, but that was all I needed to see. I took the feed outside and the next morning got up super early to go get some fresh. I was really surprised to find such a problem since I keep the feed indoors and it is Purina's Sunfresh Recipe Layena, which is supposed to be a good quality feed. The store I got it from was out of stock, and they tried to sell me a cheaper brand I was unfamiliar with. I declined because I wasn't sure of the quality, and I was afraid if I suddenly switched their food they might start molting and then wouldn't lay anymore till next year. (They can be very sensitive to food changes while laying.)

He told me of another store (about 20 miles away) that should have it in stock, and not knowing what else to do, I headed that way. I got there and the gait was locked. I couldn't even get up to the door to see when they opened. I went to the Wallgreens up the road from them and asked if they knew when it opened, but they didn't. I wound up fiddling around until 9am when I thought surely they would open. Lucky for me, they did, and they had the Layena in stock. They even had it in 25lb bags which was great because I only have two ducks. They also had it in pellet form, which I knew they would prefer and make less mess with. They were really nice and even loaded it into my car for me.

I was happy and felt my long drive was worth it, until I got home. I opened my back door to discover the same bugs I had seen in my other bag crawling all around the bottom of the bag. I ripped open the top to find the whole bag completely infested! It was disgusting, and even the pellets looked all chewed on! I was infuriated. I searched the phone book for another Purina dealer in the area and found one across the state line. I called them up and they had it in stock so I headed that way. I asked them when I got there if they had had any bug issues with it and they said they had not with the Layena, but had with another Purina feed. I bought a bag of crumble, which was all they had, and took it out to the car. My husband suggested I open it up to see if there were any bugs, which I did and saw no signs.

I got it home and poured it into my food grade plastic buckets I use as feed bins. I fed them their morning meal and felt relief to finally find a bug free batch. Then when I went to close up the buckets, I saw the same bugs climbing up out of the feed! This was too much. My parents were coming by later that day to pick me up to go visit my grandmother, and the feed store I had bought it from was on the way, so they took me by and I returned it. They had just sent someone to the store I had got the first batch from to replace the feed they had got that was infested. I told them to check it closely because the bag I got from them was full of the bugs. They appreciated the tip and gave me my money back with profuse apologies.

I didn't know what to do. I was out of Purina dealers. I fed the girls the original feed that had only a couple of bugs in it the next morning because I didn't know what else to feed them, and hoped it wouldn't make them ill. I had to work that day, but on my lunch break I called the Co-op in the nearby town of Jonesborough and asked about their feed and if they had any bug issues. They said their feed was made local and they sold so much so fast that it was always fresh. I drove straight there and bought a bag of their pellets, which had the same percent of protein and the same calcium to phosphorous ratio as the Layena. The ingredients sounded better though, and the feed smelled really good. It was also higher in amino acids and lysine. I knew I was taking a chance on switching their feed, but I was through fooling with Purina at that point.

I brought the feed home, and put it in my feed buckets (which my husband had already cleaned out and dried for me). I put a big scoop in their feed bowl and they ate it like candy! I was so relieved!

I did call Purina and told them the trouble I was having. They are sending me vouchers to use to replace the feed that I had not returned. I don't think I will use them though. They were very nice, but my girls like the co-op feed better and fresh feed is always a better choice. I have had no interruptions on egg laying, and no signs of them molting! The price is better too; about $3 cheaper than Layena. It is a little bit of a drive to get it, but its better than risking having a repeat bug episode!

I also have started supplementing their feed with Calf Manna by Manna Pro. I give them 1/8 cup a day in the morning. It is high in protein, fatty acids, vitamins and minerals. Since they are so young, I thought it would be a good booster for them. They like it, and eat it like a treat. I have already noticed their feathers are getting glossier and they seem more energetic.