Do I want ducks?

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Do I want ducks?
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Shan

Joined: 13 Jan 2009
Posts: 9075
Location: South Wales

Posted: Tue Nov 01, 16 7:56 pm Post subject:

Chez wrote:

Can you sell the eggs, do you think? Coz KCs or Cherry Valleys will lay the most and therefore be the most cost effective, if that was an issue.

I'd probably go for Cayugas though, if you wanted a dual purpose type breed. They are gorgeous.

https://www.waterfowl.org.uk/hvducks.html

I still think getting ducks is a BAD BAD BAD idea but Cayugas are also my favourite. Very comical.

Jam Lady

Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 2571
Location: New Jersey, USA

Posted: Tue Nov 01, 16 7:58 pm Post subject:

Bird safe slug trap with metaldehyde slug pellets:

1) Take clean, empty 2 liter plastic soda bottle.
2) Cut apart at top of cylinder.
3) Invert top piece (sort of like a funnel) into cylinder and staple together.
4) Toss slug bait into trap and lay it down in shady area popular with slugs.
5) Slugs, attracted by bait, squelch their way inside. Not being terrible bright they cannot find their way back out.
6) When device has served its purpose - wrap in newspaper and dispose of in trash.
7) Make more traps, as needed.

Of course none of us drink soda, let alone 2 liter bottles worth. But we all know poor benighted souls who do, who would no doubt be glad to put their empties to such a useful purpose.

NorthernMonkeyGirl

Joined: 10 Apr 2011
Posts: 4627
Location: Peeping over your shoulder

Posted: Tue Nov 01, 16 8:48 pm Post subject:

Jam Lady wrote:

I do that sort of thing for wasps, slugs never occurred to me! And presumably it stops the slugs getting out and into the wild food chain?

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Wed Nov 02, 16 12:03 am Post subject:

I will definitely try that in the veg beds. The best thing for me is to cut sections of plastic milk bottle (I switch to two pint bottles especially in the spring!) over the young plants. I put copper tape round them if I have any, but just the plastic collar works well. I'd imagine you could make traps with the milk bottles as well.

Still might get some Aylesbury ducks, though. I rather like those green ones, too. I need to rethink foxes again, as I lost most of my large fowl about 10am this morning.

chickenlady

Joined: 18 Aug 2013
Posts: 413
Location: Dorset

Posted: Wed Nov 02, 16 1:50 pm Post subject:
That's a brilliant idea, Jam Lady. Thank you.

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Wed Nov 02, 16 8:39 pm Post subject:
I appear to have found myself at a poultry auction. Ducks abound. Naturally, I'm after some hens!

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35935
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Thu Nov 03, 16 6:55 am Post subject:
You're worse than I am

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Thu Nov 03, 16 9:59 am Post subject:

The fox has just taken a load of hens, so I needed some layers for eggs. The next village has a pet and poultry auction every Wednesday, but I can only go when mum's here to put J to bed, so it was a last minute decision.

I didn't buy any ducks, despite a pair of Appleyards and a some mixed ones. All going for not much. And oodles of ducklings, going for less than a quid each.

I didn't buy any small furry things either, despite there being mum and baby guinea pig groups and eleventy billion baby mini lop rabbits which were extra fluffily cute. Or half a dozen chinchillas, which we're going for about £8.

I didn't buy any quails, which were going for 50p each. And I didn't buy the Lavender Pekins, which went for £14 for a pair of hens (I slightly regret this, as I liked them a lot, and I think it was an ok deal. I'm not a natural at auctions, though and I can't process fast enough whether I want things at what they are going for. They were earlier than the other lots I really wanted, and I wanted to save my cash for grown up hens. There were loads of silkies, too.

I did buy four Warren pullets for six pounds each, and two Welsummer hens for eight pounds each. Although I only wanted three Warrens, the last one didn't go, so I had it for a fiver, and the Welsummers weren't going at reserve, and were the last lot I was interested in, so I daringly made a snap decision. I quite enjoy the auction, but it's probably a good job I can't go more often.

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Fri Nov 04, 16 10:52 am Post subject:
Oops. I seem to have ducks. I didn't mean to, but I was offered some to rehome.

chickenlady

Joined: 18 Aug 2013
Posts: 413
Location: Dorset

Posted: Fri Nov 04, 16 12:34 pm Post subject:
Some things are just meant to be.

Fee

Joined: 21 Mar 2005
Posts: 15922
Location: Earth

Posted: Sat Mar 24, 18 7:28 pm Post subject:
Have you still got them? Have they helped the slug population?

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Sat Mar 24, 18 7:32 pm Post subject:
They never arrived. I did hatch some later in the year though. Messiest creatures Iâ€™ve ever owned. Truly vile. I donâ€™t know how people manage them!

Fee

Joined: 21 Mar 2005
Posts: 15922
Location: Earth

Posted: Sat Mar 24, 18 7:57 pm Post subject:
And the slugs?

wellington womble

Joined: 08 Nov 2004
Posts: 15051
Location: East Midlands

Posted: Sat Mar 24, 18 9:06 pm Post subject:

Dunno, I went so loopy with chickens I didnâ€™t get round to growing anything at all last year. I do not imagine you would want ducks anywhere near your vegetables, though.

Imagine getting a toddler of around 18 months old. Give them some antibiotics and put them in the bath. Fill the bath with six inches of warm water. Feed them soup, spaghetti, jelly, custard and several jars of purÃ©e. Leave them there all day. At the end of the day, thatâ€™s what a duck cage looks like. The duck will be paddling around in it, happy as a clam.

They are cute though.

leggy

Joined: 16 Jan 2009
Posts: 340
Location: Monmouth

Posted: Fri Mar 30, 18 4:13 pm Post subject:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gD6dppU8ZbY Watched this video where a mesh frames placed in the way of the drinking water ,he claims it cuts down on the mess?

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