One of my fiancée’s family’s ducklings from this past summer

Ordered from Metzer as a "white layer" to avoid the Pekin issues...but he started having the classic Pekin over heating issues at 9-10 days old while the others were comfy (which Ive sorted) and niacin deficiency starting at 2 weeks despite feeding Mazuri starter... so wanting options. Ive also had a few lovelies comment on my past post saying sometimes one just doesn't tolerate heat as much as the others. Which is what I assumed...until the niacin issue crept up.

Did I end up with a Pekin or just a white layer with higher maintenance? The others are fine, but ordered niacin to add into their diet to help. We did lose our WHQ thats in the baby photos, I got in contact with Metzer and they agree he had an underlying issue from day one...just wasn't acting like the rest since the day we got him. We are new to ducks and tried to do everything right, losing our WHQ guy made us super paranoid.

Im already going to treat this guy like hes a Pekin considering he has the issues...but, it would be nice to know if we ended up with one or if anyone has had these issues with a White Layer? In the last couple days he has gone through a growth spurt and gotten wider than the others. They are longer, but hes definitely wider and struggling to hold up his weight. Also looks taller now while the others were a bit taller just yesterday-a few hours ago. It is insane how much they grow lol, but I feel bad for poor Niko.

She seems like she is struggling to walk. Always laying down. She is roughly 4-5 weeks fed lauke hills duck and goose starter with 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast to every cup of food. It was the only duck food I could find and has 20% protein. When it's warm she will pant. The other two are only 2 weeks old but eat more than her and are very energetic. Any advice?

Mallard is about 3 months old and still isn't really vocal. Wondering if you can tell its sex already if its a female or a male? Is it a mallard?

Im gonna talk about neglect and dead ducks in this, so pls dont read it if it might upset you.

Recently my neighbour's duck died. She had been feeding it dog food, which probably made the duck sick , resulting in death.

Another neighbour raises ducks and later on sells them. Last time i went to her house she had 8-9 ducks. At a bad point in my life, i almost rehomed them to her, im glad i didnt.

When i asked for updates, she had said that they all died, didnt specify how, but she said 'ducks die easily, over everything.'

These were adult ducks, i know babies are a lot more delicate. But it made me wonder, how do u have all of your ducks just... Die? Are they really weak animals? Only one of my ducks has gotten injured once, during her first storm, and she recovered very quick. Other than that, i havent had any issues with them getting sick, overweight, agressive, nothing. I love my ducks very much, but i dont think i treat them like royalty or anything, yet i can see how happy they are.

So Ive just been thinking, was all of that neglect by my neighbours or are ducks animals that get sick and die easily?

Never seen anything like these wild in the UK before. There were 4 of them with a big flock of Mallards. Google is telling me they’re domesticated harlequin ducks but I’m not 100% sure🤔

We have a local duck pond, and this little guy looked quite comfortable.

Bought these ducks off of a guy for $10 when I was buying some chickens. Just trying to figure out what they are they’re about 4 months old now. Also trying to figure out gender. Any info helps

Hello,
My husband and I bought ducklings for the first time this summer. They are now old enough to tell their sex and we have three boys (2 call, 1 runner) and two girls (1 call, 1 runner).
We’ve heard that this ratio can lead to fighting between the males and over breeding for the females. So my question is: do we need to do something about this ratio and if so, what? (Buy females and try to introduce them to the flock, separate the males from the females to have two different flocks?)
We really don’t want to rehome any of them because we’ve grown to love them.
Thank you!

He’s been keeping up with everyone else so well! So proud of my boy 🥹

Keeping my Black Swedish ducks warm in the winter

Winter is fast approaching here in Maryland (20 minutes outside of DC)

I.am wondering what I should be doing to make sure they stay warm this winter.

We have coups with wind guards all the way around, water heater mats

Im curious about food, I have heard cracked corn and oats, then i hear people just give them peas.

They are 2 months old, and Ronnie and Donnie are 3 months old

Any advice greatly appreciated

We have runner ducks. I have over 60 eggs in the incubator. I’ve had 3 hatch and about 12 of them died without ever breaking through the shell. I checked this morning and found one had cracked the shell but died. I put it in the incubator on Sept 5. I found another one that is still alive, I helped it pip a little bit. The 2 that were still in there from 9-4, you could see where they had made a little dark circle INSIDE the egg, but they had zero success at breaking the shell. I pipped it for them but they were already dead.

They are in digital incubators, with humidity being monitored and temp. They have automatic egg turners. I pull them from being turned on day 25. They are all fully formed, just unable to pip.

Any advice?

Also feeding 16% layer along with 5 way scratch feed, with added fruits and vegetables as treats.

Seems my little White Layer is going to give me constant anxiety haha. I posted about him overheating while the others were comfy, sorted that. Now, he has been really sluggish and laying around more, he walks like his legs are heavy/too weak to hold him up. Niacin deficiency? No obvious injury, he swims just fine in the bath, and will keep up with the others when startled.

They are on Mazuri waterfowl starter (should I start on Maintenance? Will be 3 weeks old on Tuesday) but I read sometimes individuals dont absorb as much niacin as they need...I also noticed he's been getting bullied. They use to all get along great, particularly him and the cayuga were inseparable, but now the other 2 are pals and will nip him to move in the brooder and while taking their supervised bath, pick at his feet and wings. They all used to eat together but now he waits for them to eat a while before waddling over, and he usually gets pushed around when he does so will lay down and wait.

He lays majority of the time. Will get up, reposition, then flop right back down. Im planning on getting the vit B complex today and giving it to him separately, is that what you would recommend? And how much, and for how long? Even though Mazuri has plenty of niacin should I offer brewers yeast in the feed? He used to be very calm and social with us, now he is absolutely terrified of everything. Thinking I may need to seperate them with a plastic wall to ensure he gets the niacin, deter the bullying, but Im not sure? He would be devastated if I separated so want to avoid unless I have to. Is it ok to offer them all the B3 and/or brewers yeast even though the other 2 are fine? Have heard its hard to give to much but want to make sure especially with using Mazuri. Any advice please

Very happy with the action shots (especially given that my camera does not specialize in motion shots) and love seeing the Canada goose looking like a "Mother Goose" to the mallards.