Guest Posted June 11, 2010 Share Posted June 11, 2010 (edited) Well well well. Betty is broody yet again. But the poor old gal deserves a break she has layed an egg everyday for about 2 weeks. Tomorrow pick up 2 bali crested running ducks for my little flock have had to sacrifice 2 pekins but will still get 2 pekins 1st week of june. The shed will be done next week so the chickens have a platform to lay on and be away from the ducks. Marsh Daisy's have got combs growing and have got little wottles coming. It is taking a while but oh well. Oh sorry for going on but it is really busy here with everything going on and oh 1 more thing. DO you think that it if normal for betty to be wary of perching because she has barely done it since she was diddy. Edited June 12, 2010 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom123 Posted June 11, 2010 Share Posted June 11, 2010 Are the runners going to live with the chickens inside a WIR? How big is it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 11, 2010 Share Posted June 11, 2010 Yes they are. They have been brought up with the breeds i have and there is enough room in the run. our friends who have runners said it was more than big enough. I am a person who reads into stuff meticulusly i wouldn't put them in there if i htought there wasn't enough room Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom123 Posted June 11, 2010 Share Posted June 11, 2010 I'm not trying to say you didn't sorry It's just that I had a couple of people come earlier this week to look at a pair of Runners for their garden. I asked where they were going to keep them. "In a 2m x 1m concrete run with a washing up bowl". I then had to explain to them about how Runners need an absolute minimum of 4m x 4m run and preferably on grass. Why don't people just read up in the first place! Sorry rant over Good luck, Runners are great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 11, 2010 Share Posted June 11, 2010 Hhahahah I didnt mean that to sound rude sorry. Oh no that isn't good. They are in a area that is on bark. And can go in the garden every other evening. They will have a pond being built asap. They can run around like lunatics all they want. The chickens do lol. I wish people would read up aswell my friends and family think it is easy but its not. I admit im scared about keeping ducks but I am so cautious i dont make rash desions i have secretly been doing research for months And bit late on this but WASHING UP BOWL ours will have enough water lol and they will have greens but we only have one area of grass but the chickens dont even go near it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom123 Posted June 11, 2010 Share Posted June 11, 2010 Grass is only if possible but they seem to thrive on it. Bark will become a mess especially around the pond in about a day! I would look into have 1ft of gravel around the pond to help keep the rest of the run dry? Also, how old are the ducks? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 11, 2010 Share Posted June 11, 2010 The pond will be raised and have a a couple of ramps going up to it for them. The ducks are 6-8 weeks old. And I will put gravel down anyway because i know how soggy bark will be but where the pond will be the area is just concrete at the moment. So the chickens can keep their nails down. The pond wont be massive but it will be big. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom123 Posted June 11, 2010 Share Posted June 11, 2010 Sounds perfect, I would keep it as concrete as you can just hose that down. Will they be going in with the chickens immediately? I wouldn't recommend that at their age, they are quite nervy anyway and the chickens wont help that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 11, 2010 Share Posted June 11, 2010 Ok will keep it as concrete. And no they wont there is a shed in there where eventually the hens and ducks will live together. The hens will have a platform and the ducks under it. They will be given and area to run around monday but they shed has windows that fully open so it is ventilated and there is troughs of water in there and a tiny bit of bark and 2 loads of straw. The shed is huge and doesnt take even take much of the run up even though it is massive. They will go in with the hens in like a week. Maybe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom123 Posted June 11, 2010 Share Posted June 11, 2010 All sounds good but I would keep them separate until the ducks are about 12-14 weeks old to be on the safe side. They won't defend themselves like hens, they'll just get bullied. It's not like they can flap up onto a perch out of the way like hens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 11, 2010 Share Posted June 11, 2010 Ok will do that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwing Posted June 11, 2010 Share Posted June 11, 2010 I do like runner ducks they are so amusing, good choice Rhys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 12, 2010 Share Posted June 12, 2010 No ducks. The breeder and i spoke and I decided to stick with getting 4 tiny pekin girls. He did give me 3 hopefully fertile duck eggs for betty my broody to hatch out so fingers crossed. The if hatched they will go back to breeder to keep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
