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Post by petdesigns on May 6, 2009 8:47:54 GMT 1
THANK YOU!!! Possibly... Martin wants them and we've got enough space!
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Post by Old Dragon (Al) on May 6, 2009 12:28:22 GMT 1
I suggest that you get Martin to read up well on the subject - and including the DEFRA/EU legislation relating to pig-keeping and breeding. ;D You may need to get a holding number, too, if you've not already done so... You can then anticipate the delights of receiving, what used to be a fifty-odd page questionnaire document requiring completion, most of which won't apply to you, of course, but will still need going through with a very fine toothcomb! Good luck!
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Post by petdesigns on May 6, 2009 20:17:20 GMT 1
Yes, I know.... We already have a holding number and the stuff from DEFRA, although I'm not sure Martin has read through it properly yet.
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Post by Old Dragon (Al) on May 11, 2009 11:19:28 GMT 1
Jutta, Mr. Welsh Egg in Caerphilly have KC ducklings for sale. Day olds (needing heat) are £2.20p each, though! Gone are the days when you could get POL adults for that price!
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Post by petdesigns on May 11, 2009 11:23:49 GMT 1
Wow! We will get ducks (can be adult ones, btw) when we're back from our short trip to Luebeck end of May. We didn't want to leave our dog sitters with having to care for ducks (and pigs) as well. so I hope we'll have some ducks early June! The piglets we'll probably receive in August.
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Post by petdesigns on Jun 17, 2009 14:07:45 GMT 1
Back from Luebeck - and I went to get 2 loverly little ducklings I visited last week at the lovely B&B near Wells of a colleague of mine As you all know, we've been building a hopefully fox-proof run on the field... Anyway, I got those two ducklings .... and also this happy lot: The ducklings are now housed in an old car kennel for dogs inside the shed thingy until they are large enough to cope with the big juvenile hooligans and I'm desperately looking for a small cage/run for them to put them safely with the big ones inside the big run. Ah well - I just couldn't resist! And I only hope that the old dog basket will be ok for the ducks as a 'watering hole'/little "swimming pool".
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Post by billywhippet on Jun 17, 2009 14:15:44 GMT 1
Those chicks are soooooo cute
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Post by Old Dragon (Al) on Jun 17, 2009 14:18:02 GMT 1
Er... Jutta, surely those babies will still need heat/a heat lamp, rather than go straight outside? They don't look to have any feathers yet, just down! BTW - that one 'duck' looks very 'goose-like' to me! ;D
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Post by petdesigns on Jun 17, 2009 15:11:20 GMT 1
It looks very goose-like because... it is a goose! (or a gander ) His/her mates didn't want her, so she/he is now an honorary duck. The ducklings have been without heat lamp for a while in a stable building. And now they're in our shed, so I hope they'll be ok until they have their proper feathers! I won't get a run then for them to go in with the big ones yet! Thank you!
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Post by petdesigns on Jun 26, 2009 9:02:48 GMT 1
I honestly had no idea how lovely ducks and geese are! The big ones 'in bed' In their 'run'
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Post by petdesigns on Jun 26, 2009 9:04:58 GMT 1
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Post by Old Dragon (Al) on Jun 26, 2009 10:07:53 GMT 1
Lovely pics, Jutta, and yes, they are wonderful characters. ;D
Your 'spotted duck' is really pretty, and the ducklings adorable. Mine are still at the 'ugly duckling' stage, but hope soon to move them in with the bigger ducks.
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Post by petdesigns on Jun 26, 2009 10:16:55 GMT 1
I don't think my ducklings ever went through an 'ugly' phase! They're in the middle of changing their feathers (well - of changing from down to feathers) and still look just gorgeous!
They are, like the 'spotted duck', Appleyard Ducks (or Silver Appleyard Ducks). Very pretty and very very lively (much more lively and much faster than the Indian runner!)
How big is your duck run? Mine are in a run that would be huge for 3 or 5 big chicken - but I think it's not enough for a goose and the ducks. I think we'll invest in poultry electric fencing to be able to put them somewhere else during the day whilst keeping them safe!
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Post by petdesigns on Jun 26, 2009 10:23:42 GMT 1
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Post by Old Dragon (Al) on Jun 26, 2009 11:15:35 GMT 1
Jutta, if they quack, they are ducks, if they peep or hiss, drakes. Mine are all ducks - plain, mucky brown, which is just as well, as they are very messy and still in the rabbit hutch for safety, although I have now removed the hen foster mum. She's glad to be back out with her own kind again, after rearing her giant, fast growing babies. Our runs are about 20' by the whole width of the allotments. The one being across a double allotment plot. Saying that, the ex has built a shed-cum greenhouse in the bigger one, and that takes up about 8' square bit. The chickens are in that one, and the six adult ducks & drakes have the other, which has a sunken bath in it that they have turned into a mud wallow! Need to get that cleaned out urgently. The ducklings will probably be released into the chicken run until mature enough to cope with getting in and out of the bath. The adults need to flap their wings a fair bit to exit that if the water level has dropped a bit. There is a ramp, but they don't seem to like that much.
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Post by petdesigns on Jun 26, 2009 14:43:24 GMT 1
Hmm - Martin thinks the little ones go "quackquackquackquack", I'm not sure if it isn't "peeppeeppeep' (the little always hear us coming and demand attention and food - VERY loudly! - the big ones are sadly quite wary of us) - I haven't heard any of them hiss (not even the goose, even though Martin reckons he's heard her/him hiss). Our run is about 3 metres wide and approx 12 metres long (about 10' by 40' - he says, I stick with metres!) with an old plastic dog basket as 'pond' and one of those grey thingies the little ones are splashing about it. But they are just
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Post by petdesigns on Jul 5, 2009 11:27:49 GMT 1
Right, I'm sort of back - parents gone, car broken down again (!), something wrong with the building site (nobody told us that the 'right of use' applies here, yippeeh! So the foundation has to be changed) and I've got a cold! Winge over.... Ducks are fab and I'm afraid I got bitten by the "duck bug", just as bad as the dog bug! Therefore, despite being very sure now that we have 2 Silver Appleyard drakes and 1 Silver Appleyard duck (according to their colouring) (and the runner duck more than likely being male, too!), I will not have one of the appleyards being slaughtered, despite the fact that they are dual purpose ducks and we got them because of that. Instead, I think I'll try to organise a female runner duck and at the very least one female Khaki Campbell! The goose will get a mate, too, once we know if she's a she or a he. Here the little ones are 4 days ago:
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Post by petdesigns on Jul 11, 2009 10:20:55 GMT 1
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Post by worm100 on Jul 11, 2009 10:55:45 GMT 1
Your going to need a bigger bath ..them little are growing fast
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Post by petdesigns on Jul 11, 2009 16:02:27 GMT 1
I have already - the yellow one above is bigger - and we bought a really big "bath" on Thursday which we will hopefully be able to 'implement' this weekend (You didn't think those ducks would NOT be spoilt rotten?? )
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