So last post I talked about making your beehive.

Now we’re going to talk about actually getting the bees.

Installing Bees

In order to do the things in this post you’ll need to have your beehive, bee suit, your trusty tools, and some sugar water.

Put the sugar feeder in and put the jar with the sugar water and the lid with holes in the slot.

Light a fire in your smoker. If your bees get angry, lightly smoke the by squeezing the pump.

The bees will probably come in something like this:

You will need to first spray your bees with sugar water (To make it just boil some water and put in sugar at a 1:1 ratio. Easy!)

Now you should be in about the month of march-may depending on where you live.

You should have your hive set up with only the bottom brood box on, with all ten of it’s frames.

When you get your hive you should try to put your bees in the hive in the afternoon. This will give them overnight to orient before getting to work in the morning.

Do not install on a rainy day.

If you have to get them on a rainy day, keep them in their box until the next day. If its still rainy then you’ll just have to deal with the bees being angry.

You will pry open the wood flap on the cage. Lightly spray the cage with sugar water. Then gently, but firmly tap the bottom of the box against the ground.

Grab the sugar water can out.

Gently take your queen package out. Check to make sure queen is alive. It is okay if attendants aren’t but she must be.

Remove the wooden cork from the bee cage end with candy. DON’T REMOVE CANDY OR THE OTHER CORK.

Hang queen cage with candy side upwards. Use a string or wire to install her between two frames in the middle of the brood box.

Make sure the workers can see queen. Screen should not be facing the wax.

Remove one or two frames ( not the ones the queen is next to) and pour the rest of the bees into the box.

Put back the frames and put lid one and lid two on. Slightly prop up lid two for ventilation. You will leave it ventilated until fall.

You have now installed your bees.

Checking on your bees

For the first time, check your bees 4-5 days after installation.

The main purpose of this check is to make sure the queen is out of her little cage.

If she is not poke a small opening in the candy with a needle.

If she is, which she should be, remove the little queen cage.

Check from now on regularly once a week. Also regularly fill up sugar water until the second check, when you remove the jar and feeder.

In these checks, make sure the queen is there, either by spotting her or seeing eggs or larvae.

Also make sure they are catching on to using the frames.

Sometimes bees will build on the sides of hive.

Unless you wan a chaotic messy hive, which will result in a lot of problems later on, remove the comb gently with the hive tool. Eventually they’ll catch on.

In 3-4 weeks you should notice that it is time to put on your first super.

Do this when 7 of 10 frames have at least half filled with honey. Early is better than late though. Late often ends up with bees swarming.

To add the super, first put on the queen excluder. This is a plastic or metal grid, stopping her from entering and laying eggs.

This goes between brooder and super.

Add on super.

Put the lids on top of super and keep ventilated as before.

In another three or four weeks, super 1 will be filled and super 2 will need added. Same process as before minus the queen excluder which remains on op of brooder box.

By this time, unless you have super bees or started really early, it’s June.

Decrease checking times from every week to every three weeks.

And before you know it, box three is filled.

Congrats! Your colony is established. This post is done.

Enjoyed it or have any questions? Comment bellow!

Coming next: A Beekeepers Guide: Gathering honey and Making It Through Winter

Pheasants are some of the most spectacular creatures in the bird world. So which one’s for you?

Practical Pheasants

Nobody ever said they were going to eat their Lady Amherst, or dine on their Tragopan Pheasant’s eggs! That’s a terrible idea financially!

So when you want pheasant meat or eggs what do you get? Pheasant eggs are said to be one of the tastiest eggs out there.

The utility pheasants: good old Ring-neck and family.

Ring-neck Pheasants

Usually about $80 a pair, the Ring-necks aren’t hard to raise or keep.

They come in a range of different colors and sizes. They have ones for more practical purposes but also ornamental varieties.

Chuckars

Although not pheasants, but actually a partridge, the chukar is very similar in care.

They are used for dog training like a Bobwhite but also for eating.

They can be kept just as pets as well. They lay 40-50 eggs a year which can be eaten or incubated.

If you want the practical pheasants I suggest purchasing at this hatchery here. Plus, these aren’t hard to find local.

Of course there are the beautiful pheasants for looking at purposes. From cheapest to most expensive, you will have to read the next post!

Which Pheasant is For You: Ornamentals Part 1

Of course, when dealing with button quail, some of the more common varieties are perfectly easy to tell apart, but for some varieties its not so easy.

Method 1: Bib

For some varieties the first thing that develops to show you the gender of a chick is the bib on the males.

The bib is just a little striped white ‘beard’ that comes down from their beak.

The only problem with this method is that in Red Breasted varieties, females too have a slight bib. It is usually not nearly as intense though. Also Red Breasted Button Quail varieties are generally very gender dimorphic any way so they’re easy to tell apart if you know their variety.

I would also like to note that in ‘Darth Vader’ button quail, the bib is pure black.

Some varieties however do not form beards (i.e. some silver varieties, whites, blue faces, and tuxedo varieties), regardless of the gender.

Method 2: Red and Blue

Another thing I’d like to note is that as of yet, a female button quail has not been bred with the colors red or blue.

These colors are often the big give away in tuxedos, pied, some silver quail, & blue-faced. Also almost all male button quail that have bibs have at least one of these two colors.

Thus this is my favorite tactic for those breeds but as we progress we realize there are still yet some more breeds to cover!

Method 3: the Call

This is a method that usually can get you a conclusion pretty quick if you spend a lot of time with your quail, which I do.

When a male calls it is a rather loud ‘hee hee hee’ descending in pitch.

They will also make a sound that sounds like they are rolling a very long ‘rrrrr’.

When a female calls she normally just goes pretty quietly ‘hee hee’ at the same pitch.

Describing bird calls has never been my strength, but if you have buttons I’m sure you’ll soon understand what I mean.

Males also call much more then females.

Whites of both gender however will just sing PEW PEW.

Method 5: Behavior

If all else fails and you still have some white or silver quail (the two varieties in which the males and females are identical) which remain unidentified, as you have apparently never heard the silver crow, then you are going have to go with this last method.

Well, one thing only female quail do is lay eggs.

Obviously.

But this is actually helpful. When I first got my button quail one was sick and so I quarantined it and before long there was an egg, so obviously I knew her gender.

If you find yourself weirdly desperate, then you can isolate it for a day or so, or, preferably, put it in with a quail you know is a male. If you find an egg then it’s a girl!

But the problem is quail sometimes take breaks from laying so it might be taking a break for a little while so that’s a lot less reliable.

Another way to tell is if it has more leader actions, maybe being a bit bossy, then it’s probably the alpha male, that’s how I first figured out the gender of my silver alpha Timothy.

Also if the quail in question is humping the female quail then it is probably male. However females will rarely do this to other females to show dominance, but males are the main ones who do it to each other.

If it is being humped though there is a chance the male humping it is just doings so to assert dominance.

Conclusion

Thus all these methods have their exceptions, which are annoying to say the least but when all applied you can usually get to a conclusion about almost all your quail. I have personally never had a lot of trouble.

Besides, Priscilla/Aquilla my white. Whites are pretty much always complete mysteries as males use a different call and often buttons hump each other to show dominance, not for other things…

I hope that all these methods help. And feel free to ask any questions on this post or on the forum! Need a guide to the care of these little fellers? Check here.

King quail, also known as button quail*, are the smallest type of true quail, and thus the smallest game bird. Their lifespan is 3-6 years but some folk have kept them up to 13. They are way too small for meat, and despite their plentiful egg production, their eggs are really small and really only good to cook for fun, since they’re not very filling.

They are adorably small. For you chicken breeders, here is a full grown king quail with a 5 day old Welsummer chick.

Thus, the button quail is for the most part a show bird, but can be tamed to make great pets.

_{*Not to be confused with the also Australian Buttonquail which are not technically quail, and are only very rarely kept as pets, which look like this:}

Water

Providing button quail with water is a quite easy task. Usually I can just find a waterer for baby chickens at the local feed and seed store or tractor supply and that does quite nicely.

Feed

Lots of people struggle on this point. Many websites say to grind normal quail food, but in my opinion gamebird starter is actually nutritious enough to supply for their needs. I occasionally grind up layer pellets to boost egg production though.

For the baby quail I grind chick starter and gamebird starter together until it reaches powder. This may seem extreme but the babies are tiny.

Again, for the feeder, something designed for chicks is ideal.

Supplements

Chick grit mixed in with their food helps for the adults.

Housing

Housing is confusing when it comes to button quail.

Despite their hardiness, they are still from Australia where it doesn’t really get very cold so in the USA if you live north of Florida, I’d suggest you keep them inside in the winter.

Also don’t forget to provide shade in the summer.

Thus, I have two button quail pens: one out side for summer time, and one in my bedroom for the rest of the year.

A small flock, up to ten birds, can pleasantly be housed in a 4′ x 1.5′ cage, especially if you provide shelves to fly up to.

I have oft heard it said that you should keep only one male per flock.

I did not know this when I first got my quail.

I ended up with seven males and only two females.

But, I did not have any problems.

Thus, I have concluded that, if raised together, males are not aggressive towards each other, nor are the females over-whelmed.

But if you are concerned, figuring out the gender of a button really isn’t that hard.

Breeding

The button quail is one of the few quail breeds that is known to regularly raise their own offspring.

The first chicks I ever had were raised by the quail themselves. I did not even note the quail was sitting on them until only a week before they hatched!

However I did run into problems.

I did not realize that you are supposed to separate the mother and father (who share parental duties) from the rest of the flock.

Unfortunately, one day I came to check on the chicks and saw their feet got pecked very badly and were bleeding. Apparently the adults that were not the parents may have mistaken the feet for meal worms!

When I noticed this happening I separated the Hen and Chicks from the flock but could not figure out who the father was, so the mother alone raised them.

Two of them did die from the injuries but the others made it to adult hood.

So if you try it this way try to make sure you separate the parents.

Personally though, I prefer the incubator as you can personally interact with them much more.

So the next time I tried the incubator.

For the first fourteen days I had humidity at 50%, temperature at 37.8 Celsius, and turning three times a day.

Day fourteen came and I adjusted humidity to 70% and stopped turning and on day eighteen:

Leave them in the incubator for three days with food and water. The babies will hatch over a span of three days.

And now here’s them in the brooder.

Note the paper towel bedding. This is good because they can grip it. DO NOT PUT NEWSPAPER OR OTHER SLIPPERY SURFACES! This is one of the causes of splay leg.

Also note that the rocks are in the water. This prevents drowning.

For the brooder, start it at the hottest end at about 100 degrees F, basically what it is in the incubator. Every week lower the temperature by about four degrees.

Compatibility

Button quail are not advisable to be put in with other, bigger quail. However coturnix and buttons frequently successfully live together, especially when raised together. For the most part keep it to flying birds of an aviary such as Zebra finches, canaries, doves, and budgies. These will leave the buttons alone for the most part and mind their own business.

Taming

Button Quail are the least docile of quail, but if properly trained they can become very tame.

And they are tamest when hand trained from youth.

Diseases

They are very hardy quail when it comes to egg binding and diseases. Paul, the one shown earlier, was almost dead onetime. To the point where he couldn’t even move hardly at all, let alone stand up. When I came out in fact I prepared to bury him until I saw him blink.

But after no more than a day of lots of electrolytes and heat lamp light, he was okay and now, almost a year later he’s still with me!

If your button quail looks like this it probably needs such doctoring. Just make some homemade electrolytes and keep him under a heat lamp and hopefully he’ll be fine before long!

I hope this has been helpful for those of you preparing to get yourselves a pair or maybe even, like me, a flock!

If trying to decide if you want these guys or a more sizeable quail, check out Which Quail Do You Want.

This post is designed to help you decide on which type of quail for your farm.

Coturnix quail

You can get a mixed egg or chick shipment to have a beautiful (if Coturnix quail are ever beautiful) mixed flock. They are the cheapest kind of quail, usually about $2.

These are also the best egg layers and are fine for meat. And, to me the best thing about them, they are very docile.

Lifespan is generally about two and a half to three but I’ve had them live to 4 and my father’s to 6.

The fun thing with these guys is there are so many different kinds.

There are even more than are listed here, but these are the main ones you’ll find.

Celadon quail

The Celadon Quail are a breed of coturnix that lay beautiful blue eggs. They can be any of the normal types of coturnix, as long as they carry the blue egg gene, but they often come out with their own silver hue.

I keep mine with my normal coturnix.

JUMBO QUAIL

Also a type of coturnix, the jumbos are extra large. They are brown like the normal kind, but there are also the white Texas A&M quail.

They can be kept with other coturnix, and give more meat and bigger eggs.

Northern Bobwhite

Bobwhite quail are usually somewhere around $2 a piece. They usually live about 5 years if well cared for.

They are somewhat docile but if a unknown person tries to mess with them they may hurt themselves in their panic.

These are the easiest to keep new world quail (IE California, Gamble’s, scaled, mountain, and Bobwhites) and if you want such a type these are your best bet.

They, like coturnix, come in many colors, including Tennessee Red, Snowflake, and Mexican Speckled.

King Quail

King quail, also known somewhat incorrectly as button quail, are the smallest type of true quail, and thus the smallest game bird. They are good layers, but way to small for meat. Plus their eggs are really small.

They are the least docile of quail but in my experience are the hardiest. They must be kept inside in the winter and must be kept with shade in summer. Here is how small they are compared to a white coturnix:

Though they get along fine, the buttons shouldn’t be kept with other quail as they have very different environments and coturnix are too stinky to be inside like king quail.

So if you are willing to take good care of these then go for it, but they are much harder than normal quail.

Their lifespan is 3-6 years but some folk have had them up to 13.

Sometimes they will sit their eggs.

The main downside here is that they are normally about $10 per bird.

(I got mine for only two dollars from this person who didn’t seem to know what they’re worth!)

More on the care of these little guys here.

California Quail

The California Quail are usually about $60 per pair. Like any other bird though you may be able to get some on a discount. They are not very docile but also can be tamed with hard enough work at it.

They usually live for 5 or so years.

Gambel’s Quail

Usually $90 a pair. Much like the California.

Scaled Quail

Scaled quail are very expensive the cheapest I’ve ever seen them is $90 a pair.

The scaled quail are more exotic, like special pheasants and are bred to certain colors to look cooler.

The most common breed is the blue scaled quail. They are their natural wild form.

The scaled quail do live longer than other quail species usually 5-7 years if well cared for. They are not very docile and are, like king quail, pretty much look-at-me-only birds.

Mountain Quail

These are the coolest quail ever! To bad they’re about $275 per adult pair but…

If you want to try some eggs you may be able to get six or seven for only $100. Their lifespan is about 3-4 years but if you get a hold of two you may get to keep some for multiple quail generations.

The downside is that they are hardest to raise because there moms and dads normally feed them in the wild. So you have to teach them to eat.

Elegant Quail

Very much like fancy scaled quail. Usually $350 a pair.

Montezuma Quail

These are epic quail but they are generally around $450 a pair! They have a lifespan of about seven years.

They are fairly docile and their only real downside is that a flock will absolutely bankrupt you. But if you manage to get them discounted you are truly lucky.

They are very amazing and highly endangered. Having them may help them to stay extant.

Banded (Or Barred) Quail

Well, there’s more. As of the last time I saw them for sale (2019) they were $1,600 a pair.

Crested Bobwhite

Not cold hardy. Very hard to find for sale. I’ve only once seen them available (in 2013).

Conclusion

If you are looking for a fun colorful house pet, then go with the Button Quail.

If you are looking for a good meat bird that is easy to raise, cheap to buy, and fast growing, pick the Coturnix Quail or Bobwhite.

If you are interested in keeping Quail for the eating eggs, Coturnix or Bobwhite is the bird for you.

If your interest is in the more exotic Quail for their beauty and have a lot of cash, you can’t beat the California, Montezuma, or Mountain Quail. Providing you’ve dealt with quail before. These aren’t for beginners.

Enjoy your quail! More on their care is here.

This post is going to be different than my normal ones, as the animals we’ll discuss are very different. This will be a three part series going through the basics of beekeeping. In this first part we’ll discuss making the hive.

The Brood and Honey Boxes

There are three main boxes. The brooding box, for the queen and larva the live in, the other two which are smaller and called ‘supers’ are above the queen excluder which means no eggs will be laid there which means you can harvest from there without killing future worker bees.

Generally, when you buy a hive, you will have to assemble it. Each box comes with each side separate.

You must wood glue and nail them together.

The wood glue goes in those low places. The nails then go through the pointing out parts, obviously going into the dips.

Repeat this for all three boxes (remember the second two are smaller than the first).

Frames

The frames are what your bees will make their honey on. You want to make sure you make them well.

Often you can get these already assembled though.

You must assemble the frames with mostly wood glue and a few very thin nails.

The frames come in five parts each. A top board, bottom board, two side boards and a foundation made of plastic or wax. I would always recommend wax.

Sometimes, people leave there frames without wax, but I highly recommend against it.

First you put together the four boards.

The top board (the thickest and longest one on top in the picture) will probably have a small piece you have to take of. Once you get your frame parts you’ll know what I mean.

Make sure your four boards are at perfect right angles. The wide opening of the side boards should go on the top board and the smaller on the bottom one.

Make sure the side of the top board with the little thing taken off is pointing in wards, the bottom board side with the grove should also face inward.

Once you have done this you can place the wax with the little right angled wires stuck down at the bottom where the removable section was. The wires should be pointing away from the frame.

Precede to glue the small removable board back on where it came from.

Repeat this for all thirty frames. There are ten for each frame (the twenty last ones are shorter, being for the smaller boxes, the supers).

Now you should have three boxes and thirty frames

Finishing up the hive

Now you are done with all the nailing and gluing. You have to paint, for to avoid rot.

DO NOT PAINT THE INSIDE. THAT IS POTENTIALY POSIONING YOUR BEES.

The outside however needs painted.

I painted mine blue, others white. Some people give their bees murals. Such as Winnie the Poo paintings. I deeply admire those people. I just did bees.

You must stack your hive once it dries.

The bottom screened board on bottom, then the brooder box, then the first lid (the thing with the hole in the middle) then the second lid (the one made half out of metal.

The Hive Stand

You need some thing stable and level to put the hive on.

Some people do an old table, others a chair skeleton. Sometimes it’s a bench. Often its four cement blocks.

Point being, any thing works as long as you can set a hive on it, without it being wobbly. Try standing on it. If it holds a full grown adult, it’ll hold your bees.

Tools

Finally, every beekeeper needs their tools.

A bee suit, smoker, hive tool, sugar water feeder and bee brush are all very necessary.

I hope this is helpful! Good Luck with your bees!

Coming Next: A Beekeeper’s Guide Part Two: Starting the Bees

First of all, these aren’t pigs. Second, yes I have them but I don’t keep them outside in my farm, however they can make a good addition. After all, inside, they’re loud and chew everything to shreds!

Water

A rabbit water bottle works best.

Food

Rabbit pellets work, that’s what I do because I have a lot of rabbits. They do sell special guinea pig food, though.

Supplements

Alfalfa, apples and pears are important.

Housing

Here’s a problem with housing Guineas totally outside the temperature range for guineas is 59 F (15 C) through 86 F (30 C). Guinea pigs are very prone to heat strokes. They are also prone to freezing. Thus outside, heating is necessary in winter, unless you live somewhere very warm, and lots of shade in summer. Hence I have deducted that the best place for guineas is in your garage in winter and outside in summer. Inside they are very loud.

Males can live together if there are no females in ear-range and the females can be housed together even if there is a male nearby. Hey, don’t use cedar shavings, by the way, they are toxic to guinea pigs. I suggest aspen.

Breeding

Guinea pig breeding isn’t very fun. We rescued a guinea pig once who turned out to be pregnant but died two weeks after giving birth. Many die in child birth.

However, this is often because they don’t get proper supplements or the owner did not obey the rules of breeding guinea pigs.

Rule 1: Do not keep the male in the cage after 16 days (the end of a heat cycle). As soon as a guinea pig gives birth she is able but not ready to get pregnant again. This could kill her if her body works to hard.

Rule 2: Babies should be separated at eight weeks just in case some are male and some are female.

Rule 3: Females need to be a year old to breed. Not any younger, but also not much older for the first breeding, because their bones will fuse as they get older, unless they give birth at least once.

Rule 4: Guinea pigs have a long 59-72 day pregnancy, during this time the mother MUST be kept in tip-top condition.

Rule 5: Don’t breed a boar until he’s 6 months old.

Rule 6: If the mother never gets pregnant you may try again only after 90 days after the boar left her cage to make sure.

Rule 7: Usually it will be obvious whether the sow is pregnant—she will look rather plump as though she’s carrying a grapefruit inside her. However, if it is a small litter it can be hard to tell. If she usually lives with another female guinea pig you could put her back in with her friend. Other females are usually happy to be ‘aunty’ to the babies.

Rule 8: The sow won’t make any sort of a nest for her babies so it is worth making sure there is plenty of comfortable, clean bedding for the pregnant sow and her up coming babies..

Rule 9: The baby guinea pigs will start to sample solid food from about 2 weeks old but they will continue to suckle from the sow for another 2 or 3 weeks. At this age you should be handling the babies regularly so that they are used to human contact thus better as adults.

Rule 10: If you plan to sell the babies it is worth separating the females from their mother too at 6 weeks old and keep them for a further 2 weeks so that you know they are properly weaned from their mother and doing well before they go to their new homes at 8 weeks old.

Here are some of my family’s piglets:

Compatibility

Rabbits. Rabbits can sometimes be better friends to guinea pigs than other guinea pigs.

This is really the best combo. Guinea Pigs often get along swell with mellow rabbits. Female rabbits can be a bit bossy though. In fact so can female guinea pigs. My sister’s old guinea pig used to always push around the rabbit doe that lived with her, the rabbit however never really cared. Even when the guinea pig groomed her, which never really made her look better. Introduce them at a time when you are at home a lot so you can watch them. Like thanksgiving weekend.

And these are my own pets:

Although I haven’t tried it, I hear that guineas do good at the bottom of a large aviary, with budgies, finches, or doves.

Chickens are great to be with guinea pigs, just like with rabbits.

If you want it ultimate you can even try all three!

And if you’re lucky…

I hope this page has been helpful! Maybe you can get yourself some little guineas and have them housed with your capybara! I mean if you have one…

Pigs are great and the reason I write about them is because of their little space requirements. They can easily be in your small farm.

Water

A pig’s water is not too hard. A bucket’s fine but it’s better to have a pool that they can climb into.

Food

Don’t let your pig get fat! Don’t let your pig get fat! Don’t let your pig get fat!

Okay, sorry. But it’s very important that your pig does not get fat. This is what many pigs are. Make sure you can see his/her eyes and her belly is not dragging or really coming close to that. My pig once didn’t pass either of these tests, before I got her. At her old home, she was kept on a diet of cheese puffs. This is not a desirable diet. A pig should be fed on scraps like vegetables, fruit, and milk. Bread is not good if it is already fat. Hay is important to be available at all times. As well as 4 cups of pig food is a day. If it is already fat, sometimes I’d only feed hay and 2 cups.

Supplements

Vegetables and melon rinds are very healthy for them.

Housing

You only really need 30 square feet for pigs but I give my pig about 200 square feet. It is good to give them shelter too. You can keep them as inside pets but I would not suggest that as they would need a litter box that would-well- get full and stinky very quickly. I’d stick with mini pigs for that.

They often are kept in female pairs. Males are not very good pets if not fixed and also will hurt other boys.

Two females can also be dangerous if introduced when old but if they are raised together it can be very helpful. (In the wild they are herd animals with a boar per herd, beside maybe some young ones who haven’t left yet, and he would have a lot of sows). Make sure the two pigs are roughly the same size and neither are naturally aggressive. My pig is rather aggressive due to a bad past and would not be good with another sow until completely tamed.

Breeding pigs

Every one loves piglets but…

are they for you?

Some things you need to know before breeding pigs.

1. Pigs don’t like you to mess with them if they have babies, and a pig that isn’t a miniature is probably stronger than you, too. Believe me, it is not fun to have a hundred and fifty pounds of muscly pig running at you and almost banging you against a fence.
2. Following that, don’t yell at a pig. It will make it more angry and it really could kill you.
3. A boar is more aggressive than a sow. When you are breeding pigs and borrowing a boar, you are in for a very hard task.

Now, don’t get me wrong, some boars really are nice but those were most likely raised from the time they were piglets. Those kinds are usually neutered. Sometimes, you are lucky enough to find a sweet unfixed boar but generally, you’re in for a problem.

Now I’m not telling you to never breed pigs, but I am telling what it’s like you have to be careful.

Compatibility

Pigs really are best by themselves.

Not with any other animals. Goats can do well with them but in my experience they’re more comfortable by themselves.

However, I did keep chickens with Estella for a while and they loved her a lot and would roost on her back at night.

PS: If you take good care of your pig, she will look somewhat like this:

Got questions, comments, or concerns? Comment below or visit the forum section!

Ducks are great, friendly poultry. They’re pretty easy to care for so I’ll go ahead and tell you about their basic needs.

Water

Ducks have different water situations than all the animals I’ve yet wrote about. A duck needs a pool. Now the pool simply only needs to be a kiddy pool, but you should get a larger pool/a pond for 15+ ducks. If you keep the pool clean then they don’t need another water source. I like to have a clean kiddy pool and a “slurry pit” which is a hole dug in the ground and you dump the kiddy pool water into it when it’s dirty. (They like that a lot).

Food

Ducks can eat scraps and scratch feed. Young ducks 8 weeks & younger can eat meat bird starter, even if you don’t eat them, mixed with scratch feed.

Supplements

Chick grit until eight weeks. After that it doesn’t matter. (If they start having throw up problems/won’t come to you during feeding time then give them a hand full of poultry grit).

Housing

Ducks are good for being in a mixed flock. They need at least 10 square feet each.

Breeding

I like to let my ducks take care of it themselves. However, some people say that species such as Rouen ducks will crush their eggs, but my Rouen mother’s a great mom.

If you choose to incubate the eggs then it need to be at a humidity of 55 % and at a temperature of 99.5 degrees Fahrenheit (37.5 centigrade).

Compatibility

Ducks can live with chickens (Proper space being provided about 20 square feet per animal but I just keep them in different pens but sometimes let the chickens out with the ducks for a little). They can also live with geese, who faithfully protect their duck friends, pigeons, and Guinee hens. Pheasants, turkeys, and Quail will get diseases from them. They may or may not eat doves.