Schrodinger's Ducklings

[flick]

ZuZu is still faithfully brooding her clutch, and doesn't seem to have thrown any of them out of the nest, so I've taken a leap of faith and ordered duckling feed* and a puppy pen today.

* Hmmm. Wonder how much ducklings eat? All these websites are rubbish, they just say 'ad lib', 20kg sounds like a huge amount for just the first three weeks of their life, should I just buy 5kg on eBay? Ah, this thread looks good: "We are getting 4 runner ducklings [...] on the advice of the guy working there, we ended up with a fifty pound bag [...] seems excessive for four ducklings"...
- They eat like crazy
- They eat a lot! And produce 100 X the amount of food they eat in poo.
- Ducklings eat their weight every day. Iam pretty sure.
- we bought one 50 lb bag of duck feed when we got our four ducklings (two pekin, two mallards) six weeks ago. I just finished off the end of the bag this morning.

Ok, 20kg bag ordered.

Comments

[oreouk]

Fingers crossed!

[coth]

Good luck to ZuZu and you.

While I'm here, remember I took bags of GB manure away last August? How long does it need to stay in its bags before I can spread them on my garden beds?

[flick]

I'd check with John B on the manure, but 'when it looks right'! Does it look/smell like manure still, or is it more crumbly and composty?

[coth]

Thanks. I'll check both with the manure and with John. Cheers.

[vicarage]

I spread mine a month ago. I think 7-8 months is long enough, even though the cautious say a year. Mine was fully crumbly, yours may have weathered less in a heap.

20kg! Blimey. Its like Mum asking for some orchid compost. I think she wanted a cup-full, and all I could come back with was 5l, enough to see her out!

[bibliofile]

Aw, ducklings. Bless their fuzzy little hearts.