We made some improvements earlier in the week on our PVC rabbit tractors. The wooden tops we made before were great in the summer, but by fall they’d started to deteriorate in the rain. Paint might have helped with that, but we never got around to it. Those that survived the fall mostly didn’t survive the wet, rainy winter. So we will be replacing them all with corrugated roofing panels. However, the panels are bendy and we needed some way to keep the roofs from collapsing inward, without making them so heavy that I couldn’t move them by myself.
The husband used some more PVC pipes to stiffen the panel. He attached them to the panel with Tek screws. Then he unziptied the wire along one side and added three T’s to the top pipe that were a 1/2 inch larger and used those to act as hinges for the roof and to connect those 3 pipes to the tractor. Then we ziptied the wire back to the top pipe.
The front edge of the pipes rest on the top edge of the tractor pipe.
It is a much sturdier roof. The panels will collect rain water, but the roof is strong enough with the pipes not to bend under that weight now. I am very happy with the improved result.
Today is day 3 for the ducklings on the Super B Vitamin Complex regimen and I still have not seen any seizures from Special Pekin. She still doesn’t go for the greens like the other ducks, but she eats the crumbles and drinks the water just fine. I wonder if she doesn’t see the greens or if the feeding frenzy is something she just wants to hold back from. Since seizures can cause brain damage I wonder if she might have lost some of her vision? I don’t know. She sure seems to run when a hand reaches for her, though.
She looks healthy, though, and she protests when picked up. She’s smaller like one of the other Pekins.
Here you can see the size differences and why I think they might not all be the same age after all. I wish I knew if drakes grew faster than hens. I can’t seem to find any information on that either way. I am definitely hearing some quacks starting up, so I know I have some females, I just don’t know which breed they are. Why is it so hard to be patient? I did see some 7 week old Welsh Harlequins on youtube and it was pretty obvious from their coloration which were males and which were females, so I may not have to wait the whole 2 months before I know.
They are starting to triple their poop output since starting the crumbles. I have to scoop the poop out twice a day now. They still don’t stink nearly as bad as the meat chickens though. I am filling their feed trough 3 times a day. I may need to add a second feed trough soon. I will pick one up when I get the feeder for the turkeys and the game bird starter.
All the rabbit kits are doing well. Everyone had nice fat tummies and both mothers are eating and drinking like there is no tomorrow.
When Did This Become a Farm? 
I would be inclined to say the ducklings aren’t the same age……male or female – our Pekins are the same size. Aside from the curl to the tail for the males, the females all end up with blue beaks as they get older.
I thought so. How soon does the beak start turning color? Special Pekin has a spot on her beak that seems to be darkening from the pink color and getting a little bigger.
If I think on it – by the time they’re of breeding age – but when exactly – I’ve never paid that much attention. Pekins are quite prolific egg layers by the way (in case you get attached to special and she turns out to be a female)
I would be suspecting the chick starter had some role in her issue – I think it’s just not adequate for waterfowl. We always go with wild game bird starter.
I’m glad she seems to be doing better. We had one of our Dewlap Toulouse geese come down with an odd issue as a gosling. He appeared to be drunk – staggered around, even while standing would wobble back and forth. Oddly enough he got through it and learned to keep his balance by keeping one wing folded high up over the other and his tail feathers twisted off to one side. We named him Bourban 😊. He’s nine now.
I’m getting game bird starter for the turkeys. I’m not going to mess with the chick starter again for non-chickens. Fortunately they make an organic turkey grower at Scratch and Peck that I can switch the turkeys to at 3 weeks old.
I hadn’t thought to do a pvc tractor. That’s a great idea. Seems uncomplicated enough to do myself. (I don’t intend to ask my husband to do any of our rabbit things since he’s at work all day.)
Those ducks are the cutest. Are they for meat or eggs?
I did up a real simple tutorial on how we made the rabbit tractors. It is here: https://whendidthisbecomeafarm.wordpress.com/2013/06/19/building-a-rabbit-tractor-out-of-pvc-pipe/ They are very simple to make and they work well. The most time-consuming part is the zip ties.
The Pekins are for meat and the Welsh Harlequins are for eggs and slug patrol, assuming any of them are female. WH can lay between 260 and 300 eggs per year. If my ratio of WH males is too high some of them will be meat birds, too.
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