Bryan Gold

Waterfowl - ducks and geese mainly can destroy clear water instantly. Muddy beasts! They use it a ton to wash their beaks out.

There is a distinction between clean and clear however. Both can harbor microbes and none shall know. Water can still be clean, even when its muddy. It all depends on how long its sitting there. Stagnant water breeds nasties. But as long as itnis changed daily, you should be fine.

It is going way too far to say that drinkable for a critter is drinkable for a human. We are far more delicate than they are. They can drink runoff, or stream water no problem. We cant though. The clearest stream water can harbor giardia or lead or other metals. That would murder a human. But a critter? Nah. Not so much. Our well has to be filtered for the trace amounts of lead in it. That could affect our kids. But our ducks? They dont mind.

Of course the other half of this is that the animals will drink runoff all on their own. So I think the reality depends on the animal, the general health of the animal, and the goal with raising them.

For instance the goal with our ducks is to have them forage as much as possible all day long. As a result they get more “wild water”.

So perhaps the question comes down to do they have enough, is it kept topped off, especially on hot days, is it refilled daily at least, and is there a cleaning schedule. I think proof of this is more about thinking through the whole process and having a written plan more than proof in pictures. Whats the schedule and plan, vs snapping a pic right after its filled

I totally hear you about time!

As far as I know the only turtles that might bother a duck are large snappers. Smaller turtles like red eared sliders or something that side shouldn't bother them.

The grass will certainly help! Might not be perfect, but should be great!

Hi John,

Congrats on your farm animal acquisitions! Ducks are great. They are way more low maintence than other farm beasts. Ducks love the water so its great you have that pond. As they are farm ducks and not wild ducks they probably wont fly. Most tractor supply ducks are khaki cambell which were bred to lay eggs. For most of the year a duck will lay 5 out of 7 days and they will molt for a few months. Ducks lay eggs generally before 9 am.

I recommend creating a predator proof pen for night time sleeping. It might take them a few days to get the routine down to go in the pen, but they will figure it out - especially if you offer food. Most of the ducks we have ever lost have been to predators in the night. As these ducks are typically heavier than wild ducks they have trouble escaping predators. Thus the term sitting duck.

Aside from predator proofing, they need clean water all day long to wash their bills. If you find you arent getting many eggs, try increasing the feed. It takes energy to make eggs - no energy no eggs. During the summer they will need far less than in the winter.

Ducks develop habits and like to have a routine. After a few days of the same thing they will get used to it and do whatever it is as a group.

Ducks are omnivores and eat almost anything. They get our kitchen scraps as well as leaving all garden cuttings for them. Chicken feed works just fine. Sunflower seeds. They love bugs. Great foragers!

Hope all that helps!

Khaki campbell ducks are naturally skittish and may never be friendly. They will probably always keep their distance. There are other breeds that are less skittish and those are the ones you see people holding or hand feeding.

The good news is that if you stick to a similar routine each day, they will adapt to your routine after a few days. What we found that helps is to have a consistent voice call when you feed them or move them. Something as simple as her duck duck duck! Use it a bunch and they will recognize that they get fed after that call and typically come running. It might take a week before they adapt.

Once your drake is mature enough, which should happen about the same time as the females start laying - pretty much all the eggs are fertilized. Especially with your tiny flock. The sperm can live in the female for about a week making all eggs fertilized during that week. So even if they only mate sporadically all the eggs should be fertilized.

Cheers!
Bryan

paul wheaton wrote:I estimate that we pre-sold 21,695 books.  

That is one crazy amount of books

r ranson wrote:the world needs this book.

Thank you everyone who made this possible.

Thank you Paul, for the idea!
Thank you Shawn, for making it happen!
Thank you Tracy, for making beautiful pictures and graphics stuff behind the scenes!
Thank you Loved ones of Paul, Shawn, and Tracy for supporting them through this emotional time.  You don't know what a Fuck Tonne of work looks like until you do a Kickstarter.  This was phenomenal!
Thank you Secret Volunteers for doing the top secret, behind the scenes stuff that no one notices because you did an amazing job getting it right!
Thank you, everyone, who contributed to the rewards!  F'in awesome stuff!
Thank you Permies Staff for offering support and keeping permies running smoothly!
Thank you to the permies community for spreading the word!
Thank you everyone who spread the word!
Thank you to everyone and anyone else I forgot to put on this list!

Thank you to everyone who pledged and made this project possible!

Fabulously said Raven!

paul wheaton wrote:I remember when we did loads of spreadsheets early on ---   I have a vague memory that if we hit $150k i might be able to get a well at the lab.   I won't know if that's true for quite a while.

Lets hope so! Hydration at the domination station!

paul wheaton wrote:

Bryan C Aldeghi wrote:Also, I know there are a ton of logistical things to figure out when all this is complete. Let me know if you need an extra hand

Are you thinking of coming out here for the book signing party?

If the plane tickets make financial sense for the date of the party, sign me up! But it all comes down to the finances I’m afraid.

paul wheaton wrote:

Bryan C Aldeghi wrote:

paul wheaton wrote:I think now is the time to explain the deal with Jacob's book.  

We spent a lot of time talking about this and trying to come up with something that would work for us and work for jacob.  In the end, this is what we came up with:

The top 100 USA backers will get a copy of Jacob's book.  

I think that what we will do is ask in the survey "are you in the USA and wish to have ERE?"  And then select out the top 100 backers (in dollars to the kickstarter).

It might be strategically wise for people to add a penny or two to their backer amount?

I am very excited about his book - any way to find out what my ranking is?

Jacob's book is a very good book!

Well, if you take a look at the rewards on the kickstarter page, it does talk a bit about how many people are backing at each level.

True. Who is ahead of me in higher categories, just not in the same category. It was worth a shot :)

Also, I know there are a ton of logistical things to figure out when all this is complete. Let me know if you need an extra hand

paul wheaton wrote:I think now is the time to explain the deal with Jacob's book.  

We spent a lot of time talking about this and trying to come up with something that would work for us and work for jacob.  In the end, this is what we came up with:

The top 100 USA backers will get a copy of Jacob's book.  

I think that what we will do is ask in the survey "are you in the USA and wish to have ERE?"  And then select out the top 100 backers (in dollars to the kickstarter).

It might be strategically wise for people to add a penny or two to their backer amount?

I am very excited about his book - any way to find out what my ranking is?