Wow. I knew my drake (Saxony, 15 months old) was aggressive - but he's waaaaaay beyond the aggressive described here.
JJ started biting at my hands while we would be weeding when he started getting his adult plumage and it's just increased from there. Both he and his mate (Jenny) were...
We have four eggs in the incubator due to hatch in a week. Oddly enough our female (who is the biological mother) got broody yesterday. When the ducklings hatch can I just slip them underneath her? Or will she not recognize them - she's never been a mother before.
Since my two males were killed my single female has gotten a lot more attention (and wants and needs a lot more). I was inspired by all the cool photos of people holding their ducks - especially the pictures of Nettie's duck Victor on her back. So I tried it with Joey a few times. She didn't...
No more eggs - this is an incubation we're doing because our two boys were killed three weeks ago. So we incubated the eggs our female kept laying after they died - and four have inhabitants! Since the offspring will be her own children....I'm not sure how great the genetic line would be from...
We have four Saxony eggs incubating that will hopefully hatch 2/25. So far they're developing really well - hilariously active when we candle them. Last time I incubated four we ended up with three (one died three days before the hatch) so I have no idea how many will survive. But since we only...
Hi,
We have 4 saxony eggs that keep going right along with an anticipated hatch date of 2/25. Since last time we hatched three and ended up with two males and one female I was hoping to find out early (before I was hopelessly attached to them all) the genders right after hatching. There are...
Thank you! We're excited but trying to stay relaxed. In the hatch they came from we started with four and one died three days before the hatch....
Joey lays beige-y grey eggs. I guess off white would be the clearest description. I'll try to take a picture of them.
And the boys were much more...
This is a horrible, horrible thing that will hopefully turn into something good.
Here are Jimmy, Elvis and Joey (Joey is the female). We hatched them from eggs from a breeder in Michigan in 2008
Jimmy and Elvis were killed by predators on the 23rd - Joey was in a separate pen.
So we...
Hmmmm. We're going to wait a few days until we decide what to do. I agree that she needs someone and would be happier - but we just started 10 of her eggs in the incubator this morning. Six from before the boys died and four from after. So we'll know in a few days if any are fertile. If they...
Thanks rainplace - I thought I looked at all the Craigslist in CA.....we'll think about it. Right now she gets a bit lonely during the day but we spend time in the AM and again all evening. She's grooming herself in the floor next to me while I type!
Thank you for the advice. Joey is doing remarkably well. The hardest part of the day is when I let her out of her pen in the morning - the boys and she used to have a joyous, excited reunification with some bathing fun. Now she gets out and just makes this gut wrenching non-stop loud quack...
OK. I need suggestions about what to do. The situation is that my 20 month old female Saxony, Joey, is now single and grieving after her two male Saxony companions she was raised with were killed last week. We're trying to decide what to do.
The options we've thought of are
1) Try to incubate...
Thank you! I just took 12 of them (I had more than I thought) out of the fridge and marked them with x's and laid them in a box with a towel. I think the ones that have been in the fridge for weeks without being turned are probably not going to work. But she's still laying so the egg from...
We're trying to make the best of a just horrible situation. We had three Saxony ducks and the two males were killed by predators Thursday night. Now that we're starting to be able to think through the cloud of grief we're feeling for the loss of our really fabulous boys it just occurred to us...
Hi,
I'm looking for a large size female to even out my gender ratio. I have two eight pound Saxony males and a 5.5 pound Saxony female. We have managed to get through one year - but it was stressful with constant separation in different pens. So I want a female who is big enough to handle the...
Veronicasmom - you're right. I'm more than a little nervous. I'm on the edge of terrified all the time. I think I spend more time moving ducks into different enclosures or half listening for the warm up sounds of duck mating then I do getting my work done. My logic that gets me stuck is that I...
What's hilarious is that I think she didn't eat them until now because they actually taste better now then earlier in the season. Less mealy and more flavor. All the ducks completely ignored the tomatoes before and I thought they just weren't suited to the duck palate. But then my neighbor's...
It's hilarious because now she keeps checking the tomatoes every 10 minutes - I guess just in case something ripened while she wasn't looking.
And she taught the boys to hang out in the plants too. I guess social learning applies to ducks too!