I second the Ancona ducks! I just added Anconas to our little homestead this year, and they are wonderful and GORGEOUS. I have also had Runners in the past - they were fun, but perhaps a little more high-strung than my other breeds. I also highly recommend Dutch Hookbills, they are awesome...
I have a Self-Black drake (purchased a few years ago from duckluck - I'm pretty sure my drake's daddy is her "Blackjack", his picture is the second post way back at the beginning of this thread) who is carrying a single (heterozygous) copy of a chocolate dilution over a Self-Chocolate hen and 3...
Unless they're mixed with Muscovy, duck eggs take 28 days (4 weeks) to hatch. Is there any way you could shoo your duck away from the eggs for a few minutes and candle them to see if they're developing and how far along they are? The original eggs that were in the nest when she started sitting...
Don't feel bad! Anytime you have birds that free-range, you're going to have these things happen and there's no way you can prepare for it. Last winter, I lost 2 ducks without a trace before I noticed a Bald Eagle hanging around!
I lost a whole flock of Dutch Hookbills and Khaki Campbells who...
I have a big free-range flock of both ducks and chickens. The problem I seem to have is NOT drakes and cockerels fighting, but that there is some inter-species mating going on. The cockerels will mount the ducks (AND the drakes) and rip the feathers out of their backs. It hasn't caused any...
I spray my ducks with the hose all the time, they love it! And it's never power-washed the feathers off their heads!
I agree with Amiga - could it be that there's something he's rubbing on? I've seen this in ducklings who rub their heads on their feeder or waterer while they're eating. It...
How many other ducks do you have? Could it be that he is being picked on, or that another more dominant drake is mounting him and ripping the feathers off of his head? In one of my Call pens, there is one hen (out of six) that is the drakes "favorite" and her head is half-bald right now. There...
Thank you! I have 3 years of hard work into breeding my own line of Magpies pretty much from scratch, and this is the first year I'm REALLY happy with the ducklings. I have a few more Blues like her but with closer to a Pied pattern than proper Magpie markings that I will take pics of in a few...
I have the opposite problem - my free-range roosters are constantly trying to mate with my free-range ducks (both male and female)! The drakes, on the other hand, have never shown any interest in the hens whatsoever.
This is Buckshot ("Bucky" for short). We got him this January at 4 months old when his previous owner couldn't keep him. He's a handful for sure! I couldn't handle him if we didn't have our other puppy (Husky/Border Collie) to play with him and wear him out!
I love this pen!
It's similar to the ones that I have for my Calls, but mine are 5 years old now and got beat up when we moved them all to our new house last year, so I need to start looking at building permanent replacements. I also love that you used reclaimed shipping/pallet materials...
I have one Mallard out with my free-range flock of Campbells, Magpies, and Dutch Hookbills. I don't clip his wings - he doesn't fly away because the rest of the flock doesn't fly and he would panic if he ever got separated from the rest of them! If you do need to clip them, DO NOT do it until...
Sure! This little Blue duckling is a week old - I have 2 more that just hatched today that look just like it:
And here's a group of some of the parents. I have Blue, Black, and Chocolate. I'm still working on getting nice, round type and short bills, but these are teeny-tiny! I have a...
I've been drooling over them for almost 5 years now, but I just FINALLY got my first Ancona ducklings last week! They were an impulse purchase - I found them on Craigslist about a 40 minute drive from me, and couldn't resist. There are 11 in the group - all Black and White, except for one...