➡I accidentally bought Balut eggs: 2 live ducks! Now a Chat Thread!

[CrazyCrttr75]

What breeds are you looking at?

I want to get some colorful egg layers. I keep looking on MeyerHatchery at what they offer. Ideally I wouldn't mind having an
Easter Egger https://www.meyerhatchery.com/productinfo.a5w?prodID=AMAS
I just want to squeeze those puffy beard and cheeks! Love it!
Olive Egger for green eggs, of which they are out
https://www.meyerhatchery.com/productinfo.a5w?prodID=OEGS
Cream Legbar https://www.meyerhatchery.com/productinfo.a5w?prodID=CRLS
and either a
Lakeshore Egger https://www.meyerhatchery.com/productinfo.a5w?prodID=LSES
or
Blue Ameraucana https://www.meyerhatchery.com/productinfo.a5w?prodID=BAMS

I want green egg layers and blue egg layers. So maybe some combination of those listed above. I want the bearded one just cause of the face lol.
Now on to ducks:
I would like to add 3 females to go with the 1 male and 2 females that we already have. Narrowing down what I want is difficult for me because I want so much. That just isn't practical. I like the look of a Magpie (which Ideal sells. Haven't seen it at the other sites I typically visit). We've thought about Muscovies. I wouldn't mind a Silver Appleyard or Buff.
Now on to Geese:
We want either 1 or 2. Super African or.... Embden maybe?

So many choices...I'll look and look and look until I make a final decision on what route we're going to go.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Have you tried Metzer Farms? They only sell waterfowl so they may have all the ducks and geese and then you could get chickens from Meyer? Or if you could find a local breeder that may be cheaper.

 

[littleprairieheartsfarm]

I want to get some colorful egg layers. I keep looking on MeyerHatchery at what they offer. Ideally I wouldn't mind having an
Easter Egger https://www.meyerhatchery.com/productinfo.a5w?prodID=AMAS
I just want to squeeze those puffy beard and cheeks! Love it!
Olive Egger for green eggs, of which they are out
https://www.meyerhatchery.com/productinfo.a5w?prodID=OEGS
Cream Legbar https://www.meyerhatchery.com/productinfo.a5w?prodID=CRLS
and either a
Lakeshore Egger https://www.meyerhatchery.com/productinfo.a5w?prodID=LSES
or
Blue Ameraucana https://www.meyerhatchery.com/productinfo.a5w?prodID=BAMS

I want green egg layers and blue egg layers. So maybe some combination of those listed above. I want the bearded one just cause of the face lol.
Now on to ducks:
I would like to add 3 females to go with the 1 male and 2 females that we already have. Narrowing down what I want is difficult for me because I want so much. That just isn't practical. I like the look of a Magpie (which Ideal sells. Haven't seen it at the other sites I typically visit). We've thought about Muscovies. I wouldn't mind a Silver Appleyard or Buff.
Now on to Geese:
We want either 1 or 2. Super African or.... Embden maybe?

So many choices...I'll look and look and look until I make a final decision on what route we're going to go.

I don’t have any experience with the True Ameraucana, Lakeshore or Olive eggers, but I have experience with everything else! I like my EEs (Ideal) and Legbars (Hoover) but they’re sooooo flighty. Even with the one that we held often as a chick. Our only laying one (EE) is laying a pale green egg. We have our other three pullets growing up so I’ll have to keep you posted on their egg colors.

I like our two Black Swedish ducklings we have but they’re really skittish too. That’s partially our fault though since we didn’t bond with them like we did our Cayugas...it’s definitely made them quieter though! The two breeds you mentioned I haven’t dealt with but I love the look of Silver Appleyards, and they might integrate into your flock better since the coloration isn’t as much as a stark difference from your Mallard/Rouens to Black-colored birds.

Okay! Now onto geese. We have one gosling that we got with the ducklings (9 weeks old), and oh man he’s so much fun! He’s a white Chinese. One thing I’ll mention is that he THINKS he’s a duck, and he’s loves his ducks. So definitely raise your goose(s) (I recommend two, my dad only allowed us to get one but he’s realized that the gosling is ignored by everyone) We’ve been slightly looking for a Sebastopol or Embden goose since we think he’s a gander but for now he’s content with his ducks. He’s not loud currently but he’s still young. I’ve never dealt with (or even heard of lol) Super Africans so I can’t help you there!

 

[ShrekDawg]

That house has a lot that I like and some stuff that I'd want to change/update. It has a lot of potential for the right person. Is pretty! I love all of the land. If we ever move from where we live right now, we'd want 10 acre, with a creek and/or small pond, minimum. We have a little over 4 acre now, plus the little over 4 acre of my F-I-L who lives right next to us (we share a driveway he is that close). So I might as well say we have almost 9 acre, we just can't use all of it like we'd want to. Where we live is just complicated. I'd love to move. It's just not feasible right now.

Agreed! Although I like most of it, character and all, lol but there is definitely some stuff I would change. I think I want at least 10 acres. Or 5. But I want a lot of land lol we have almost 2 1/2 right now (though I always thought we had closer to 3) and it’s big and all and the yard is hugeee even though a lot of it is woods but I want to have goats, chickens, and possibly horses or ducks. Although now I am not so sure on the goats, they can be annoying lol maybe sheep. And rabbits. Idk. Point being, I want a lot of animals and a lot of vegetable gardens and I want to be able to have the room for all of that without it feeling crowded or looking messy or whatever, so the more space the better lol but in addition to that, I think I would also just like having woods to hike in or ride horses in or dog sled/skijor in and stuff like that lol and of course the privacy.

 

[CrazyCrttr75]

Have you tried Metzer Farms? They only sell waterfowl so they may have all the ducks and geese and then you could get chickens from Meyer? Or if you could find a local breeder that may be cheaper.

Honestly, I just forgot about Metzer so I haven't checked them out recently. I'll do that. Thank you for the reminder.

 

[CrazyCrttr75]

I don’t have any experience with the True Ameraucana, Lakeshore or Olive eggers, but I have experience with everything else! I like my EEs (Ideal) and Legbars (Hoover) but they’re sooooo flighty. Even with the one that we held often as a chick. Our only laying one (EE) is laying a pale green egg. We have our other three pullets growing up so I’ll have to keep you posted on their egg colors.

I like our two Black Swedish ducklings we have but they’re really skittish too. That’s partially our fault though since we didn’t bond with them like we did our Cayugas...it’s definitely made them quieter though! The two breeds you mentioned I haven’t dealt with but I love the look of Silver Appleyards, and they might integrate into your flock better since the coloration isn’t as much as a stark difference from your Mallard/Rouens to Black-colored birds.

Okay! Now onto geese. We have one gosling that we got with the ducklings (9 weeks old), and oh man he’s so much fun! He’s a white Chinese. One thing I’ll mention is that he THINKS he’s a duck, and he’s loves his ducks. So definitely raise your goose(s) (I recommend two, my dad only allowed us to get one but he’s realized that the gosling is ignored by everyone) We’ve been slightly looking for a Sebastopol or Embden goose since we think he’s a gander but for now he’s content with his ducks. He’s not loud currently but he’s still young. I’ve never dealt with (or even heard of lol) Super Africans so I can’t help you there!

I love the look of Silver Appleyards as well. I also like the fact that they're a heavy non-flying breed. The fact that we have a Mallard was a surprise. I thought that I was picking out 3 Rouen. It was only when we wasn't growing like the other 2 and started to take quick short flights that I started to get suspicious. She will take a quick flight around the pens but that's it. She stays close to her buddies and her pool. The chickens have pretty much completely accepted her being in "their" area because she flies over on their side so much. But she always goes back to the others after a bit. Sebastopol Geese are so beautiful! Those curls of ribbony feathers are just gorgeous! We want a goose/geese as guards tho. Super African Geese are just like Brown African, sometimes just called African Geese except they are a little bigger, have a dewlap and don't have the knob on their head. At least that I can see. They are a noisier bird. From what I have read, African Geese help deter hawks or alert when hawks are around and I also read that having Geese help deter snakes. So that's awesome as well. I thought about 2 females.

 

[littleprairieheartsfarm]

I love the look of Silver Appleyards as well. I also like the fact that they're a heavy non-flying breed. The fact that we have a Mallard was a surprise. I thought that I was picking out 3 Rouen. It was only when we wasn't growing like the other 2 and started to take quick short flights that I started to get suspicious. She will take a quick flight around the pens but that's it. She stays close to her buddies and her pool. The chickens have pretty much completely accepted her being in "their" area because she flies over on their side so much. But she always goes back to the others after a bit. Sebastopol Geese are so beautiful! Those curls of ribbony feathers are just gorgeous! We want a goose/geese as guards tho. Super African Geese are just like Brown African, sometimes just called African Geese except they are a little bigger, have a dewlap and don't have the knob on their head. At least that I can see. They are a noisier bird. From what I have read, African Geese help deter hawks or alert when hawks are around and I also read that having Geese help deter snakes. So that's awesome as well. I thought about 2 females.

I would go with the Appleyards. They aren’t too common either it seems whenever I see people selling ducks.

Our Chinese gosling is our supposed to be guard goose (once he matures) as well since the hawks and owls have been non-stop. I’m hoping his noise level will stay low and only be loud when danger is near.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Honestly, I just forgot about Metzer so I haven't checked them out recently. I'll do that. Thank you for the reminder.

No problem! And good luck! I hope you find all the breeds you want

 

[Tesumph]

Okay, last house I swear but I wish I could live here! Perfect amount of land (not too much or too little) and the house is so cute and full of character!

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/69-Bryant-Rd-Jaffrey-NH-03452/221734055_zpid/

I like this one.

 

[ShrekDawg]

I like this one.

Me too! It’s so cute!!