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

[FortCluck]

That makes sense! I got mine for personality and egg laying abilities too, not only looks, but breeders are a good option too. I only went with hatcheries because they were sexed and also easier/faster to get than breeders. Plus cheaper. And the eggs I just wanted to try hatching. But now that I’ve hatched as well as gotten straight run, I could probably go to a breeder Since I wouldn’t mind straight run now but then again I got a lot of roosters with my hatch and that kind of put me off of straight run.

That’s awesome you got silver!! I want to try breeding my own chickens but I feel like that’s even more stupid than buying a few more so I probably won’t do that.

If I did, I’d want to keep them all, which I definitely don’t have the room for, so I don’t think I should.

Breeding is cheaper and wiser in my opinion. Depending on what you want though. If you just want mixes then it's cheaper and wiser. Doing breeding for purebreds can get expensive especially if you're going for breed standards. Lots of culling too.

 

[FortCluck]

Plus, I'm in Washington. Everything is absurdly expensive here.

Lol I think we are getting geese. Husband didn't say no and was asking if they're louder than the ducks. I told him no one could be louder than big mouth pickles.

 

[NanaKat]

All the feed stores have their chick calendars in!

I checked my usual one (never actually buy any but the one I usually go to) but then decided to check some others just for kicks and HOLY MOLY! Look how many different breeds this one has and how long their chick season is!

https://www.venturagraininc.com/poultry-small-animal-feed/
You have to scroll down past all the feeds to see the calendars.

They have sooooo many breeds.

This could be dangerous.

Thankfully it’s pretty far from me lol

This one has quite a few breeds too AND DUCKS. The other one has ducks too. Sooooo many in fact.

https://www.dodgegrain.biz/egg-laying-chickens
This is my usual one. They have some cool breeds this year too.

https://morrisonshomeandgarden.com/field-notes/chick-breeds-for-2020
There’s a few other feed stores around too but idk if they carry chicks or not. If so, they don’t have them on the website. And no idea what TSC will have or when they get them.

But I think I need to stay far, far away from the feed stores this year....

But it honestly might be worth cancelling my chick order and getting ducks instead.

Kidding of course. Sort of. Know you guys had talked me out of them but maybe I could buy chicks in person instead of ducks.

LOOK AT ALL THE BREEDS THEY HAVE

That Ventura one could be very dangerous.

None of the sites you showed have Columbian Wyandotte...

Muahahahahaaaaa...

I think folks who use ducks also use raised beds. As for geese, people do use them for weeding, but I’m not clear on the specifics. Geese are vegans like you, but maybe you train them by not giving them any veggies you want to grow in the garden (and not growing strawberries or other irresistibles.) I suspect they’re more useful in orchards or similar.

Ducks and geese prefer anything green and fresh... Was informed that 95% of their diet is grasses, greens, weeds.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Breeding is cheaper and wiser in my opinion. Depending on what you want though. If you just want mixes then it's cheaper and wiser. Doing breeding for purebreds can get expensive especially if you're going for breed standards. Lots of culling too.

Yeah, I wouldn’t do purebreds. I’d just breed my current birds so mixes.

But I’m just saying like everyone is saying it’s stupid for me to add more birds right now for all the reasons mentioned so I just think keeping a rooster and hatching a ton of chicks now is also stupid. Maybe more so than the order because the order is only 9 chicks and if I hatched, I’d be hatching like a bazillion and wanting to keep them all and I definitely don’t have the room haha plus the money.

It might technically be cheaper than ordering new chicks but it’s stupid if I’m going to be moving soon or trying to save or whatever is what I was saying.

Like if buying more chickens is stupid, then so is hatching more.

 

[R2elk]

Hahaha I love that geese are vegan. They're like me

Geese are not vegan. They happily eat insects and other non vegetable items.

 

[FortCluck]

Yeah, I wouldn’t do purebreds. I’d just breed my current birds so mixes.

But I’m just saying like everyone is saying it’s stupid for me to add more birds right now for all the reasons mentioned so I just think keeping a rooster and hatching a ton of chicks now is also stupid. Maybe more so than the order because the order is only 9 chicks and if I hatched, I’d be hatching like a bazillion and wanting to keep them all and I definitely don’t have the room haha plus the money.

It might technically be cheaper than ordering new chicks but it’s stupid if I’m going to be moving soon or trying to save or whatever is what I was saying.

Like if buying more chickens is stupid, then so is hatching more.

Why hatch a billion? You can limit the eggs you hatch. I have only 4 in the bator right now.

 

[CindyinSD]

The gal I got mine from is a friend, and she says that they are truly delicious, but they're so sweet that she has a hard time killing them.
If you're up for the task, sexing them is fast and easy. I sexed mine to make sure I got a pair.

I’ve read how to do it... maybe I’ll try. I’m always afraid I’ll hurt the wee fluffballs. But then I’ve only tried with chickens... not too successfully.

 

[ShrekDawg]

None of the sites you showed have Columbian Wyandotte...
View attachment 2021010
Muahahahahaaaaa...


Ducks and geese prefer anything green and fresh... Was informed that 95% of their diet is grasses, greens, weeds.

They’re pretty

 

[FortCluck]

Geese are not vegan. They happily eat insects and other non vegetable items.

Someone on here said they were so I was just repeating what they said

 

[NanaKat]

I'm leaving the hospital

Get that much needed rest after you hug those children!

But that might be years from now


Yeah I know. Realistically/logically I know this but that's no fun. Plus then I start thinking of a bunch of reasons why I can. Like how I’ll have an empty coop. How I probably won’t be moving till next year anyway, etc. but then I think about how much food my current ones go through, how much feed consumption jumped with all the new additions, and that annoys me haha they’re expensive enough. Plus I have to clean the coop way more often now. So that’s swaying me not to too.

But it’s just now I have this breed stuck in my head ever since everyone was talking about it and I really need one but I guess I waited like 8+ years before I ever even got my first chickens and then another 4 before I finally got some breeds I really wanted, so I guess I can wait a little while longer.

Glad to see you listing the pros and cons.