A Question About Ducks - Broodiness?

[Dances with Ducks]

It happens sometimes, I guess we talked about leaving just one hen in with the ducklings. I like that idea because you don't have to worry about them fighting over the ducklings and also the drake has company. On the other hand once in a while one duck is a much better mother than another and how do will you know which one will be best? I guess you try to pick the one who looks like she has the best mothering instincts, that might be very clear in some cases.

 

[Daniel_2kaii9]

how old do the duckling's have 2 be before i can put a little thing in with them so thay can swim ?

 

[grandmaof5]

This thread has kept me enthralled from page one up to here; keep it coming Daniel. I'm anxious to see how your eggs come out.

 

[Daniel_2kaii9]

can u only get black swedish ducks in black or like grey or something?

 

[Dances with Ducks]

Quote:
Hi grandmaof5!

It's really fun to hear from a young person 1/3 of the way around the world who is really, really, interested in taking good care of his broody ducks and their soon-to-be duckings!

Daniel, I don't know a whole lot about Swedish but my book says they come in BLue,Black, Silver, and Splashed. I'm not even sure I know what some of those colors look like.

You can put a container of water in with them in the first week if you like, just watch them at first to know the mother is watching them. She should make sure they don't stay in so long that they get tired, and that when they get out they are warm enough. Of course the container needs to be set up so they can get out easily so watch to see they can do that too. I had a clear plastic sided container and it was so fun to see their little feet paddeling and to watch them dive!

You can see the shadow of the Momma duck standing there watching her ducklings.

 

[Daniel_2kaii9]

what do u think would make a better mother the black swedish or the pekin ?

 

[Duck Keeper]

Quote:
AHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. That's hilarious. Since Magpie (Fawn & White Indian Runner) sat on 8-9 eggs, and hatched out five ducklings this summer. Her being only a year old and stuff.

She lost SO much weight! I mean, runners are scrawny to begin with, but she was SKINNY! She's put more weight back on, but I feel bad for Maggie having to take care of five babies almost twice her size.

Plus I had to dust her for feather mites, since she had a couple chewing her light colored feathers off...

Now she's healthy and beating off the babies that hatched earlier this year trying to keep her's safe.

 

[Duck Keeper]

Quote:
Considering (as many other people have stated) Pekins hardly ever go broody, I would say Swedish.

 

[froggie71]

I don't know much about Pekins. 2 of our 4 Swedish were broody, but both gave up nest to my runners. Only 1 duckling hatched out and then Runners gave up nest. No good mommas in the bunch

 

[Soccer Mom]

Blue Swedish can and do go broody quite well. The colors are fascinating. Swedes come in Black, Blue and Splash/Silver.

If you breed blue to blue, you get 50% black, 25% blue and 25% Splash.


The reason is that blue is cause by a combination of genes and it doesn't breed true. They must occur in the right combination to produce the blue color. These genes are the black and dilute gene (the one that cause splash).

Black is produced by two black genes, represent these as BB.
Splash is produced by two of the dilute genes, represent these as blbl.
Blue is produced by one of the black genes and one of the dilute genes, Bbl.

So
Black (BB) crossed with Black (BB): 100% Black (BB)
Spash (blbl) crossed with Splash (blbl): 100% Splash (blbl)

Now here is where it gets fun:

Black (BB) crossed with Splash (blbl): 100% Blues! (Bbl)

Black (BB) crossed with Blue (Bbl): you get 50% Black (BB) and 50% (Bbl)

Splash (blbl) crossed with Blue(Bbl): you get 50% Splash(blbl) and 50% Blue (Bbl);

Did that help, Daniel or did I just make it sound waaaaaaay confusing?