Ancona ducklings

[86121]

Ok, thought I should share here since this is the duck page,








There my husbands project, and oh my god are they ADORABLE!!! Sadly I screwed up the humidity the first week of incubation so we lost half of the eggs Only 4 out of 14 hatched, but at least they made it. And I also know better for next time should we hatch ducklings again.
But, they are so adorable!! They just finished hatching today! A week late! Little buggers
Any clue how to tell gender on them?

 

[DaisyMeadow]

I'm getting some fertile Ancona eggs next month. Don't know anything about the breed, though. Anything I should know before trying to hatch them? Are they meat or egg ducks? Yours are super cute. Thanks for sharing!

 

[86121]

I'm getting some fertile Ancona eggs next month. Don't know anything about the breed, though. Anything I should know before trying to hatch them? Are they meat or egg ducks? Yours are super cute. Thanks for sharing!

What I got from my research on them is that they are duel purpose, but highly efficient foragers. Be diligent with your humidity! They will die if you aren't. http://www.barnofangels.com/Ancona_Ducks.htm this site has some good tips on incubating Anconas. They are so far very personable. Quite, and huge little things compared to there egg shell.
They hatched very quickly, but if yours aren't hatching on day 28, leave them and wait. I'm sure mine were late due to the humidity screw up, but just in case I mentioned it.
Good luck with your hatching!

 

[learycow]

Anconas are great for eggs and for meat. There are many breeders out there so find ones that breed for traits that best suit your needs (eggs, meat, foraging, egg color, disposition, etc).
They are a very calm breed as far as I have found. I breed for size (so the drakes make great meat ducks), egg laying (lots of eggs), disposition (calm, friendly), and foraging ability. I am working on a few of these traits to make them stronger in my flock, but on the side also breed for color with spotting and egg color (not as important at this point in time in my breeding program).
You would be best off to invest in a hydrometer to keep track of the humidity vs guessing. You don't want too much because it will drown them, but you don't want too little as it will cause them to stick and have a difficult time hatching