Ancona Ducks

[City farm]

...

She really likes her foot rubbed.

Very sweet! I've seen others say for a lone duck to put a stuffed animal in with them for comfort. At least until you get another. Just an idea if he/she doesn't have one in with it. I know as soon as one of mine isn't with the other two it's peeping louder and louder until it's back with the others! Especially the anconas! They peep way louder and more frantic then my Muscovy.[/


I thought we had a stuffed animal.. If we don't get a duck today we will be getting a little stuffed animal.. I was responding to your post by accident.. Just waking up from a busy,busy day...

 

[winteree]

lol's I'm so nervous about my egg's hatching i have to sit on my hands to keep from candling them so much i caught my self candling them twice on Monday so no more until day 14

 

[willowbirdks]

lol's I'm so nervous about my egg's hatching i have to sit on my hands to keep from candling them so much i caught my self candling them twice on Monday so no more until day 14

I just know that's going to be me if we get any hatching eggs next year...! I like hearing the updates, though. Fingers crossed for you!

 

[Alice28]

lol's I'm so nervous about my egg's hatching i have to sit on my hands to keep from candling them so much i caught my self candling them twice on Monday so no more until day 14   

If I ever hatch my own eggs that would be me and my husband would be yelling "stop it"! Lol

 

[winteree]

I just know that's going to be me if we get any hatching eggs next year...! I like hearing the updates, though. Fingers crossed for you!

lol's IKR. will do. today is day 12

why smiley faces? because they are happy egg's

 

[winteree]

If I ever hatch my own eggs that would be me and my husband would be yelling "stop it"! Lol

Lol's

 

[SilkieSensation]

Just got our 1st duckling this morning.. We got "her" from a teacher that hatched them out in her class. She had some of our fertile eggs from our flock.. The original person ended up not taking "her".. I will be getting educated on ducks now.. Also, hopefully intergrating "her" with our flock. Starting this evening.. At what age is a duckling able to be sexed? And yes a Ancona..

Go ahead & check the video. I have found I can voice sex my anconas pretty accurately pretty much from hatch. I always double check by vent sexing but haven't missed 1 yet. Even from hatch my females are higher pitched & louder. My little males sound like they have a raspy sore throat & are lower pitched in comparison. At 4 weeks old the difference is usually very distinct. The girls start to get random high pitched squeaks in their peeping & the boys get lower & more raspy. By 5-6 weeks there is a definite difference.

Side View

Yes, I would say definitely younger than 2 months. If she starts to grow in big bird feathers and start turning from yellow to white she should be around 4 weeks old.

Yes we see some big girl feathers.. Thank you all for all of your help..the teacher said this breed is going extinct, is that true? We got her just this morning..
, so we have not had time to do any research on ducks. At first we were getting her if she could not find a home.. Blablabla
. I have talked to 3-5 friends & they say ducks & chickens will get along fine..does anyone here have both? She is to big to integrate with our Moma hen with her 4plus week old chicks.. They hung out altogether for abut an hour, our rooster did nothing.. The girls keep on dusting while the teens checked out the new family
member.. e

For just a few ducks you can mix them with chickens & turkeys. Make sure there is no water in the sleeping area or you will have mad, soggy chickens. I run my calls with my other birds but try to keep my bigger ducks separate when possible. My anconas have been known to feather nip & I end up with bald chickens. Also, you need to make sure the ducks have room to make their water mess where the chickens can stay out of the way. If they are crowded you will constantly have soaked/muddy chickens.

As for them being endangered: I believe that means there are less than 5 registered breeders in the country with flocks numbering over 50 birds bred to SOP. I would have to double check the number of farms required for the endangered classification. It does not even take all of the people with small flocks into consideration. Anconas are growing in popularity, but we need more "big breeders" to take an interest in them before they are no longer endangered.

 

[wildsam]

Okay, I admit it. I'm the crazy duck lady! But I simply could not resist...

Was at the Neillsville swap last weekend and got myself (FINALLY!) some black spotties. Just another 10 to add to our already full house of 28 ducklings... oops!

Now we got 5 blue/silver spotties, one chocolate and 9 black spotties. Not sure yet if the other is a tri or gonna be a chocolate also. Gotta wait and see!

Here are some pics of my crowd from this morning, enjoying the outside...

Saxonies (5 weeks) in the back, some of our Holderread bunch on the left and most of the Anconas on the right.


Here they are!



These are Lil Bit and Tiny, not quite a week old, so they had to stay inside...

Yup, I can honestly say that we're all ducked out now! lol

 

[winteree]

well today is day 14 of the ancona hatching project and it is time to do my favorite actively of the day CANDLING!!!

Their was tons of movement in the egg's during candling they where not happy about the bight light

but i marked the new air cell lines some don't seem to be moving that far which worries me a bit

but over all it looks like all the egg's are alive and kicking (i feel like the Doctor in the Frankenstein movies "LIFE!! GIVE MY CREATION LIFEEEEE!!

) will be going to lock-down. i haven't had to toss one yet I'M SO EXCITED

 

[Alice28]

Okay, I admit it. I'm the crazy duck lady! But I simply could not resist... Was at the Neillsville swap last weekend and got myself (FINALLY!) some black spotties. Just another 10 to add to our already full house of 28 ducklings... oops! Now we got 5 blue/silver spotties, one chocolate and 9 black spotties. Not sure yet if the other is a tri or gonna be a chocolate also. Gotta wait and see! Here are some pics of my crowd from this morning, enjoying the outside... Saxonies (5 weeks) in the back, some of our Holderread bunch on the left and most of the Anconas on the right. Here they are! These are Lil Bit and Tiny, not quite a week old, so they had to stay inside... Yup, I can honestly say that we're all ducked out now! lol

Love the pics! Hopefully one day I can be the crazy duck lady! We need more land first though