Ancona Ducks

[Jemmie]

I keep my ducks penned up till 9:15 am. My one female lays by this time and I can find her egg then.

 

[newducklings]

Ya they didnt lay any yesterday but I went out there about an hour ago and there was that one and it was the biggest one so far. But I just dont know why they dont care for them

 

[caj1985]

oh okay. They laid these ones with a shell. The first one was the small one and the one I found today is the big one. But they just dropped them wherever and dont care for them. They act like they dont know what it is or what to do with it. They laid obe in the pool and the others just on the ground around their pin instead of in their shelter

Mine didn't stop laying them in random locations for a couple of months. They started making nests and using them when they were thinking about going broody.

 

[newducklings]

Okay. They are only 4 months and they just started laying a few days ago so hopefully they start being broody

 

[minihorse927]

Ya they didnt lay any yesterday but I went out there about an hour ago and there was that one and it was the biggest one so far. But I just dont know why they dont care for them

This is common in ducks. It takes them a few weeks but if you have a nesting area ready they will get the hang of it. If you want then to go broody they best way is to let them collect a nest of eggs up. If you take them away, they generally won't go broody. Leaving eggs is a way to entice them to brood. If you have a fake egg, put it where you want them to lay, that will help them get the idea.

 

[newducklings]

I have a big dog kennel thats covered and has a lot of straw for them to nest. And I put the eggs in there but they just go in there and cover it up ir push it around

 

[Alice28]

Well all, Elsa is a drake. Her (well his) drake feathers became noticeable this week. The good news is Ana is a duck and Kristof (Muscovy) seems to be a duck too, so might hatch out some eggs and keep a girl and get rid of the rest and Elsa will have to eventually go because we wants eggs and drakes don't do that lol

 

[willowbirdks]

So what you're saying here is that Elsa is more of an Olaf?

Just kidding. I'm sure it's frustrating to have ordered sexed ducklings and had them come out wrong. I guess at least you have a drake in your preferred breed, so you can hatch out Ancona babies. You'll have to let us know if you end up doing that. I definitely would like to hatch ducklings one of these days myself.

 

[Alice28]

So what you're saying here is that Elsa is more of an Olaf?

Just kidding. I'm sure it's frustrating to have ordered sexed ducklings and had them come out wrong. I guess at least you have a drake in your preferred breed, so you can hatch out Ancona babies. You'll have to let us know if you end up doing that. I definitely would like to hatch ducklings one of these days myself.

No I'm not frustrated, the lady sexed them but we knew it's hard to tell sometimes and we were grateful she was willing to sex them for us. I told my son Elsa is a boy, but he doesn't want to change the name, which is fine I guess. We have a Muscovy duck named Kristof and an Ancona drake named Elsa! Lol. I figure we will hatch out some ducklings and hopefully keep one that will be a girl!

 

[newducklings]

No I'm not frustrated, the lady sexed them but we knew it's hard to tell sometimes and we were grateful she was willing to sex them for us. I told my son Elsa is a boy, but he doesn't want to change the name, which is fine I guess. We have a Muscovy duck named Kristof and an Ancona drake named Elsa! Lol. I figure we will hatch out some ducklings and hopefully keep one that will be a girl!

at what age did your drake get his curled feather? My ducks started laying. I was getting one egg a day now I get two a day every once in a while but never can figure out who is laying the eggs. But none of them seem to have a drake feather. Though my pekin and the little ancona try to mate they switch whos on top so they all confusw me about what gender they possibly are.