Ancona Ducks

[AuroraSprings]

Left looks blue to me and right looks lavender. Hard to see in that light though. The comp could be playing tricks on me.

 

[AuroraSprings]

sorry for the double post. can't remove it though. oops.

 

[Goose and Fig]

I am not going to bother putting duck eggs in the incubator anymore.

 

[ekellam3]

Left side is my chocolate drake

 

[AuroraSprings]

Now that I can see it at home, on a different computer,the bird on the left does look chocolate. Sorry. The right is still hard to tell. I can see, though, that one feather on the "right bird" is darker. It's the one on the top of the wing facing the camera. If you can tell me that feather's color, I can tell you the color of the rest of the bird.

 

[DucksnDaffodils]

Alright, I have a question about voice sexing Anconas. I have 7 Welsh Harlequins and 4 Anconas that are all just over 8 weeks old and very mature. My welsh harlequin girls all have a VERY distinctive quack, and the WH boys are whispery, and all 4 of my Anconas.... yep they sound like boys! All 4!!!!!!!! Is there any chance that Anconas voices change later then other breeds? Because I am going to sell my extra drakes, but I didn't want to sell a potential girl. Or should I just except that I had a very bad ratio, and that 4 out of 4 are boys. ??????

 

[harriedhomemaker]

Alright, I have a question about voice sexing Anconas. I have 7 Welsh Harlequins and 4 Anconas that are all just over 8 weeks old and very mature. My welsh harlequin girls all have a VERY distinctive quack, and the WH boys are whispery, and all 4 of my Anconas.... yep they sound like boys! All 4!!!!!!!! Is there any chance that Anconas voices change later then other breeds? Because I am going to sell my extra drakes, but I didn't want to sell a potential girl. Or should I just except that I had a very bad ratio, and that 4 out of 4 are boys. ??????

By that time, I have always been able to voice sex my Anconas. My youngest Anconas are 6 weeks old now and they have had their "big boy voices" for about a week. It sounds like you might have just been plain unlucky. The first time I hatched ducklings, I got 7 male and 2 females, so I feel your pain.

 

[DucksnDaffodils]

Thank you for your answer!! I was afraid so, but was so hoping to get at least 1 girl. I love those goofy black and white boys, and wish I could keep them... but...

 

[HouseMouseHens]

I have two questions for you all. First, I am wondering when the crested gene shows up in Anconas in the form of the crested puff on the back of their head. I have an Ancona duck who has seemed normal until now(she is almost 9 weeks old) but in the past few days, she is seeming to have some extra feather puffiness on the back of her head definitely not even close to a big cottonball like poof like I've seen, just like she has a bit of bedhead that wont go away. Haha!. She isn't 100% feathered yet, so I am wondering if this will suddenly because a giant crested poof when she is.

Also, what is the ideal duck to drake ratio for Anconas? We originally had four Anconas but had to sell two (we got THREE drakes and one duck) and then picked up one more duck, so our current ratio is one drake to two ducks. We made some room in our chicken flock(who will share a yard with the ducks once the ducks are old enough and big enough to hold their own with the chickens) to possibly add a few more ducks but are not sure what to get. Our breeder offers ducks alone, or duck/drake pairs for pretty much the same price. Would four ducks to two drakes be okay? Or would it be better to get two more ducks and just stick with one drake? We are thinking we'll get two new ducks either way, but not sure if we should go for the drake since it's no more expensive.

 

[AuroraSprings]

The extra fluff is likely just the last bit of down leftover before it gets the real feathers in. It can look a bit "crested" but it's just an illusion. And it won't turn into a giant puff. Ones with big puffs have them from birth. And likewise, ones with little puff have little puffs at birth.


The ideal sex ratio is different for everyone and depends on your goals and the individual birds. We try to keep 1 drake for every 3-4 ducks to keep up fertility. One drake can supposedly handle up to 6 ducks, but in our large flock some females can get overlooked while other are overbred if we keep the ratio above 1 drake to 4 ducks. Since this breed is female-lead, you can typically get away with 1 drake to 1 duck in small groups that were raised together. That depends largely on the specific animals involved and their temperaments. I'd say, if you have the opportunity to get an extra drake, do it. Never know what could happen and one extra won't hurt.