Ancona Ducks

[peachncrm37]

I'll have to get a closer look at her but I think so. She's stunning, totally love her. Of the 5 that are 3 months old I have a chocolate drake, a blue drake, her, and then 2 blue hens.

Can't wait to see how my babies feather out.

 

[learycow]

I love it when they feather out! I had some blues that didn't show color on their chest as babies. But when their feathers came in, they showed the most gorgeous random spotting on their chests! I'll have to post a pic

 

[peachncrm37]

I love it when they feather out! I had some blues that didn't show color on their chest as babies. But when their feathers came in, they showed the most gorgeous random spotting on their chests! I'll have to post a pic

I know!! Especially with the lighter ones!

 

[muscovy man14]

How do you tell the males and females apart?

 

[peachncrm37]

How do you tell the males and females apart?

Vent sex as ducklings, or when they get older females quack and males rasp. Or males get curly tail feathers

 

[learycow]

Agree with peaches
Vent sexing should be done no later than 3-4 days old.

Voice sexing can be done around 9 weeks.

Curly sex feathers will show up on males around 3-4 months old

 

[muscovy man14]

Cool thx!!

 

[Colonel]

I have a question that I hope someone can answer: In Carol Deppe's book, she described Anconas as "very alert and sensible about predators and make better watchdogs than the geese I used to have." Is she referring only to alertness, or is she referring to loudness in alerting?

We have geese now (four Toulouse) and I've had to find a new home for them (I just keep putting off getting rid of them) because of the noise. How noisy are Anconas compared to other ducks (and compared to geese)? We also have three Pekins (drake and two hens).

I'm thinking about ordering a batch of 15 from Cackle Hatchers - any thoughts on that - especially regarding noise?

Thank you!

 

[ChristineR]

I have a question that I hope someone can answer: In Carol Deppe's book, she described Anconas as "very alert and sensible about predators and make better watchdogs than the geese I used to have." Is she referring only to alertness, or is she referring to loudness in alerting?

We have geese now (four Toulouse) and I've had to find a new home for them (I just keep putting off getting rid of them) because of the noise. How noisy are Anconas compared to other ducks (and compared to geese)? We also have three Pekins (drake and two hens).

I'm thinking about ordering a batch of 15 from Cackle Hatchers - any thoughts on that - especially regarding noise?

Thank you!

My Anconas are pretty comparable in alertness to my other ducks and geese. They might be a little more aware of their surroundings than the other ducks, but I don't really see that it would make any difference with predators. They are all pretty much defenseless.

The Anconas are definitely lower volume than the geese, though. It's been awhile since I had Pekins, but I think Anconas probably make more noise than my Pekins did.

 

[eggorthechicken]

Mine are pretty alert and will "quack" louder if someone is around or they see a dog etc...Females are noisier of course but they aren't loud like geese I don't think. I had guineas and couldn't stand the noise. My ducks aren't nowhere near as annoying.