Ancona Ducks

[AuroraSprings]

I am planning for a small mixed flock of chickens and ducks. I've had 2 Mallard ducks in the past and was planning to go with more until I heard about Ancona ducks. I am interested in them, in part, because of their rare status but I don't know that I will have time and room to breed them. Does anyone here not breed them, but just keep them for pets and eat or otherwise get rid of the eggs? Or is eating Ancova eggs heresy since they are so rare?

Also, do Ancovas get along ok with chickens?

We breed, but have so many eggs per year that LOTS of them go to our dogs as food, ourselves as breakfast, and other customers to eat and bake with. Once you try them, you'll be hooked. SO TASTY! Our females produce up to 280 egg/yr - WAY too many to ever hope to hatch all of them, LOL.

And ours get along with geese, chickens, swans, and turkeys just fine. Not to mention the donkeys, goats, and dogs.

 

[wildsam]

Might still have to get some more from u later Aurora. Lol. When I know what I got and to maybe get more color. Sooo, we shall see beginning of April.
BUT... If you give them to your dogs maybe I can get some more...?!

 

[PeacefulWalls]

We breed, but have so many eggs per year that LOTS of them go to our dogs as food, ourselves as breakfast, and other customers to eat and bake with. Once you try them, you'll be hooked. SO TASTY! Our females produce up to 280 egg/yr - WAY too many to ever hope to hatch all of them, LOL.

And ours get along with geese, chickens, swans, and turkeys just fine. Not to mention the donkeys, goats, and dogs.

We got our Anconas this past summer and they started laying in October. We love to eat the eggs also & I love baking with them. The last 2-3 weeks or so the girls have pretty much stopped laying, though. Hopefully they'll kick in again soon if spring ever gets here!

 

[AuroraSprings]

Might still have to get some more from u later Aurora. Lol. When I know what I got and to maybe get more color. Sooo, we shall see beginning of April.
BUT... If you give them to your dogs maybe I can get some more...?!

Oh yes, there's ALWAYS more. LOL! They will continue laying until at least Nov, so ANY TIME you want some, we should have them.

 

[wildsam]

Ooooh, and I sooooo want some more, although my eggs are just in the incubator for 3 days now!

Somehow I feel like I want more, I need more... lol. And I'm not even sure the colors that I'll get either... suspense, excitement, nervous breakdown

Not quite sure how I'm supposed to make it through the rest of the 25 days if I don't even have the patience NOW to just sit.... and wait... get up and look... sit back down.... wait some more....

Another question: what humidity level do you keep your hatching eggs the first 3 weeks? I keep finding different answers and Holderread has the wet bulb temps in there which don't really work with our still air incubator. Plus, I'm trying to figure out why only 2 of 14 fresh duck eggs did make it to hatching last year... not sure if it was the dang weather (and the forever snow and cold), or something I did wrong...

So I might get back to you Aurora, hopefully, SOON to see if you got some chocolate hatching eggs or chicks, since FINALLY Mother Nature slowly seems to come to her senses. Okay, gotta make another trip to the incubator...lol

 

[ChristineR]

I am planning for a small mixed flock of chickens and ducks.  I've had 2 Mallard ducks in the past and was planning to go with more until I heard about Ancona ducks.  I am interested in them, in part, because of their rare status but I don't know that I will have time and room to breed them.  Does anyone here not breed them, but just keep them for pets and eat or otherwise get rid of the eggs?  Or is eating Ancova eggs heresy since they are so rare?

Also, do Ancovas get along ok with chickens?

I feed them to my dogs, bake with them, sell hatching eggs, and hatch some of them.

 

[SilkieSensation]

Ooooh, and I sooooo want some more, although my eggs are just in the incubator for 3 days now! Somehow I feel like I want more, I need more... lol. And I'm not even sure the colors that I'll get either... suspense, excitement, nervous breakdown Not quite sure how I'm supposed to make it through the rest of the 25 days if I don't even have the patience NOW to just sit.... and wait... get up and look... sit back down.... wait some more....

Another question: what humidity level do you keep your hatching eggs the first 3 weeks? I keep finding different answers and Holderread has the wet bulb temps in there which don't really work with our still air incubator. Plus, I'm trying to figure out why only 2 of 14 fresh duck eggs did make it to hatching last year... not sure if it was the dang weather (and the forever snow and cold), or something I did wrong...

So I might get back to you Aurora, hopefully, SOON to see if you got some chocolate hatching eggs or chicks, since FINALLY Mother Nature slowly seems to come to her senses. Okay, gotta make another trip to the incubator...lol

I use still air only. If you know what works for chicks in your bator, do exactly the same thing except add about 15% humidity for lockdown.

 

[peachncrm37]

I dry incubate the first week, then I spray eggs 3 times a day after that up to hatch. I live in Florida though so my dry humidity is like 30-40%

 

[wildnature]

Quote:

We breed, but have so many eggs per year that LOTS of them go to our dogs as food, ourselves as breakfast, and other customers to eat and bake with. Once you try them, you'll be hooked. SO TASTY! Our females produce up to 280 egg/yr - WAY too many to ever hope to hatch all of them, LOL.

And ours get along with geese, chickens, swans, and turkeys just fine. Not to mention the donkeys, goats, and dogs.

Thanks - good to know that they are friendly with a variety of animals in case I expand. I am looking at a 2.5 acre property so I won't be able to get too crazy.
I have not thought about feeding the eggs to dogs as you and several others have mentioned - do you cook the eggs first or just give them the whole, raw eggs?

When breeding them, how long to you isolate the ducks from the drakes to make sure you are getting the cross your want? I read for chicken it was something like 2 weeks, but I haven't seen anything for ducks?

 

[wildnature]

We got our Anconas this past summer and they started laying in October. We love to eat the eggs also & I love baking with them. The last 2-3 weeks or so the girls have pretty much stopped laying, though. Hopefully they'll kick in again soon if spring ever gets here!

A little taste of spring is in the air. It looks like you have a busy farmyard - do your Anconas get along with everybody?