Australian Spotted Ducks

[SparrowHawkFarm]

I have been hoping to connect with other breeders but the only people I know who have them are not hatching ducklings now or ever. There are a couple of people who got breeding pairs from me but then lost their hen to predators so they just have a drake now. I also know someone who bought some nice breeding pairs from Holderread's and lost them to predators before she was able to get any ducklings from them.

My ducklings this year are outcrossed enough to pair with ducklings people bought last year but with the flock all together right now I can't recommend breeding a batch of ducklings together, especially since I end up setting entire clutches from a nest together at the beginning of the season instead of setting eggs from different nests together like I will do when we have a more steady supply of eggs. The hens seem to get better and better at hiding their nests when we find them but that has worked out well since my incubator space is limited. I have had six hens on nests already this season (one hatched her nest already) so I am going to offer hens with ducklings and an unrelated drake to people wanting to start a flock that way. I would like to get more people raising them to broaden the gene pool.

Be cautious about getting ducklings that may not be purebred since I made that mistake last year. Two of the drake ducklings I bought ended up too big for bantams so they went to live with a flock of Roens. They had been hatched from eggs that were purchased from someone else. I know what my greenheads will produce since this is my third year with them but I am going to grow out the blueheads and silverheads this year so I can see how they look and decide which ones to keep. I have a bluehead hen that has different markings and a greenhead drake that also does not look right to me so I am selling the pair to someone who wants to have ducks but is not necessarily going to be breeding them. Be sure to get show quality if you want to breed. The pet quality are still nice birds but they are better for people who just want slug eaters or pond decorations. If you are wanting to do alot of hatching to promote the breed, make sure you have birds that fully meet the breed standard. Holderread's has show quality and pet quality as well but their breeding stock is high quality. There are people who have called gray Call ducks Australian Spotted ducks and then they throw white offspring that shows they are Calls and not Spots. The silverheads are a light beige color with light silver spots but they should not look white. There is no white genetics in Spots, as far as I know, so anything that looks almost white would be a red flag to me. They might be pretty ducks but they are probably not purebred Australian Spotted ducks.

Due to the somewhat recent development of the breed, it is important to be selective and only keep birds that meet the standard. I have parted with some beautiful birds because they did not fit with a breeding program due to their color, even though I know they are purebred. I switch out my drakes every year so I can keep hens but now I am cutting back on greenhead hens so I can have all three color varities.

Do you have a website?

Yes I had experience with Aussies getting taken of by the eagle. =(
My last pair from the Holderreads were show quality and one got eaten.
Currently we are breeding Welsh Harlequin (light ducks) and they are excellent. But I still love the Australian Spotted most so we most likely will get back to raising two breeds.

 

[SparrowHawkFarm]

Here was one of my Aussie hens

 

[SparrowHawkFarm]

These were some of the I got from Vancouver. Call (silverhead) Hazel (blue head)

 

[Duck Drover]

The first picture looks like a beautiful bluehead Australian Spotted duck. The two together in the second picture look like Call crosses to me with the cheek puffs and lack of spots. I had contacted someone before who was selling ducks that he was calling Australian Spotted ducks but they looked more like Call crosses to me. He even justified calling them Spots because he said that the Spots have Call in them but there are other breeds in the mix to get a Spot. I wonder if he is trying to make his own instead of using breeding stock. They are pretty ducks, they just are not Australian Spotted ducks.

 

[Duck Drover]

Do you have a website?

Yes I had experience with Aussies getting taken of by the eagle. =(
My last pair from the Holderreads were show quality and one got eaten.
Currently we are breeding Welsh Harlequin (light ducks) and they are excellent. But I still love the Australian Spotted most so we most likely will get back to raising two breeds.

I don't have a website. My husband set up a blog for me but I don't even know the password so I have never used it. My daughter has been working with the Australian Spotted ducks for the past three years as her Girl Scout Silver Award project so she may end up using the blog to publish her project for the public. Her goal is not only to increase the numbers of an endangered breed but also to demonstrate the advantages of having ducks for organic gardening and pest control as a means to "go green".

I like the look of the Welsh so I considered raising them or Silver Appleyard. I have a pair of blue fawn Call ducks so I can hatch their eggs (finally have one developing in the incubator and a broody Silkie to finish it out) but the Calls are not my favorite. They are cute to look at but they don't have the personality the Spots have. I don't want too many different breeds to keep separate so I am focusing on raising the three colors of Spots.

 

[chickengrl87]

Thank you so much for all the information! I really appreciate how informative you are!! The duck pen is coming along and the ladies appear to be done molting! Hopefully they will start laying soon! I can't wait for ducklings! I will have to resist the urge to keep them all! LOL

 

[Duck Drover]

I have new ducklings that hatched for my daughter's birthday and I have a nest due to hatch in the yard so I have to watch closely so the crows don't get the ducklings. I saw a crow chasing off an eagle today, which surprised me because I have not seen eagles overhead here before, but then I guess it is better to deal with the threat of crows snatching eggs and ducklings than an eagle snatching my adult birds! I gave good tree cover and hopefully my roosters do their job and alert everyone to run for cover if an eagle were to circle in closer. The eagle was at a distance but still too close for comfort.

I had one hen that laid the biggest eggs and I am raising two hen ducklings that hatched from the big eggs so I can see how they grow out. One is not much bigger than the others hatched at the same time but the other one is much bigger. I sold the hen as pet quality and I may have to do the same thing with this bigger duckling since smaller is better with bantams. I did keep a nice bluehead duckling that turned out to be a drake so I want to use him later this season. I will probably keep more ducklings than I need to keep but I can always sell the extras later.

 

[chickengrl87]

What do you use as a duck shelter? My ducks have always been with my chickens so they share the coop. The chickens roost and the ducks sleep on the floor. Since we are building them their own area, I am not sure what to do for them shelter wise. We have an old small dog house that we put in the coop for the ducks to use but they never used it. How do they do during the winter? We have heat lamps for the chickens.

 

[laughingdog]

Just seemingly such wonderful banta/mini ducks (what category are they considered? as know some moving around was done for show standard terms..). some day ill at least have pet quality green heads my fav to try (pet ducks getting very popular now around here, bantams just starting to be leaned towards but loud ect calls considered what all small breeds like to try to keep), but until then I'm curious about more videos of the ASDs personality. other threads and forums just call them mini welsh, many thinking you can just make by breeding welsh to calls..

 

[Duck Drover]

I have all kinds of shelters in the yard for the ducks and they will not use any of them. The coop is raised so the ducks can have the entire space under the coop but they don't use it. They actually sleep in a group next to their pond, which is lighted by our back porch light, so they seem to feel safe enough without cover. When it is raining they go under the lilac bushes but they will not use the shelters. The ducks that are penned will go under cover when it is raining but they prefer to stay on top of the shelters instead of going in them. They prefer open space, perhaps because nothing can sneak up on them or corner them, and they rely on safety in numbers.

I have a pair of Call ducks with my Silkies and they will go under the coop. Sometimes they will even go in the coop with the Silkies overnight. I have a cat house for them but I have a Silkie hen sitting on eggs in there now so the ducks can't use it. I wanted to have the Silkies hatch the Call duck eggs but so far theyhave not been fertile when I put them in the incubator to start them.

I have not heard of making Spots by crossing Welsh and Calls but I don't doubt it is happening. The hen I just sold seems to have different breeding than my other ducks and she came with a small flock I bought. I prefer to breed my own from Spots that meet the breed standard than to trust what other people are doing. Mine breed true so I know they are purebred.

As far as showing the Australian Spotted ducks, there is a breed standard but I don't know about the class since I don't show birds. I do kmow some people who are going to show them so I can find out what class they are in. Perhaps I will try taking a video one day because they are amusing ducks.