Already have lots of chickens and a couple Guineas. Have loved the look of these for a while and just saw some on CL for $10 each-12 weeks old. Any way to tell male or female at this age? OK with kids, from what I've read yes but, personal experience is better. Thanks! Annie
The way to sex the ducks is by the voice. The girls will have a loud QUACK and the boys have a raspy whispery type softer quack. The drakes may or may not have a curl on their tale at that age- but the voice is a pretty accurate way of knowing.
Quote:You do know that BIE are small ducks and usually can fly. Other than that they are just about perfect, very pretty and fairly quiet and you won't go to the poor house to feed them.
For my starter ducks I checked craigslist in the fall for people thinning their flocks before winter set in. I got a free runner, khaki drake and a khaki hen. A few months later I got a buff for $6. The runner provided me with a wicked amount of eggs over the last 2 years. She also turned out to still have her brooding instincts in tact. She raised a clutch of 10 ducklings this spring. I recently sold her for $10 to a petting zoo who wanted a good broody. (She was a great farm duck but for my small lot, she wasn't tame enough.) I sold the Khaki drake and the buff hen as a pair for $20. Janet, my khaki hen, was injured and died. I really miss her because she shared my burning hatred for squirrels. NONE WOULD DARE enter my yard with her on patrol. Over time I settled on Welsh Harlequins as the perfect breed for me and now all my ducks are WH. FREE starter ducks give you a chance to test a breed, hone your skills, and potentially make a little money to offset the feed bill.
I don't want to dissuade you from BEI if your heart is set on them, but they are my least favorite ducks I have ever kept. They are beautiful, but mine were so incredibly skittish. You could not get near them, even as ducklings. Now, I know that others have had tame BEI and loved them. I don't know why ours were so crazed. They were raised in a group of other bantam ducklings and the temperament of the BEI was so much different than the others. The other black breed, Cayugas, I absolutely love. I would chose them (or even Black Runners) over the BEI any day.
Just got home with the ducks. Ended up with what I think is a male and a female. $5 each. They are very cute. Seem alittle shy but hopefully will come around.
I will give another thumbs up for them, great looking and easy keepers and to reiterate Goosedragons reply, they fly very well. giffy ---------------------
