Blue swedish

[70%cocoa]

Ducklover, Bluebell is looking great. She has a nice neat bib (maybe could be a tad bigger but that's being fussy). She looks like she will end up with white flight feathers for sure. She has very little white on her face, just a touch under the chin, which is excellent. Her bill is a nice solid colour, not blotchy. I think she looks very very nice. You've got a good one there, I'd say!!!

 

[ducklover700]

Ducklover, Bluebell is looking great. She has a nice neat bib (maybe could be a tad bigger but that's being fussy). She looks like she will end up with white flight feathers for sure. She has very little white on her face, just a touch under the chin, which is excellent. Her bill is a nice solid colour, not blotchy. I think she looks very very nice. You've got a good one there, I'd say!!!

Yay! She's a fan favorite around the house, too. My drakes are sweet, but Blue Belle has us wrapped around her finger errr feet.

I'm considering finding another Blue swedish to hang out with her. My Ancona eggs should get here on thursday but It would be awhile before she would spend time with those babies. hmmm....

 

[70%cocoa]

She has a bit of growing to do but I'd say that she is work breeding with. It's be great if you could get a nice blue or black drake to go with her

 

[ducklover700]

I was thinking of having a pair of swedish, and then a trio of anconas. I'm worried about having two drakes though, with such a small flock? Opinions?

 

[70%cocoa]

I think that a pair and a trio would be fine as long as you either had separate housing for them or a sufficently large area so that the females can get away if they need to. Since you will want them to breed within their breed (and not cross-breed) what about two separate pens for each breed?

I have only Swedish ducks but I have a pair, a trip and a group of 5 (4 ducks one drake). They all have their own pen so I can be sure of who is the father of any ducklings I hatch. In the non-breeding season (or when I don't want to collect eggs) they are allowed out in to the backyard together when I;m at home. It's big enough so they can all find their own space. In the non-breeding season they are fairly relaxed anyway and the drakes don't harass the females. In the breeding season I divided up the backyard using fencing and they all have their own area to free-range in, or else they just get turns out in the backyard.

Hope that helps a bit

 

[ducklover700]

Well I went out this morning to take care of the critters, and Blue Belle wanted every bit of my attention today. I came back towards the pen she's staying in after taking care of the horse, and goats, to hear her quacking up a storm! I picked her up and let her walk around the yard with me. I tried letting her hang out in the fenced in section on her own, but she just cried if I left-so back out we went, when I realized that my mom was working in her garden. She's got a dug out irrigation ditch of sorts she created recently, and when the hose is turned on the water goes running down it. I led Blue over to it, and once she realized what it was, she went crazy splashing in the mucky water.



there's a hole in the hose here, where she liked to lay down in front of. she looked a bit pathetic with her soaked fluff, but she enjoyed it.

Here's a picture of her cooling off in the shade...

 

[70%cocoa]

What great photos. She's so cute. What a personality.

 

[ducklover700]

What great photos. She's so cute. What a personality.

Thank you! she's definitely spoiled around here, I'm wondering how she's going to react when my metzer's order gets here next week and she doesn't have my full attention anymore. She's gotten used to being a single duck I think; poor girl. She's a lot of fun though. Yesterday I took her back out to the garden to play in the mud again, when my grandma called me over to talk to her. So, thinking Blue would be fine on her own for a minute I walked over to my grandma and immediately Blue looked up, couldn't see me and started calling to me. I called to her with a "Duck Duck Duck!" and she came running as fast as she could over to where I was standing...I don't think an Indian Runner could've kept up with her at that point!

 

[70%cocoa]

LOL, it's nice to be loved so much, isn't it? I'm sure she'll like having other ducks around, but she might be a little bossy with them at first... I'm sure she'll still get lots of cuddles too

 

[ducklover700]

I'm sure she'll have to adjust to it. She's been around an Ancona, and a Runner but both are much older, and drakes so she was always seperated by a pen. The ducklings will have to grow up a lot before I let them run around outside, so Blue's still got her own one on one time while we're all in the garden!