Breeding Projects -- Waterfowl

[kikidee]

Holy Guacamole! Those are huge. And very pretty

You got 3, what is the gender ratio? Good luck, can't wait to see their adorable offspring!

 

[Ducks and Banny hens]

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You mean the Bessies? I have 2 drakes, and 1 hen. I'm going to try tracing them back to the Original Breeder, and then I'll have more stock located.

 

[Sebrightmom]

I have been trying to breed blue and silver cayugas for more than two years. The trouble I am finding that I can't get blues with dark legs and beaks. My silvers have the same problem. I dont' know that much about the leg and beak color genes. I would love to be able to show my blues like I do my blacks.

 

[willowcrow]

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And I have to hatch ducklings EVERY year to do so?

ill be around 20 when I can call them my own

Well, if you do good, it's well worht it. {ahem $$}

Tell me about it! I get $200.00-$250.00 for each of my Crow ducklings, aka WV Mountain Ducks

 

[Ducks and Banny hens]

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Well, if you do good, it's well worht it. {ahem $$}

Tell me about it! I get $200.00-$250.00 for each of my Crow ducklings, aka WV Mountain Ducks

Wow. And I've been selling adult stock for $10 a piece...

 

[kikidee]

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There are other colors than black?

wow shows what I know. I have two cayuga drakes and after the 3rd or 4th month their black bills have become orangish yellow :0.

 

[kikidee]

Quote:
You mean the Bessies? I have 2 drakes, and 1 hen. I'm going to try tracing them back to the Original Breeder, and then I'll have more stock located.

that is awesome! good luck

 

[animalsRawesome]

Quote:
Well, if you do good, it's well worht it. {ahem $$}

Tell me about it! I get $200.00-$250.00 for each of my Crow ducklings, aka WV Mountain Ducks

Do you have a thread about your WV Mountain Ducks on BYC, or any pics to share?

 

[Sebrightmom]

Yes they do come in blue and silver but those colors aren't accept yet.

Here is one of my blacks at a show. He got first

Here are my first ones when they were young.

Here are some of the ducklings I have hatched. Here is a silver and a blue.

This is an old picture. I only have one of the ducks in this picture left. The silver was my main drake. I hatched out a lot of ducklings from him. I have one of his silver daughters.

Alway here are two of my Cayuga eggs. When they first start laying their eggs are dark and get lighter as their laying cycle goes.

I got my first cayugas as hatching eggs from a wonderful breeder on here. I am thankful to them for letting me buy eggs from them and have such beautiful birds.

 

[Oregon Blues]

[[[[[.......How exactly does one make their own lines in a breed? Just by breeding them for a few years and it becomes your lines?.....]]]]

That depends entirely upon what you are trying to do. To have your own line, your birds must be very consistent about breeding true and there needs to be something about them that distinguishes them from other birds.

I know you want Welsh Harlequins, so if you start with top quality Welsh Harlequins, and make yourself a list of what traits you really want in your birds, say you want them to lay at least 320 eggs every year and all have really dark bills. If you breed towards those goals and cull hard, it should take somewhere around 5-7 generations before people are saying" I bought some Duckgirl Harlies, because they always lay really well and they always have beautiful dark bills". To have a line, people should be able to expect any bird from your line to behave in a certain way.

If what you want to do is something more difficult, like to develop a purple Swedish Duck (which is actually possible, if you want to try it), it will probably take you several decades to produce a line of Swedish ducks who are good quality and are constantly born purple. It might take you over a decade just to collect enough birds with the purple sheen gene. It could take your entire lifetime to develop that line of birds.

True Story: I bought a Scottish Deerhound in Scotland, brought him to the USA, and a breeder from Australia walked up to me, in the USA, and the very first words out of her mouth were "You don't have to tell me that's an Ardkinglas."

Now that's a line. When an animal you bred goes to another continent and a fancier from half the world away can recognize that the animal is from your line just by looking at it. Not many breeders ever reach that pinnacle, but that should be what you are working towards.