Shop away! How many do you have?
No ducks here, had I don't know never counted when we moved here 20 50 IDK, must have been a fox/mink/hawk/owl smorgasbord....I'll have ducks again when we can have a free ranging dog again, I like ducks strictly free range, heck when you have a pond, let them play.
Oh man
Deb they're indian runner ducks, a breeding trio... I only have 15, coops big enough for more... But I need chickens, 20 hens would be prime... Space for the roos until butchering... Space for scovy ducklings... I can't do it
Oh man, the kicker is I could get away with... sense I'm all pregnant and emotional and punky made me cry yesterday.... Dang it! I cant!! Bloody logic strikes again... One day, one day... You'll be mine indian runner ducks.
Well, of course Calls and 'scovies are cuter... but runners are cute too... and I heard from someone they interact with each other much differently than other ducks...
Blahh, no cute, good eggs, good meat....Indian runners look like penguins, never had a desire to eat a penguin...I'd try a seal or walrus but not a penguin....
Sadly, I can't. And Alabama's laws being what they are, I can't get raw milk either. Can't talk anyone into letting me get a Nigerian Dwarf Doe or mini cow either. I'm just stuck at this point. I don't know anyone with goats or milk cows.
Stuck only if you don't think outside the box, eh.
What about regular sheep? I mean like there are people that milk my breed, Jacobs...bit of selection for temperament and milk quality and you have yourself an option for milk. Feed them well...any milking critter gets tainted milk if they get into the wrong type of feed (weeds that give off flavours...) and you get milk in the pail if you ensure they are getting enough inputs to give you plenty of outputs.
So if you got good fences and some good structure to lock them up at night.
Lotsa options here...way you go woman...get learnin' eh.
FTD...
OK...you bin warned...for those not in the know...FTD means ...
FEAR THE DUCK
Stop looking at once, close yer eyes and quickly scroll down on down...you bin warned...severely eh.
Crested Ducks from babes to processing size - I don't personally EAT my ducks...no heart in that but for those that will...YUM!
Ducks are superior to chickens...less diseases, better foraging, able to withstand weather conditions better, bigger eggs compared to size and consumption of feeds to make those eggers, faster meat & more production in comparable sizes - Chickens just simply suck when compared to the efficiency and ease of keeping when compared to Ducks.
And if'n I hear it one more time ...NO ducks are not messy. Quit giving them unlimited amounts of water (to make mud pies with...DUH...turn the tap off already...DUH), use proper bedding for Petesake...get the pen run down to clay (or gravel if you wanna), topped with river sand, and oat straw bedding--the fluids wick away and the plops get trapped in the straw, eh. Easy peasy...easier and less mess than dang standard chickens and especially the clean legged ones that like to root and toss bedding so much. LESS MESS...but do it right. Like a duck to water if you give them plenty you are gonna have a big mess...YOU made it a mess by allowing the webbed children unlimited access to the candy store's water faucet. People are SO stupid it kills me. Want waterfowl, then be there for them...you water once in the a.m., and once in the p.m. and in the case of wilds like Mandarins in winter, you give fluid water ONCE at noon so it freezes up before nightfall and really cold temps. We have hundreds of waterfowl (had the largest bevy of colour varieties in the Call ducks on the planet) and have kept them for decades now. Easy peasy - so quit letting them down and keeping them wrong!
If your waterfowl are messy, you allowed them to be that way in not managing them properly and it was your error in the first place that caused this. Buck it up, Buttercup!
Ducks RULE the roosts - so to speak!
Dutchhook bill egg
Ducks chub up harvesting much of their own foods if allowed in safe areas (sans predators) and are well worth raising as an efficient source of meat.
Stalker...August - Crested (not that great a crest) Dutch Hookbill
Stalker in October
Welcome to the DUCK SIDE ... bwa ha ha...you'll never be the same once you cross over...
Ducks...sure they are cute...all of them. I do agree, some hate the walking wine bottle of Runners or Hookbills, but I quite like them. I admit to my weakness...FTD...
My personal creation...a crested Dutch Hookbill...I am ever so wicked...if its cute...why not add a pompom and go over the top! You can resist them NO more!
Crested
As far as any breed of duck (mallard derived or muscovies--domestics), you will find even the colour varieties stick to themselves if you have enough of one colour. I recall getting a line of chocolate Calls and they never were happy with the other Calls...I finally got it out of their creator...they crossed East Indies with their Calls...yeh...explained the over the top white feather as they aged (not great!) AND I have let them all bunk out now with the Indies in non-breeding seasons and voila...happy ducks. They knew they were not Calls. Bwa ha ha. And I knew they weren't either...just by their preferences to be with the Indie bevy. Ha...the birds NEVER lie...listen to what your birds have to say.
Little secret tidbit if you ever get to herding seriously...if you got a bevy of ducks to move with your dog, see if you can pick the group all of one breed and one colour, then age, then gender...much easier to herd a group that WANTS to be together...if you got one odd ball colour, that one will be the pain in the groin for not getting you and your dog the best time.
Here's my duck barn bevy out and about in the bird yard...coupla summers ago.
Dutch Hookbills - Dusky and White
Not only breeds stick together, you'll often see this...note the Whites naturally group together. Even the one white is looking, "Hey dudes...I need to be over thar with the rest of moi clan!"
Instinct...when a winged predator chooses a victim, they often go for the different one...thinking is that the odd one is an easier meal and predators need to focus on one individual to go after...messes with their minds when all of them are the same...be it winged predators or even in a school of fish...mystify them with shear numbers of one kind!
So that be my rave and my rant for this morn...
Everyone luvs a duck...
Doggone & Chicken UP!
Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada
