D'uccle Thread

[TnMama]

Here 's a couple pics I snapped this morning on their first trip outside. Heavy feathers on the feet. Still think it's a D'Uccle? Changed the name to Uncle Millie. She's flighty, loud,& skittish.

 

[AtxChick]

I would be interested in her, if I'd lived there. Sadly I live in TX. At this point, I'd do anything for a d'uccle. I have the WORST luck with them. Everytime I get chicks, they came in the box, dead. I tried to go to the feed store and they sell out. Then I try to call a hatchery and they are out. All I want is a d'uccle :C

I ordered my chicks from Welp hatchery a few months ago. No dead chicks, just lost one that was really weak. Also, I'm not sure if they have d'uccles but Ideal poultry is in TX and I've heard pretty good things about them.

 

[SilkiesForEver]

Quote:
I got some of mine from Ideal. I didn't lose a single chick, and I'm in California. Try Ideal! They have lots of varieties!

 

[Loriemarler]

I ordered my chicks from Welp hatchery a few months ago. No dead chicks, just lost one that was really weak. Also, I'm not sure if they have d'uccles but Ideal poultry is in TX and I've heard pretty good things about them.

Yes Ideal has d'Uccles. I ordered some from them and will be shipped next week. I am excited. I'll have to band the 6 I hatched so I don't get them confused later

 

[Jodie84]

Hi all, I ordered some golden neck d'uccle eggs from Ron Talent and had awesome results! He has the best egg shipping method I have ever seen by the way Ordered 12 eggs and he sent me 16, 13 of which hatched ! (Two died in lockdown, I think my humidity was a touch too high and they drowned so my fault) Anyway I have 11 golden neck chicks but I got a couple mystery babies which is exciting, and was wondering what color you all thought they might be? The first one is white with some little black specks and the next one is brown with chipmunk stripes. Thanks!

Mystery chick one

Mystery chick two

They are both in this pic, MC one is in the middle and MC two is in the bottom right next to the feeder. Thanks so much for your input!

 

[K Epp]

See something eating with this picture?

He had two hens waiting to get in there

 

[MamStables]

I have done a terrible thing...

I went to a swap meet with no intention of buying more duccles so what did I find after a YEAR of searching? Duccle chicks. Yep, and colorful ones.

Now mind you this wouldn't be so bad if I hadn't bought 7, one of which has a gimpy foot.
You could think I could learn my lesson after spending countless hours on Craigslist looking for Duccles and finding saddlepoots and booted bantams claiming to be duccles. Nope, I see the adorable little faces, the little lavenders with hardly any leg feathers and the black and whites who the guy says has beautiful parents and buy him out on the spot. Without seeing the parents.

I am 99% sure this guy buys them off ebay/eggbird, hatches them and sells them for a premium ($3.00 a chick, $2.00 for Mr Gimpy)

He has no idea what the parents of the lavenders look like, only that he has worked with this breeder before and they usually have nice birds. He also says the bk/whs have beautiful parents, he even kept some chicks for himself.

As I gear up for the hour long drive him with my new little bundles of joy I realize I am going to need some starter feed and so I swing by my local Rural King. I then make the bigger mistake of the day…I look at the chicks. They have bantams folks, adorable porcelain and mille fleur chicks right there for the buying. I manage to not buy them out and only bring home 4 more, bringing me to 11.

I wake up this morning and promptly say ''what in the Heck am I doing?'' I probably just bought 11 birds that won't be good for anything other than pets at best and to top it off with my luck every last one with be a Roo.


I have one porcelain hen who is iffy at best (gimpy foot, nice conf, okay feathers but not epic in the beard/muff area)
and now these little fellows. I've been looking for some nice starter stock that I could hopefully mix with some nicer birds and slowly work my way up to higher quality…I guess after a year of waiting, reading and watching I just went crazy and got ahead of myself.
I didn't even buy colors I was that interested in! I like Mille Fleur and Porcelain the best and I not have 2 lavenders (cruddy toe feathers but I hear this is somewhat normal for lavs) and 5 mottled black/whites with AMAZING feathers, even heavy on the middle toe already.


I'm not hugely interested in showing at this very second but figure if I'm going to bring animals into this world they might as well be quality and I figure I will show for fun one day.

For those of you who made it to the bottom of that long and rambling post, do you think there is any chance I might have some iffy birds that might be worth breeding to others one day? I am basically trying to talk myself out of the idea that I just made a huge mistake and am going to have to cull the whole lot of them unless I want to keep them away from the future roo and just keep them as pets.

Has anyone every had a nice surprise come out of a birdy gamble?

 

[Folly's place]

Love your story!! True confessions here; I bought six porcelain chicks from Tractor Supply three weeks ago, on a whim; they were too cute! I'm trying to upgrade my millie flock, not add another color, especially hatchery quality. Oh well, they are still cute, "and they eat so little". Mary

 

[TnMama]

My little Pepper is having some trouble. She's got pasty butt, so I'm doctoring that with cleaning her vent area. This morning it was totally clogged, I used a tooth pick lubed with Vaseline & got the scab off. She pooed immediately. She was also breathing very rapidly & trying to get under the bigger ones wings. I moved her. & 3 others to the Rubbermaid tub I used as a brooder earlier last week. Hopefully it will help her stay warm. Not sure how to get rid of pasty butt. I gave her yogurt.
Here's a couple snuggle pics.

I kept her on my chest, wrapped in a rag, for a couple hours. Her breathing got regular,& she slept most of the time.

 

[triplejfarm2]

I have done a terrible thing...

I went to a swap meet with no intention of buying more duccles so what did I find after a YEAR of searching? Duccle chicks. Yep, and colorful ones.

Now mind you this wouldn't be so bad if I hadn't bought 7, one of which has a gimpy foot.
You could think I could learn my lesson after spending countless hours on Craigslist looking for Duccles and finding saddlepoots and booted bantams claiming to be duccles. Nope, I see the adorable little faces, the little lavenders with hardly any leg feathers and the black and whites who the guy says has beautiful parents and buy him out on the spot. Without seeing the parents.

I am 99% sure this guy buys them off ebay/eggbird, hatches them and sells them for a premium ($3.00 a chick, $2.00 for Mr Gimpy)

He has no idea what the parents of the lavenders look like, only that he has worked with this breeder before and they usually have nice birds. He also says the bk/whs have beautiful parents, he even kept some chicks for himself.

As I gear up for the hour long drive him with my new little bundles of joy I realize I am going to need some starter feed and so I swing by my local Rural King. I then make the bigger mistake of the day…I look at the chicks. They have bantams folks, adorable porcelain and mille fleur chicks right there for the buying. I manage to not buy them out and only bring home 4 more, bringing me to 11.

I wake up this morning and promptly say ''what in the Heck am I doing?'' I probably just bought 11 birds that won't be good for anything other than pets at best and to top it off with my luck every last one with be a Roo.


I have one porcelain hen who is iffy at best (gimpy foot, nice conf, okay feathers but not epic in the beard/muff area)
and now these little fellows. I've been looking for some nice starter stock that I could hopefully mix with some nicer birds and slowly work my way up to higher quality…I guess after a year of waiting, reading and watching I just went crazy and got ahead of myself.
I didn't even buy colors I was that interested in! I like Mille Fleur and Porcelain the best and I not have 2 lavenders (cruddy toe feathers but I hear this is somewhat normal for lavs) and 5 mottled black/whites with AMAZING feathers, even heavy on the middle toe already.


I'm not hugely interested in showing at this very second but figure if I'm going to bring animals into this world they might as well be quality and I figure I will show for fun one day.

For those of you who made it to the bottom of that long and rambling post, do you think there is any chance I might have some iffy birds that might be worth breeding to others one day? I am basically trying to talk myself out of the idea that I just made a huge mistake and am going to have to cull the whole lot of them unless I want to keep them away from the future roo and just keep them as pets.

Has anyone every had a nice surprise come out of a birdy gamble?

LOL..... well if its any comfort.... we did the same thing... got several that were ok but not great quality... once he started showing them, we upgraded to a pair that were good quality and started his show flock about 5 years ago from those birds, with a few thrown in here and there.... now 5 years or more later we have sold off as pets most of the non -quality birds.... but YES I think you can get a perfectly good quality bird from a hatchery gamble...or a breeder who just didnt wait long enough to see what they looked like... good news is they dont eat much..... but if you want to show, and breed.... talk to some quality breeders and get a trio or at least a pair of great quality birds and go from there.... much easier...and less frustrating.... terrible traits are the first ones to replicate it seems.... so start with good ones...