First egg from my Holderread birds!

[FenDruadin]

Yay! My April shipment of birds has begun laying! First small green egg this morning. I'm so excited!

Of course, my mature flock of hatchery birds has been laying all summer, so we have plenty of eggs. But it's always fun to see the first egg from a new batch. Now I need to do some separating so I can find out who is laying.

Also, need to thin out my drakes. I hate doing it, but they're driving the girls crazy. Anyone want a free drake? I have a gorgeous blue Holderread Runner that I'll give away to the right home... Takers?

 

[gofasterstripe]

I saw your add for your blue runner and your white drake. I was going to give you a shout in a few months when mine were up and older and see if you still had them. Im down 2 hours away from you in Laurens SC

 

[gofasterstripe]

Quote:
Oh...and if I did come up to buy ducks from you...I would probably come away with more than I was coming for, but hey, thats not a bad thing, plus I have the room, they can have the other side of the Duck House

 

[Sweetfolly]

No fair!

My Hookbills and Stanbridge Whites were hatched the same day as your Runners (and Magpies - did you end up keeping any of the Magpies? I remember you lost a few and you were starting to despair about them!), and not a single egg yet.

Not that I have them separated out for breeding or anything anyways. But I LOVE duck eggs....mmmm, fried in sandwiches...

 

[katharinad]

Nice. My ducks are playing mom etc, but no eggs yet. Shadow will be 5 month this Friday, and I keep on telling her to start or else.

The other girls are a month younger, so they are not getting the pet talk yet.

Just looked outside and they are playing with the impact sprinkler head. They figures out how to flip the switch to make it go the other way and vice versa. They a just such playful duckies. Yesterday I was sitting on the deck's stairs with a small bowl of peas. Sunshine, the boy, was all for it and decided that I do not need the bowl. So he grabbed the bowl and tried to pull it out of my hand. He is a little bit of a trouble maker, but sooooo sweeeeet.

 

[gofasterstripe]

Quote:

mmmmmm I could go a fried egg sandwich now, but add mushrooms on it and it goes down even better

 

[FenDruadin]

Thanks, guys! I haven't eaten the new eggs yet--I already had literally two dozen in my fridge from my mature girls, and I always eat the older ones first so I always have fresh eggs... so it'll be a bit before I get to the newbies, lol!

Annarie--I kept three magpie hens and a magpie drake. They are not laying yet. I'm keeping them until next Spring to see how I like them, but I really think I'm going to go back to strictly Runners. We'll see. I like the hardiness of the Runner and I like the fact that it's the one Runner hen who is laying first (I separated them last night to find that out)... but the magpies are so gorgeous it's hard to imagine parting with them. Don't despair, anyway--I'll bet your girls will be laying soon.

gofasterstripe--I got your email, thank you!! I responded by email but yeah, I think you'll like those two boys. Annarie has been posting about her Stanbridge whites (do you still have them?) and if I had enough space, etc., I'd probably order more, or if he'd been a hen I'd have kept him, but I just don't have room for a drake in a breed I'm not growing, unfortunately. I'm just delighted he's going where he'll be used and not into a stock pot--he's too pretty for that!

katherinad--I like the euphemistic "playing mom etc" lol! Mine are playing hussy etc, and even though I have more boys than girls, the girls will pile on top of each other and even stretch their little tails around to "mate" with each other. It's bizarre and funny. The sleek blue Runner from Holderread is everyone's favorite girl, and she seems to enjoy being the center of attention, but I feel sorry for the poor little plump magpie girls sometimes--they'll crouch down in the pool and stick their little tails up and their wings out and BEG for it, while ALL the boys and about half the girls are all tussling over that one blue Runner hen.

Anyway--thanks for all the feedback--and I look forward to meeting you, gofaster.

 

[gofasterstripe]

Thank You, I emailed you back and I have my directions printed out. If you could email me your phone number so I can get intouch with you as to when I can come up there that would be great. TY once again. Nicky xx