First time duck owner

[season1223]

And being an X she won't have leg problems right?  Look at those eggs they are huge.

She actually can have leg problems because shes so big but she does pretty good! She gets lots of exercise hanging out with the duck all day!

 

[Miss Lydia]

She actually can have leg problems because shes so big but she does pretty good! She gets lots of exercise hanging out with the duck all day!

Well that's good. maybe one of these days you'll find her in the pool swimming with the duck. lol

 

[neil williamson]

I have two geese and four ducks bought from just out of eggs they are as tight a family as you could find. both ducks and geese are very social and should never be kept single. You better believe they will move to that big pond you will have to fence them in. Watch out for dogs and foxs I have lost a goose and ducks to both. Good luck to you if you want to call me my phone is 850 364 9209

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Quote: I kept a CX (cornish Cross) hen for almost 3 years. They do lay HUGE eggs, usually double yolkers. If you raise them and treat them like a normal chicken, they do pretty well. LilX would roost at night, foraged for bugs and was part of my mixed flock. And I did hatch several of her chicks! I had to be selective to be sure I didn't set the double yolked eggs. This last spring, she prolapsed. I did treat her but she didn't recover.

Quote: Yes, thats very true. If drakes are around chicken hens, and raised up with them, they will mate and kill the hens, different "plumbing". My scovy drakes are too big to catch a chicken hen and really don't seem interested. I had a mixed breed black drake, mallard derived, that did get one of my hens, made the mistake of raising him up with chicks. He went to the freezer. Any human aggressive rooster here, or any species aggressive male, goes. There are so many nice roos out there, and usually free its not worth the injuries and risk. One thing I have learned too, If you have multiple roos in your flock, and plenty of hens, roosters just don't get human aggressive. they are too busy being a rooster! I also handle them a LOT as chicks, and randomly grab up my adult fellas every day. I have a large mixed flock (currently well over 100 birds), several species of birds from geese to quail. The only species that don't free range or comingle are my quail.

 

[Lynn Manes]

Nice size egg looking at it I would have said duck egg.  If you leave a few real eggs that will give them even more of a hint. 

Yeah! I just found out shes a meat bird! but with her puttin out eggs like that i gotta keep her around as long as i can! Shes my fave! Shes so fat and lovable and i love the way she loves me! Her eggs swallow the ducks eggs...when theyre like this one! On a normal day theyre about the same size tho! This is her 3rd giant egg out of the 7 shes laid so far and i have 8 duck eggs so far too! Woohoo! This is sooo exciting!

Haha! I took the pic upside down but i think u can still see em! White r my ducks and brown r chick peas! I actually have to keep the 3 in the front (or top of this pic) in a bowl cuz the carton won't close with em in there! It's a grade A large egg container too!

Wow those eggs look huge? Did you weigh them to see how many ounces they are? Are you saying the white eggs on the bottom row are duck eggs? They look way small in comparison to the giant ones. My duck eggs from my young duck are 3 oz eggs which to me are still fairly small for duck eggs. She's only been laying for a month too.Those giant chicken eggs must be double yolkers for sure! Poor Chickpea (love her name btw). Those must have given her an "Ouch".lol Congrats on the eggs

 

[season1223]

I kept a CX (cornish Cross) hen for almost 3 years. They do lay HUGE eggs, usually double yolkers. If you raise them and treat them like a normal chicken, they do pretty well. LilX would roost at night, foraged for bugs and was part of my mixed flock. And I did hatch several of her chicks! I had to be selective to be sure I didn't set the double yolked eggs. This last spring, she prolapsed. I did treat her but she didn't recover.
Yes, thats very true. If drakes are around chicken hens, and raised up with them, they will mate and kill the hens, different "plumbing". My scovy drakes are too big to catch a chicken hen and really don't seem interested. I had a mixed breed black drake, mallard derived, that did get one of my hens, made the mistake of raising him up with chicks. He went to the freezer. Any human aggressive rooster here, or any species aggressive male, goes. There are so many nice roos out there, and usually free its not worth the injuries and risk. One thing I have learned too, If you have multiple roos in your flock, and plenty of hens, roosters just don't get human aggressive. they are too busy being a rooster! I also handle them a LOT as chicks, and randomly grab up my adult fellas every day. I have a large mixed flock (currently well over 100 birds), several species of birds from geese to quail.  The only species that don't free range or comingle are my quail.

Aw! Thats makes me feel good to know ur CX lived to 3yrs! She was the one i saved when she got eaten up with flies/maggots! It was 4 days of digging em all out of her and keeping her clean to 3 1/2 weeks of being an inside chicken so she could heal...bathing her and tending to her wounds! We bonded alot during that time! She has complete trust in me...she will come inside if i leave my front door open! It makes the duck crazy! Lol! She trusts me but shes still very cautious and doesn't like it when chick pea isn't! Quackers will try to usher her bk ...it's really funny! I wish chick pea would get in the pool with quackers...chick pea is a dirty bird! She hangs out in the mud holes with quackers all the time.::shes always dirty! I have to bring her inside and bath her in the tub! She tries to drink out of the stream of water shooting from the shower head (its a hand held) like a dog trying to drink from the water hose! It's hillarious! I have vowed to go ahead and process her for her meat as soon as i notice her having health issues so she doesn't suffer...even tho it will break my heart...but until then im gonna love her to pieces! I bet having 100 birds is fun and alot of work! My friend has around 50 with several of them being babies...just chickens but several different kinds of chickens...they r so much fun to watch! I love watchin mine too! I swear they talk to each other!

 

[season1223]

Both of my girls r laying their eggs in the new box now! Found the ducks egg in there this morning and chick pea laid hers in there a little bit ago! My girls r sooo smart! Even the banties have been going in there so maybe mama will start laying again soon! She has 10 boxes all to herself that shes not using! Lol!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Both of my girls r laying their eggs in the new box now! Found the ducks egg in there this morning and chick pea laid hers in there a little bit ago! My girls r sooo smart! Even the banties have been going in there so maybe mama will start laying again soon! She has 10 boxes all to herself that shes not using! Lol!

Congrats!! seems mine will all line up to use the same nest box if an egg is already in there. Silly girls.

 

[season1223]

Haha

Wow those eggs look huge? Did you weigh them to see how many ounces they are? Are you saying the white eggs on the bottom row are duck eggs? They look way small in comparison to the giant ones. My duck eggs from my young duck are 3 oz eggs which to me are still fairly small for duck eggs. She's only been laying for a month too.Those giant chicken eggs must be double yolkers for sure! Poor Chickpea (love her name btw). Those must have given her an "Ouch".lol Congrats on the eggs

Haha! I cracked and cooked the smallest of the big eggs and it was a twin yolk so im sure the other 2 big ones r too! I didnt weigh them but I measured them...the 2 biggest ones r 3 inches long an 2 inches wide and the one that was just slightly smaller (twin that i cooked this morning) was 2 3/4 inches long and 1 7/8 inches wide! & yes all of the white eggs along the bottom & right side of the pic r duck eggs...the rest r chick peas! They both laid their eggs in the new box today and when I went to put them up tonight chick pea was already in bed...i told the duck it was time to come in and went to get my son to help me get her & by the time we got bk out she had done gone in and got in bed with chick pea so theyre both sleeping in it too! im glad they like it!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Both of my girls r laying their eggs in the new box now! Found the ducks egg in there this morning and chick pea laid hers in there a little bit ago! My girls r sooo smart! Even the banties have been going in there so maybe mama will start laying again soon! She has 10 boxes all to herself that shes not using! Lol!

Be sure to keep a few fakes, or leave eggs a day so they keep it up. Awesome job, WTG!

Quote: here too, I have a duck and turkey hen brooding eggs in the same nest. Its a dresser drawer out of an old dresser we threw out.

Haha
Quote: I got a few triple yolks from LilX. Incredibly large eggs! I have an old cell phone so use a camera when I do pictures. I am awful remembering to take new pictures for posting pics lol. I have a lot of new ducklings and haven't posted updates in ages, my geese either.