suzy4027
Chirping
My name is Suzy Davis and our family just jumped into backyard ducks. I'm so excited to have found this website! My neighbors have chickens and ducks. My fourth grade daughter, Cammie, fell in love with their ducklings and showed herself to be a duck whisperer! Lol. Even though we're in a neighborhood now, my husband and I both grew up on farms. Him on a dairy and me on a welsh pony/horse show farm. We have animal science degrees so this will be a breeze, right?! Riiiight... Lol My husband is the planner and I am the obsessive information gatherer. Before we bought some chicks, I poured over breeds that would work for us and this site has been the perfect resource! The first time we looked at ducklings, we didn't even know what a Rouen was, much less how to tell one from a mallard. We went to TSC and Orchliens (I know, I know
) and because of the breed info I found, got 2 Welsh Harlequens. They are so sweet and doing well. I wanted either a male and female, or 2 females. I could spot a female immediately, but wasn't sure if the rest were males. Their bills were darker, but some still had a pink tint. I went with the next lightest "dark" billed duck I saw. Luckily they were all in good health and bright eyed or we wouldn't have gotten ANY. (I have 13yrs experience working and selling pharms to vets) I'll post a pic on the duckling thread and see what the more experienced opinions say about their gender! My husband has already made a coop that's sturdy enough for a calf.
They won't be out there until they're fully feathered, don't worry. We're all in love already and the duckies love my daughter.
and Welcome To BYC!
