Help Create a Duck Breed Chart - spreadsheet gurus please stop in :D

[ShadyGlade]

Quote:
If you can separate them so that they cannot see OR hear the object of their desire they recover fairly quickly, however my personal experience has been that they run along the fence nearest where their 'beloved' is located and don't closely associate with who you've chosen as their mate if they can see or hear them. I have definitely made certain for several breeding seasons now to have my birds separated well before the breeding season's pull can be felt. It saves them and me a lot of heartache, low fertility eggs and escaped birds. That said you can also re-match even the geese if you do it in the off season and they don't hear or see each other. Good luck!

 

[barnwife]

Well, then....I guess I am just gonna have to wait until next season b/c my girls are LOUD and I do not have acreage enough to separate them quite that far apart. lol

Looks like I will have fawn and white runner over cayuga & black runner (have seen mating)

crested buff orpington over pekin

black runner over pekin (different pekin lady)

and one of my still young fawn and white runners chose a fawn and white runner female...YAY!


Still up for grabs by the boys...blue swedish (2), snowy mallard, crested mallard, regular mallard

Boys left to pick...snowy mallard, roeuen, crested black runner, buff orpington (non crested)

The rouen is starting to pair off with the two blue swedes, they chill together......even though he is still not in adult plumage... I guess some go off a little early, eh?

I guess this will DEFINATELY ensure no inbreeding, eh?

 

[Wifezilla]

LOLOL...a very genetically diverse flock

I bet any mutts you hatch out will be adorable

 

[ShadyGlade]

Most of our ducks with personality to spare are 'mutt ducks'. We have a separate area for the ducks that we keep only because we like them. Not part of any particular breeding group just 'pets'.

 

[barnwife]

I think I might have to do the same lol.

I just put up some of the bones for my breeder pens. I have decided I am going to pair up my buff orps with my pekins...at least they are both meat breeds lol.

I don't know which others to pick for themselves...maybe I will let my 9 yo decide for me.

Couldn't get much better, eh?


I have another question...in my breeder trio of fawn runner drake with cayuga and black runner hens....
the black runner hen instigates...or seems to instigate, each private moment!

she (shadow is her name) does the sexy-duck machine gun sounding quack, bob her neck in an x pattern, and then jimbob( the fawn n white drake...hubby picked the name) joins in..and the cayuga just waits for them to finish and a minute or two later jimbob is courting her. She is so regal, just waiting for her turn and so sophisticated about the whole affair lol.

In other ducks...does the female often instigate?

Thanks!

 

[ShadyGlade]

I have one female who initiates her encounters in that way and another who stands up strait and runs when any of the drakes grab hold. LOL I love watching the ducks.

 

[Wifezilla]

My Lana is a shameless hussy

 

[barnwife]

yay for shameless hussy ducks! That means more baby duckies, right?

Either that or lazy boy ducks......but my Jimbob is ALWAYS alert, especially tot he other drakes coming withing a certain distance of HIS cayuga and black runner females....OY!

Maybe he is too tired to start the dance, but cannot resist once he sees they are "in the mood"

 

[Anny]

we still have some empty spaces on the chart, can any one help fill them in?

 

[BeccaOH]

I like your spreadsheet very much.

I just got 3 Welsh Harlequin because I liked what I read on the Metzer Hatchery site. Here is the info copied out.

http://www.metzerfarms.com/welshhar.htm
"The Welsh Harlequin is a fairly new breed, developed by Leslie Bonnett in Wales from two off-colored Khaki Campbell ducklings in 1949. They came to the United States in 1968 and were accepted into the American Poultry Association in 2001 in the Light Duck class. They are becoming a very popular breed due to their multipurpose characteristics. They have excellent egg production abilities due to their Khaki Campbell background yet retain the instinct to sit and hatch a nest full of ducklings. They are calm, inquisitive and excellent foragers. They seem the be the calmest bird our farm. They can also make an outstanding dressed bird as their underfeathers are almost exclusively white making their carcass as pretty as a pure white bird. Interestingly, they can be sexed after hatching with 90% accuracy by their bill color. Darker bills mean a male and lighter bills ending in a dark spot are normally females. Within several days this distinction disappears. They are also a beautiful bird, especially the feather patterns and colors on the adult females."

I like that they lay lots of eggs like KC, but will go broody. They are cute ducklings, which I have pictures to prove.