I did it! I took the plunge!!

[Bring]

I ordered ducklings today!! They should be here on the 30th! I found somebody on craigslist that went in on an order with me. I only wanted 3 and the hatchery would have charged $55-60 for them. I ended up ordering 5 and the other lady ordered 5. It only cost me $34.28!! I promised my husband that I would sell the other two at the poultry swap next month. What's a good price for them? I think I will either sell the Blue Indian runner and a Chocolate indian runner or 2 chocolate indian runners. We will see which one I take to the most. Anyway, just wanted to share the excitement. I have 8 chickens and these will be my first ducks. I'm so excited!

 

[duckboatprincess]

Just as a warning... once you get them, you won't be able to sell them!!

Enjoy... I love my duckies!

 

[Cetawin]

Congrats! And BTW...LOL you have 5 ducks! I told my husband I would butcher my extra drakes....Yeah uh huh I just built them their own bachelor domain.

Ummmm you will not sell them once you have them...if so, you are a better woman than 99.8% of us here.

 

[duckboatprincess]

Agreed... I told my DF that the first six would be it... I wouldn't want anymore than that. I just wanted those first six. Hehe... I've been up to 11 at one point and now... I've got an incubator! It's a sickness I'm warning you!

 

[Squirtchy2009]

Yup i can agree with everyone here and say once there yours, there yours, no chance of getting rid of them once there in your yard

 

[ktsmom]

congrats...good luck deciding which ones you want to get rid of! I told my hubby that I was only getting 5 ducks...I now have 8, and he's totally ok with us letting them have their own ducklings next spring...we tried this year, with only a little success, but then the 3 babies didn't make it after all. (he's also ok with me getting a few more ducks if we are not successful, and is ok with a few geese next spring as well) We will try again next spring, as I don't want babies over the cold months! It's hard enough keeping thawed out water for the adult ducks (not to mention the chickens and turkeys). I think 4 trips outside with warm water every time I change it (which during frozen months is 3 times a day) is quite enough!! But when the hose is thawed, no problems!!

 

[Bring]

My husband has been patient with me. We currently have 14 animals on the property and 3 children. He just built me a chicken coop for my 8 chickens too. He's been patient with me and I want to return the favor by keeping my word about selling the two ducklings. I know it will be hard, but it has to be done.

 

[miss_jayne]

well thank God. we've been waiting for you to give in! what took so long!

listen to duckboat. she knows what she's talking about. she has the disease almost as badly as i do...

how many ducks do i have anyway??? i can't remember. if they would hold still i would count them.....

 

[duckboatprincess]

I'm still coming over to take one of your hands... just tell me when!!

 

[geosheets]

yeah, yeah, yeah... even the men get attached... or is it OCD (obsessive compulsive ducksorder)? Last year I had 6 mallards and one by one they were killed... 3 by hawks and 3 by my stupid dogs. After dog/hawk proofing part of the yard, I started out this spring wanting to hatch a few turkeys for our son because he was obsessed with anything that hatches from eggs. Let's see, 6 free turkey eggs from a friend that raises turkeys and a homemade incubator. Hatched them and gave 'em back to my friend after a few weeks. Now it's time to really test the homemade incubator as my son wanted to hatch duck eggs. I bought 6 mallard eggs and they didn't develop. Hmmmm, let's try it again, I bought 10 more mallard eggs and a real incubator (gotta make the kid happy). Out of those 10, we hatched 1 mallard. Well, our son was disappointed, the duck was not yellow. I was sad that it didn't have a friend. So, off I go to a swap meet and bring home 2 more mallard ducklings about the same size. Somewhere during this time I ended up buying 10 mandarin eggs and had them in the incubator. Much to our surprise, 5 of the mandarins hatched and were thriving. Well, sometime after this, I ended up with 5 more mandarin ducklings and decided one of the mallard ducklings is actually a rouen. THEN, I joined BYC and I read about welsh harlequins, great egg layers, yellow ducklings (kid will be happy with that), and good temperment. Oh yeah, I bought 5 WH ducklings. In case you've lost track, I now have EIGHTEEN DUCKS!!! No, I won't butcher, sell, or willingly give up any of them.