I NEED ducks. UPDATED I bought Ducks

[jvls1942]

I have only had eggs from my muscovy ducks..they are nice sized eggs..

what size egg do Khaki 's lay? say, in comparison to chicken eggs??

If I were to have a lot of extra eggs, are there enough people who would want duck eggs?

I have no problem selling 5 doz chicken eggs per day. .

I like the idea of having extra large eggs for my customers..

 

[Dances with Ducks]

I have to say I have had the most confusing experience with this Khaki Campbell egg laying reputation. I have three hens of three different breeds. Runner, Campbell and Welsh Harlequin. All born April 2008.
Runner started laying green eggs at the end of August and laid till mid November, pretty spotty at the beginning and end of that period.

Campbell started Sept 23 and laid almost every day.
Welsh Harlequin started Oct 30 and laid almost every day.
I could tell their eggs apart because the Khaki's are a little bigger and slightly darker. December 7th I started to only find one egg a day and it looked like the Welsh Harlequin's but after a week I decided that couldn't be right, the Khaki's must be fading in color and smaller with the cold weather.

You see where this is going? So last FRiday no egg when I opened the Duck House, but the WH goes under the bushes making those broody noises and ten minutes later walks out and leave a warm egg!

It looked exactly like the only eggs I've been finding since December 7th!

So far my Welsh Harlequin is a MUCH better layer than my Campbell! That must just be unique to these two particular hens, although Holderread does say in his book WH egg production is "near or equal to bred to lay Campbells" Now I believe it.

 

[vfem]

Hi obsessed! I see ducks have sucked you in too! LOL

I wanted runners... they by far do amazing egg laying from all I had read about them. Sadly, I couldn't get my hands on any runners.... so I opted for Pekins. Besides, they turned out to be free.

So try your hand at some runners I think... not only gorgeous ducks, but great layers!

 

[obsessed]

Thanks everybody. I think I will get the 10 laying ducks. I told my husband that I had already bought them and he didn't freak out so I guess that was permission.
Vfem, I actually got the idea for duck eggs from my chicken buddy babyboy_mom1. She gave me a doz once and we were all amazed at how good them were.
I have also read that rabbits and ducks are better than rabbits and chickens. And my children are involuntarily donating their kiddie pool.
So think I will get a few of call and khiki.

Just in case I end up with a male. what age do you butcher them?

 

[obsessed]

I did it. I did it. I bought 7 of the hybrid layer ducks and 3 of the jumbo Pekins and 25 of the Cornish crosses. dang will hubby be suprised!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[nettie]

if you're really serious about eggs, you should just order ducklings from somewhere that sexes them. I know Metzer and Ideal poultry both sex ducklings and they are repuatble. I've ordered from both. Metzer charges a fee for each duckling sexed and Ideal charges different amounts for females/males. Remember if you go the straight run route, you might not get enough females. Khakis and runners are not good setters, they don't go broody very often, so if you want babies, you'll need a bator.

Also, remember call ducks are really loud a lot of the time, so make sure you don't have nieghbor's who can complain about the noise.