Mixed duck flock?

[Krazyquilts]

No preference.  The magpie mutts are distinct looking, so each is more individual (good for naming if that's your thing)  I think that the harlequin are the prettiest.  The khaki campbell is my least favorite, but he's done nothing especially wrong to earn that distinction.

I'd love to see pictures of your magpie mutts.

 

[wcbpolish]

I'd love to see pictures of your magpie mutts.

Here is part of the flock. You can see one of the magpie mutts 4th from the left. Her spots are mallard-colored. Some of them have black spots and some have blue spots. The drake on the ice is from the same stock.

I put duck eggs in the incubators this morning. 22 in the 'bator at home, 12 in the 'bator in my classroom for the students to watch. I'll probably add the eggs laid today to the 'bator at home this evening. They'll be ~12 hours behind the rest, but should be fine. I didn't add them right away this morning because I wanted to let the fresh eggs "rest" and cool down before putting them in the incubator.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Here is part of the flock. You can see one of the magpie mutts 4th from the left. Her spots are mallard-colored. Some of them have black spots and some have blue spots. The drake on the ice is from the same stock.

I put duck eggs in the incubators this morning. 22 in the 'bator at home, 12 in the 'bator in my classroom for the students to watch. I'll probably add the eggs laid today to the 'bator at home this evening. They'll be ~12 hours behind the rest, but should be fine. I didn't add them right away this morning because I wanted to let the fresh eggs "rest" and cool down before putting them in the incubator.

Beautiful flock.

 

[wendy123]

Hi, I'm new at this. Can you tell me the proper temp and humidity in the incubator?

 

[Poultry4Life]

The only thing is that if they mate then they will create mule ducks.

 

[Krazyquilts]

What striking ducks! Seeing what mixed breed ducklings will grow up to look like must be really fun.

 

[Krazyquilts]

I have 1 splash Swedish, 3 buffs, and 2 pekins. They get along great and they room with my two silkie chickens. Mixed flock is the way to go!

I was thinking about maybe getting a couple silkie chickens to act as brood hens if none of my ducks decide to go broody in a timely manner. Have you used yours for that?

 

[Ashleymarie529]

My silkies haven't started laying yet, so no broodiness yet. But they are renowned mothers even for ducks eggs, geese eggs, etc. I looooove their temperament

 

[BigWeenMachine]

We've got anconas, magpies, blue swedes, runners, cayugas, khaki campbells, buff orpingtons and a slew of mixed breed ducks living together and they do fine. Every now and then you get an aggressive male, ours is the blue swede, but they find their pecking order and then get along fine.

 

[BigWeenMachine]

Hi, I'm new at this. Can you tell me the proper temp and humidity in the incubator?

99.5 F for first 25 days, then drop it to 98 for hatching during the last 3 days. People will tell you anywhere between 40 & 55% humidity for the first 25 days but try to go closer to the 40%. If you run it at 55% you will end up with a bunch of fully developed eggs that don't hatch because they drown in their shells during the last week of incubation. Look up an air sac chart so you know how large the air sac should be at varying stages of the incubating development; if your air sac is too small then lower your humidity a few %, and if it's too big, raise it just a lil bit. Careful when you raise the humidity though: raise it too much, too fast, and you're creating a haven for bacteria and risk losing the entire hatch. Last 3 days, bump your humidity up to 70-75% for hatching. That can be tough, especially in a dryer climate, so I suggest putting a folded paper towel into your water source, and let the right amount of the towel hang outside the bowl until the humidity gets just right. That increases the water surface in the bator which in turn produces more humidity. Good luck!