lydia - i sell most of them to be honest, i've only kept 4 of the past 100 or so ducklings, i do put some in the freezer as well.
these last two batches are my first lot hatched in a while with the females over 12 months, so they all look to be decent sized, so other than on colour its going to be hard to decide which ones to keep. i can only have two drakes and 8 ducks so if a young one is better than the parent i keep it and sell the parent. its taken 2 years to get to this stage and i'm thinking 3 more to get the colour and type i want to show them. its proving hard to breed out the white and keep size at the same time. i;ve got three more girls due to hatch over the next 3 weeks and that will be it for this season, its autumn here and the days are getting colder and shorter. i've got one last girl laying but they'll be gettng sold as fertile eggs, just dont have the room! all the girls are on their 3rd clutch as well so their all looking pretty skinny and ratty, they need a break![]()
you guys have the sepia gene over there although its apparently rare. most people think that the sepia gene is the same as bronze, some disagree, if not its very similar. we need some millionaire muscovy duck lover to travel the world and do some dna sampling of all the different colours.
They'd have to be a millionaire and really love Scovies, I didn't realize Muscovies were so popular over there, is it showing or food? or both. And you show yours thats gotta be fun, I've been to a couple shows but have never seen one Muscovy entered, course I don't go to many either or big shows. I also forgot ya'll are heading into fall and winter, hope you have a mild as one as we've had here this past winter, what a nice break.. I know you do a good job of taking care of your girls and ducks they all look healthy and if i had the room i'd sure have alot more than I do i just love the breed. All the best and keep showing them off i love to see them.