My duck is a breeding-machine :D :P

[chickens really]

She is 7 months now. Laying 3 months. The first week 4 eggs, and after that daily. Now 2 eggs daily since a bit more then twee weeks.

Still considered a new layer. The first year anything is possible.

 

[Loopeend]

She isn't ugly at all.
All Ducks and Chickens until the egg machine matures can lay pretty strange eggs and two eggs in one day. It won't last long though.

Booohooo :'( You shattered my dream! I was hoping it would last forever.

Ugly..I guess it is a matter of opinion and/or what you want to breed. She is just too small and her posture and pose is way off what you want to see in a show. And she has a lot of flaws in the white parts. Really unsymetrical in colour pattern. I know it sounds silly and rude to call a being ugly, but she can't read and doesn't care anyway haha. And it might also have to do with what is available. There are a lot of colours of runners on here I'm drooling over and thinking it is really pretty, because they are just not obtainable here. The colours here are limited, and thus maybe my fixation on the 'right kind of blue' might be more strict. For example; fawn & whites, one of the original duck colours, is nowhere to be found here. Neither are apricot/blaugelb. I found some in Germany and in the UK I sometimes think of to pick up. But I can't breed all the colours, not enough room at this moment. So I decided to focus on black, blue and white, un-bibbed. 50 procent of the ducks available here are white, and 30 procent black pied (like a cow), 15 procent blue or black bibbed, 5 procent wild-coloured or trout. Is a really rough estimate of the colours available.

 

[DuckyDonna]

Well, I think your little duck is beautiful just the same! I hope you don't eat her!

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Bah! Show Ducks! - Humbug!

I have seen too many sick and (imho!) disabled cats that were purrfect show-standard, persians in example that could only breath through their mouths because their shortened noses.
Just don't care about show-standards, just breed healthy and happy ducks with lot's of character and they will lay tons of eggs for you.

 

[Miss Lydia]

@Loopeend are both her eggs of good shell quality? I’ve never heard of a duck taking as long as a year to work out their kinks in laying maybe so though I am going to see if I can find some info on that. But you absolutely sure it’s just her laying 2 eggs a

 

[Loopeend]

Bah! Show Ducks! - Humbug!

I have seen too many sick and (imho!) disabled cats that were purrfect show-standard, persians in example that could only breath through their mouths because their shortened noses.
Just don't care about show-standards, just breed healthy and happy ducks with lot's of character and they will lay tons of eggs for you.

I agree. I am aware of terrible dogs and cats that are bred here, in my opinion. It maddens me, everytime an aquiantance gets an cat or dog with a flat nose, brains too big for the head, etc. They now breed cats with short legs that can't jump on anything, but it looks so cuuuute! (sigh). And those bulldogs that can't even mate or deliver...they need IVF and a c-section... I have bred rats with a pedigree. Rats where bred from 7 yeard old age to max 3+ allways dieing of cancer, through two decades, due to bad breeding. Some people breed naked rats or rats without a tail, which sorta works like the thing in ducks with an extra hair-piece; it can be lethal. Yuk.
I want to do that differently. My ducks are getting a pedigree, ringed, vaccinated, everything. They breed Indian runner ducks here now in a way that I can foresee the same future as for rats. People just 'do' stuff, not thinking about anything, breeding them in with whatever duck, not really caring about their health. I bought the Dutch websites about Runner ducks for that purpose I'm dead serious in becoming the first one that looks at health and characters in Indian runners, ánd looks, they have to be Indian runners. (I'm not competing in shows, we don't have them here, I could participate but this ugly duckling here would even win 1st prize since she is the only Indian runner, and even the only duck..lol)
Just like rats, I want to breed on health and character. Looks and egg-laying second. I want to breed the best on all fronts; this one made-up with her bad look due to her really tame and intelligent character. We had to say goobye to a lot more that where higher on looks and had an okay character, but she slipped through because we hope she will pass her unique character and intelligence on. But she's still ugly.

 

[Loopeend]

@Loopeend are both her eggs of good shell quality? I’ve never heard of a duck taking as long as a year to work out their kinks in laying maybe so though I am going to see if I can find some info on that. But you absolutely sure it’s just her laying 2 eggs a

Hi! Came back for an update.
Yes they are of very good shell quality (and tasty). And we are sure it are hers. We only have two ducks left now due to circumstances (a looooot of males born). A white bigger one that allways lays big white high eggs, and this one that lays smaller and rounder green eggs. And due to our coop where we can look at them through our window, we can actually see her do it.
She is still doing it by the way. She has 8 hours in between after the first and second approxamilly. It depends if the other duck needs to lay, they keep guard for the other one when laying. They both lay around 00.00 and she does a second one around 08.00.

She hasn't changed in health or eating-habbits or anything. Seems to be just a happy active duck that lays two eggs a day.

 

[Loopeend]

I'm starting to feel that this is not a weird temporary kink. I posted the last message on december 16. And they are solid good eggs. She never has laid wind-eggs (don't know the English word, it might be the same word?). Just started with a smaller egg with black dust on it, that week two more with less black dust, and being a steady daily egg-layer with the size it is now from them. Chicken-egg size. The white ones are a tad too high to fit in a chiken-egg-carton.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Well just keep up with her good feed and oyster shell or some type of calcium to keep her bones strong, and of course her shells too. Hopefully she'll gradually get her system kinks worked out or this is just the norm for her. Main thing is her health which sounds good for now.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

I agree. I am aware of terrible dogs and cats that are bred here, in my opinion. It maddens me, everytime an aquiantance gets an cat or dog with a flat nose, brains too big for the head, etc. They now breed cats with short legs that can't jump on anything, but it looks so cuuuute! (sigh). And those bulldogs that can't even mate or deliver...they need IVF and a c-section... I have bred rats with a pedigree. Rats where bred from 7 yeard old age to max 3+ allways dieing of cancer, through two decades, due to bad breeding. Some people breed naked rats or rats without a tail, which sorta works like the thing in ducks with an extra hair-piece; it can be lethal. Yuk.
I want to do that differently. My ducks are getting a pedigree, ringed, vaccinated, everything. They breed Indian runner ducks here now in a way that I can foresee the same future as for rats. People just 'do' stuff, not thinking about anything, breeding them in with whatever duck, not really caring about their health. I bought the Dutch websites about Runner ducks for that purpose I'm dead serious in becoming the first one that looks at health and characters in Indian runners, ánd looks, they have to be Indian runners. (I'm not competing in shows, we don't have them here, I could participate but this ugly duckling here would even win 1st prize since she is the only Indian runner, and even the only duck..lol)
Just like rats, I want to breed on health and character. Looks and egg-laying second. I want to breed the best on all fronts; this one made-up with her bad look due to her really tame and intelligent character. We had to say goobye to a lot more that where higher on looks and had an okay character, but she slipped through because we hope she will pass her unique character and intelligence on. But she's still ugly.

No she is not ugly!!!
People don't have to live with the, sometimes ugly, consequences for the health of their creations. Would they suffer from a deformed nose, because it's »breed standard« they would think different. At the moment i am not planning to breed ducks, bought them for eggs, have been captured by their personality and they became pets; But it is good to know that there are people out there like you who think out of the box and have an interest in our animal's health. I really like "Ugly Duck"!