My Love Affair With Ducks...

[jaykayhuff]

Yes, I am now trying to figure out the best time to let them out of their “house” part into their run, and then when to let them out into the yard. The “ducks’ way of life” is all wonky to me, but hopefully I figure it out someday.

I wish I did know more about what color egg each breed lays, but the hatchery websites don’t offer much on that.
These are just my two cents worth on the breed characteristics of the ones I purchased. Now bear in mind I wanted ducks that would be PETS.

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White Layer (Petey) — Loud, very personable and very gregarious and very head strong. I‘m not sure I’d call her “sweet,” necessarily. She is a clumsy duckdozier.​

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Buff Orpington (Peaches) — Sweet, but not personable at all. Stays way off to the side when the others come to get hand treats.​

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Welsh Harlequin (Quinny) — Loud, gorgeous feathering, seems a bit aloof, although not as much as the Buff Duck.​

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Runners (Ralphie and Hershey) — Loud, funny, sweet, personable, somewhat clumsy.​

I chose the Buff Orpington Duck because I thought she would be like my Buff Orpington hens. They are the BEST large fowl for a PET chicken. (Don’t know anything about Silkies. They are probably good pets, too.) They are nothing alike, so far anyway.

The Runners I almost didn’t choose because of some of the write ups I had read.They’ve been the best so far and get my Favorite .

The White Layer I chose because my grandson wanted a duck like his daddy had had briefly, named Petey, of course. His was a Pekin though.

Your ducks are just one week behind mine. I purchased mine from Metzer Farms. Where did you get yours and what breeds again?

Well the more I’ve been reading lately, the more I’ve realized that some breeds can lay a variety of colors of eggs. So that will make things interesting! Lol

Your Buff sounds like mine. Just likes to observe from a distance. Haha

My momma’s boy (Welsh Harlequin), who was an only duck child for several months is definitely not like your Quinny. His umbilical chord is still attached and I can’t go anywhere without him. He’s psycho!

I tried incubating several runners last year but unfortunately it took two attempts before I realized something was wrong with my incubator. Last year I ended up with Petrie (psycho Welsh Harlequin) and after purchasing a new incubator I hatched 3 Cayuga and 1 Buff. ALL DRAKES!

That is why I went ahead and had females shipped this spring. I use Metzer as well.

I will say that females are waaaay crazier!
I ended up with:

Silver Appleyard “Amelia”- who is super sweet and will climb all over you and will eat EVERYTHING IN SIGHT

Saxony “Stella & Cybil”- those two are like cats but with feathers. They get into everything, knock stuff over, pick fights and don’t care about anyone but themselves. They are VERY friendly though.

Welsh Harlequins “Lucy & Blue” - now my girls sound more like yours. They are super skiddish and one wanders off alone all the time. They are pretty but not near as fun as my drake was. And they are LOUD! Haha

Today is their 18 week mark and no eggs... just poop and old lady cackles...

 

[jaykayhuff]

The eye stripes are my WH Saxonys View attachment 2282023

Gorgeous!!!!!

 

[duluthralphie]

Thank you very much! - I have not found that word in any dictionary.

I was left speechless when you didn’t know what a covey was. I thought you knew everything, I did and more.

I have used that word since I was a young kid, but I grew up with hunters so that could be why.

Here is the definition I found:

I have never heard it used to describe 2 birds, or school kids.

But the words to describe multiple birds is confusing.

a flock of dux. A raft of dux when on water..

a murder of crows..


I think it should be a flock of crows and a murder of dux.

 

[Mimi13]

Well the more I’ve been reading lately, the more I’ve realized that some breeds can lay a variety of colors of eggs. So that will make things interesting! Lol

Your Buff sounds like mine. Just likes to observe from a distance. Haha

My momma’s boy (Welsh Harlequin), who was an only duck child for several months is definitely not like your Quinny. His umbilical chord is still attached and I can’t go anywhere without him. He’s psycho!

I tried incubating several runners last year but unfortunately it took two attempts before I realized something was wrong with my incubator. Last year I ended up with Petrie (psycho Welsh Harlequin) and after purchasing a new incubator I hatched 3 Cayuga and 1 Buff. ALL DRAKES!

That is why I went ahead and had females shipped this spring. I use Metzer as well.

I will say that females are waaaay crazier!
I ended up with:

Silver Appleyard “Amelia”- who is super sweet and will climb all over you and will eat EVERYTHING IN SIGHT

Saxony “Stella & Cybil”- those two are like cats but with feathers. They get into everything, knock stuff over, pick fights and don’t care about anyone but themselves. They are VERY friendly though.

Welsh Harlequins “Lucy & Blue” - now my girls sound more like yours. They are super skiddish and one wanders off alone all the time. They are pretty but not near as fun as my drake was. And they are LOUD! Haha

Today is their 18 week mark and no eggs... just poop and old lady cackles...

Okay, I’m not gonna lie, I am sitting in “everyone’s favorite room of the house to read” and read your post. I burst out laughing at your descriptions of all your ducks. My time in here this morning was nowhere near serene.

You mentioned one thing about the WH that I had forgotten. Every time I’m outside I always look for every duck, I’m not sure why, but I do. Generally they are all together, but more often than not there are only four, which then leaves me hunting for — you guessed it — Quinny. She is generally off to herself, whether she’s foraging or just asleep somewhere. She is small and can seem to blend in with the surroundings very well. I start calling for her. Now she doesn’t know her name, but she usually responds with a “medium” quack (on a scale of quiet to loud). I’m thankful she does quack because there have been times I don’t think I would have found her. She is safe in my yard, but it still scares me that she is off by herself.

I had also gotten a Saxony, but she must have had shipping stress and died a few days after I received them. She would have been so beautiful. I love the stripes over their eyes! Your description of yours sounds hilarious.

I don’t know if what I do is a good thing or not, but every time Ralphie runs up by me and in front of me, I pick him up. I usually will then sit down with him (with a towel in my lap) and he doesn’t complain at all. I will love on him and give him bunches of kisses. He just settles down in my lap and will sometimes close his eyes while I’m petting him. I love being able to do that, even though it may come back to bite me in the butt when one day out of the blue he attacks me.

I forgot to mention about the eggs. I’m curious about what you said. I can’t figure out who laid what and it’s about to kill me. And, I’ve been leaving them up every morning, and Petey has yet to lay another egg, after her first 4-5, unless hers changed colors and she’s now laying the cream colored ones.

 

[Mimi13]

I think it should be a flock of crows and a murder of dux.

Okay, I literally was not expecting that one. You caught me off guard!

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

There was a thread on here a while back (I’ve honestly lost track of all time because of this Covid crap) where a woman incubated an egg under her boobs — yeah, it was for real. And now seeing your post above where a man tried, I can only imagine where his eggs were tucked away! Yep, total idiot was correct!

I couldn't resist and asked my friend Google about »incubating chicks boobs« and yes, there were several threads here about that topic, but they mostly just faded away… Guess having a scrambled egg and sharp egg-shell shards at this part of your body is not a very pleasant experience.

I didn't want to offend the French, love their fries! (Even though those were invented in Belgium ) So changed the wording…

And no, that "genius" is not replacing his "eggs" with chicken eggs, it more looked like he pooped them out:

This is totally ludicrous! That guy has absolutely no idea how nature works and this is just a stunt of a meaningless person who wants to draw some attention. This is like me announcing that i will connect West Virginia to the Atlantic. Using a toy shovel…

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Our duck pool for the old ducks bit the dust today. When I brought out the new pool for them, the young ducks were terrified of the purple duck eater I was taking to the old duck Pen. They ran into fences and flew into trees. No injuries. The old ducks just wanted me to get the pool filled.

How dare!? - PINK! - I assume my drakes would refuse to hop into a pink pool!

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Yep, I can just picture that taking place. Kinda the same thing here when I brought in another PINK pool on top of my head. They all went berserk, running/flying for the hills!

What is that with you and @Texag87 ? - Pink pools are an eyesore and hurt the birds feelings!

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Two of my favorite people to watch on YouTube regarding dispatching and butchering chickens is John Suscovich and Joel Salatin. They both have a bunch of different videos. John Suscovich is my favorite!

I don’t have processing equipment other than a kill cone. I snagged DH’s turkey fryer for my scalder and I either hang them on a tree to pluck or lay them on the table to skin. Then I also eviscerate them there on the table I have set up for the whole process.

The two I did today about killed me. They were both full of pin feathers that were a booger trying to pull out. I gave up on one and skinned it, but I was able to keep the skin on the other. Young, tender chicken grilled with the skin on...there’s nothing better! Now I’m starving!

We once bought a chicken from that asian market, buying our duck eggs. As usual in asian markets the bird was sold plucked and bled out but otherwise complete. Feet, wings, organs and head were there. Its eyes were open, looking sad while it was laying in the kitchen sink. Somehow the chicken soup didn't taste right that evening. I guess that day i finally realized that those tasty chicken fajitas once had heads, legs and feathers… - I'm still a meat-eater, just a bit more conscient.

 

[Texag87]

The young flock has a pink pool. The old flock has a purple pool. I still have 2 pinks and one green in reserve