My Love Affair With Ducks...

[jaykayhuff]

@WannaBeHillBilly and @Magnolia Ducks, I guess my biggest concern, since I have no experience with ducks, is not being able to catch the “warning” signs of the beginnings of aggressiveness. I know I didn’t with my first cockerels. And I did all the wrong things, which only made it worse.

I certainly hope Ralphie is only wanting treats or loving. I actually held him a good while this afternoon (with a duck blanket on my lap) and believe it or not, he laid down and just let me love on him. I will never get tired of that.

My sweet baby drake went from being 1. glued to my ankle to 2. running out in front of me, like he wanted to lead the way to 3. charging at me but not doing anything once he got to me to 4. Full blown malicious raptor that has a passion for human flesh. It was awful until he got sick, then became my sweet little cuddle bug again. BUT NOW he’s better so back to jeans and boots the rest of the mating season Seems like there are different levels of aggressiveness in the males so hopefully your Ralphie doesn’t get past #3!

 

[duluthralphie]

Dux owners do not worry, if you have a Ralphie Dux, they will make things better..

 

[Mimi13]

My sweet baby drake went from being 1. glued to my ankle to 2. running out in front of me, like he wanted to lead the way to 3. charging at me but not doing anything once he got to me to 4. Full blown malicious raptor that has a passion for human flesh. It was awful until he got sick, then became my sweet little cuddle bug again. BUT NOW he’s better so back to jeans and boots the rest of the mating season Seems like there are different levels of aggressiveness in the males so hopefully your Ralphie doesn’t get past #3!

Weeeelllll now! You don’t say! And I don’t like what I hear, cause it sounds like Ralphie is following your numbered list. Oh.My.Lord! I’m a tad on the worried side now. I’ve been thinking his actions probably weren’t really on the sweet side. I’m just a dumb duck newbie and have been seeing some actions as sweet and not for what they actually are. As a matter of fact, today Ralphie got in several confrontations with the chickens. The majority of them were him chasing the chickens, however, I did catch my Rhode Island Red hen attack him once. He shook his head and went right on about his business, seemingly unaffected. Please keep your fingers crossed that Ralphie Dux stays on the straight and narrow!

 

[Mimi13]

Dux owners do not worry, if you have a Ralphie Dux, they will make things better..

I only hope you’re correct on this one Ralphie!

 

[duluthralphie]

I only hope you’re correct on this one Ralphie!

Have I ever been wrong?

Just ask my wife...

Of course, she lies, so I guess it’s best to just ask me..

 

[Mimi13]

I set my duckie alarm to 9 am. This is the ducks’ new time of being released from their house.

Today there was NO egg, but I had already let them out of their house. Well, my little sidekick had. But they are still in their run. Worst case scenario I guess is another egg in their pool I can fish for.

My question is, do ducks actually lay an egg every single day? I would have thought that NO they don’t, but since they are strict about laying between the early morning hours I just wasn’t sure.

Maybe this is the schedule: they lay Egg #1 at 4 am on Day #1, then Egg #2 at 6 am on Day #2, then Egg #3 at 8 am on Day #3, then skip Day #4 altogether. Up until today she had laid an egg on four consecutive days.

I’m just curious.

 

[duluthralphie]

I set my duckie alarm to 9 am. This is the ducks’ new time of being released from their house.

Today there was NO egg, but I had already let them out of their house. Well, my little sidekick had. But they are still in their run. Worst case scenario I guess is another egg in their pool I can fish for.

My question is, do ducks actually lay an egg every single day? I would have thought that NO they don’t, but since they are strict about laying between the early morning hours I just wasn’t sure.

Maybe this is the schedule: they lay Egg #1 at 4 am on Day #1, then Egg #2 at 6 am on Day #2, then Egg #3 at 8 am on Day #3, then skip Day #4 altogether. Up until today she had laid an egg on four consecutive days.

I’m just curious.

Dux are devious and evil. They will hold their egg until the most inconvenient time and place to drop them.

Think of them as a toddler before a long road trip that refuses to go to the bathroom. They will only need to go when it’s impossible to find a place to stop.

Actually, my studies on this subject show dux taught toddlers how to be obstinate.

 

[Mimi13]

Dux are devious and evil. They will hold their egg until the most inconvenient time and place to drop them.

Think of them as a toddler before a long road trip that refuses to go to the bathroom. They will only need to go when it’s impossible to find a place to stop.

Actually, my studies on this subject show dux taught toddlers how to be obstinate.

So what I gather you to be saying, Ralphie, is Ducks are very intelligent creatures and that cognitive functioning. You know, that is the nicest thing you’ve ever said about ducks. I will have to tell mine how highly you spoke of them. It no doubt will boost their self esteem.

 

[duluthralphie]

So what I gather you to be saying, Ralphie, is Ducks are very intelligent creatures and that cognitive functioning. You know, that is the nicest thing you’ve ever said about ducks. I will have to tell mine how highly you spoke of them. It no doubt will boost their self esteem.

They are very cognitive, but they use their “abilities” to sow evil and discord. Other than Ralphie Dux who have a highly developed sense of good and evil and fight evil at all costs.

Think of dux as ANTIFA with feathers.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

So, what I gather from this is, ducks will not give me the nice clean eggs I get from the majority of my chickens. Just like the one I got this morning was laid in the mucky spot right next to their water bucket.

Ninety percent or better of my chicken eggs I keep right on the counter and also sell them that way. No washing, no refrigeration. I don’t guess I’ll be so lucky with the ducks.

And, why in the world can’t they lay in a nest? Why do they make it so hard on the poor keepers?

Oh, and say it ain’t so! I want NO broody ducks! No, none, zilch, zero!

Ducks are never going to lay really clean eggs. Here are the eggs that i collected yesterday:

The really dirty egg at the left is the daily easter-egg, which was laid into the mudd around the outdoor-waterer. The gray spot on the egg at the right is a calcium-deposit, so both eggs are not "sell-quality", but will be used by us.
All the other eggs were laid into nests in the duck-house and on some of them a duck was trying to sit, even those are a bit dirty.
I wash all eggs thoroughly and store them in the fridge until they are being sold or eaten.