My Love Affair With Ducks...

[Mimi13]

@Mimi13 Sometimes you can get lucky with hatching. Last hatch my wife picked out 7 eggs. Runner dad with moms being Pekin, Rouen, and K/C. 2 Pekin eggs, 3 Rouen eggs, 2 K/C eggs. The result was 4ducks and 1 drake. one K/C passed during lockdown. The other got its bill out but did not make it. Pekins and Rouens did and now I owe her 80 $.

Well I’ll have to say those ARE good numbers! Now, I suggest you pay up!

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Well it’s good to have you back @Magnolia Ducks. Just a bunch of duck talk going on! Some people might call it nonsense.

My luck in hatching chicks, with both incubator and broody, is less than desirable. My cockerel to pullet ratio is completely lop-sided, unfortunately. There is no doubt if I hatched ducks my luck wouldn’t differ. Even though I do slaughter my excess cockerels, #1 - I’m not familiar enough yet with how to dispatch ducks (from what I have read, there’s a lot more that goes into plucking them too), #2 - I’m not sure my family will even eat duck (my DH would though. He’s been to China many times and that’s mostly what he eats when there.), and #3 - I cannot get past the precious faces. I think I’d have a hard time actually dispatching them.

#3 is the main reason why i am stuck with the drakes. Especially the last three have so sweet faces, i'd love to grab'em and cuddle them! - They would likely have a heart attack though…
I do eat duck, just not my duck(s). - Love Pekin duck - the dish!

 

[Texag87]

#3 is the main reason why i am stuck with the drakes. Especially the last three have so sweet faces, i'd love to grab'em and cuddle them! - They would likely have a heart attack though…
I do eat duck, just not my duck(s). - Love Pekin duck - the dish!

Duck is good but what I saw yesterday really tempted me. The feed store did not have ducklings. They had chicks(meh) and quail Hatchlings. Quail tastes really good but then ration overcame me. I don’t know how I would house them once they are brooded. I just know it would be easier to harvest them than ducks.

 

[Mimi13]

I just know it would be easier to harvest them than ducks.

Most definitely. They just have regular bird faces, to me anyway.

 

[Texag87]

We had Coveys of them on the farm when I was growing up. Hunted and killed just enough each year to have a good meal or two, but took care not to over harvest.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

It's hot. But the ducks are happy. My WH Saxony that I hatched are beauuuuutiful. As usual, I have too many drakes. Luckily all but Quatro are under six months so corkscrew application is at a minimum. I do have to yell don't rape the babies a couple times a day.

Yes, the curse of the drakes! - Somewhere i read that if you set the temperature in the incubator ½° (Celsius!) too hot, the male embryos will die, while the females survive. Don't know if that's true and it certainly won't work with a broody duck.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Duck is good but what I saw yesterday really tempted me. The feed store did not have ducklings. They had chicks(meh) and quail Hatchlings. Quail tastes really good but then ration overcame me. I don’t know how I would house them once they are brooded. I just know it would be easier to harvest them than ducks.

Never had quail, it is almost unobtainable in Europe for the common man.
What i always wanted to try are Partridge.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

We had Coveys of them on the farm when I was growing up. Hunted and killed just enough each year to have a good meal or two, but took care not to over harvest.

What are Coveys?

 

[Magnolia Ducks]

Flocks. Quail flocks are called coveys

 

[Mimi13]

Yes, the curse of the drakes! - Somewhere i read that if you set the temperature in the incubator ½° (Celsius!) too hot, the male embryos will die, while the females survive. Don't know if that's true and it certainly won't work with a broody duck.

It may not work, but it’s certainly worth a try with chicken eggs in an incubator! <rubbing greedy little hands and laughing maniacally>