Pennsylvania!! Unite!!

[BullChick]

Mine do that from time to time. The roosters do too. I lost a whole flock because of it!
I can herd the ducks in most nights. If it’s happening night after night, I wait until they go in to eat. Then I shut them in for several days to refresh their memory of where they belong.

 

[HeartoftheMatterFarm]

Most of the time the duck will not go in the chicken coop. Its been at lest 3 months sence I seen the duck in the chicken coop. I mostly feed the duck outside. Maybe I need to feed them inside.

 

[OneMountainAcres]

Life got busy. I had the incubators off for a long while and just gave the chick room a thorough cleaning - the dust generated by the chicks is daunting sometimes.
One exciting project I have going is to make lavender frizzle cochin bantams. I have black frizzle roos in with the lavender hens I raised last year. Want to save a group of black frizzle girls to put back with a lavender cockerel to get the lavender frizzles.

That sounds like a really neat project! I'm also starting a project this year. I'm trying to create blue egg laying lavender show girls. I have a black showgirl in with the silkie feathered lavender ameraucanas right now. I'm curious how they will turn out

 

[dheltzel]

That sounds like a really neat project! I'm also starting a project this year. I'm trying to create blue egg laying lavender show girls. I have a black showgirl in with the silkie feathered lavender ameraucanas right now. I'm curious how they will turn out

Pretty cool. I have always assumed the gene for silkied in both the Ams and Silkies was the same, but it is possible they are not. If you get non-silkied chicks from that cross, that would be proof they are separate genes.
Blue eggs are dominant, so you will see some non-blue (light brown) eggs pop up in subsequent generations. This is particularly hard to cull out of the population because the rooster could be carrying 0,1 or 2 copies of the blue gene and the only way to know is a "test cross", put him over white egg layers, raise up all the pullets and see what they lay (hoping for all blue, of course). This is why you see very few new colors of Ameraucanas admitted to the SOP. Getting true breeding blue eggs is sort of the "luck of the draw".

 

[OneMountainAcres]

Pretty cool. I have always assumed the gene for silkied in both the Ams and Silkies was the same, but it is possible they are not. If you get non-silkied chicks from that cross, that would be proof they are separate genes.
Blue eggs are dominant, so you will see some non-blue (light brown) eggs pop up in subsequent generations. This is particularly hard to cull out of the population because the rooster could be carrying 0,1 or 2 copies of the blue gene and the only way to know is a "test cross", put him over white egg layers, raise up all the pullets and see what they lay (hoping for all blue, of course). This is why you see very few new colors of Ameraucanas admitted to the SOP. Getting true breeding blue eggs is sort of the "luck of the draw".

Well, we'll find out in another month or so if the gene is the same, provided my showgirl starts giving me eggs again lol. I know it's going to be a challenge to do but I think the end result will be worth it How have your silkie feathered am egg colors been? Mine are definitely much more blue than green so far this year. The one hen lays a deep almost teal blue. It's very pretty. I'm making one more cross back to a good type, smooth feathered roo, then I think I'm going to all silkie feathered.

 

[LittleMissPurdy]

Just checking in. I know I've been absent a lot. Started up the first incubator about 2 weeks ago and the hens are finally starting to lay better -- 41 eggs yesterday!
I am heading the the Farm Show today with lots of relatives. Looking forward to the poultry exhibit for sure.
Hope everyone is doing well and planning more poultry adventures for 2019.

So glad to see your here! Your ears must have been ringing...we've been wondering/asking about you
Have a great time at the Farm Show! Enjoy the family time too!!
Wish I was going, just not up t it this year.

 

[Brayjj]

This morning another duck was missing and its a male one. Hubby saw white feathers in the woods this morning. I think its time to go fox hunting. They use to come in at night with the chickens but for a couple months now they will not come in at night. What do I do?

Our geese will NOT go in at all on their own. Neither will the guineas. We have to chase the guineas in after dark as we’ve lost all our white and chocolate ones. Ugh! But with the geese we wait till after dark and lure them with food. I’m not sure if you could lure a duck the same way with food. Every single night it’s the same thing. You’d think they’d learn! Haha

I’m sorry for your loss. We had ducks years ago and the fox got them all, including our prized Silkie hens.

 

[dheltzel]

So glad to see your here! Your ears must have been ringing...we've been wondering/asking about you
Have a great time at the Farm Show! Enjoy the family time too!!
Wish I was going, just not up t it this year.

I enjoyed the farm show, but my feet were so sore! Definitely recommended to anyone that can attend.
I always enjoy the bantam ducks. My favorites were always the pastel and snowy calls. This year I realized I have the best of both those colors already in my Australian Spotted ducks, plus they lay and hatch so much better. I'm already getting 6 - 8 ducks eggs a day from the AS ducks.

Hey, anyone in the vicinity of Chester Co want a Royal Palm tom or Welsh Harlequin drakes? I have lots of extra roos too, but those I generally set free on the farm. The ducks and turkeys are not good candidates for that.

 

[LittleMissPurdy]

I enjoyed the farm show, but my feet were so sore! Definitely recommended to anyone that can attend.
I always enjoy the bantam ducks. My favorites were always the pastel and snowy calls. This year I realized I have the best of both those colors already in my Australian Spotted ducks, plus they lay and hatch so much better. I'm already getting 6 - 8 ducks eggs a day from the AS ducks.

Hey, anyone in the vicinity of Chester Co want a Royal Palm tom or Welsh Harlequin drakes? I have lots of extra roos too, but those I generally set free on the farm. The ducks and turkeys are not good candidates for that.

Curiosity got the better of me & I had to check out your web-site.
Very nice by the way...
You had mentioned a duck, "Australian Spotted-bantam", never heard of this, had to see what it was all about.
Awesome! I swear something new is learnt everyday!!
Didn't realize this duck is not Australian and it was brought into creation by two Pennsylvanians!
Thank you for for this new knowledge.
These ducks are another on the list of future endeavors!
Glad you enjoyed the Farm Show...the walking on mostly-concrete always gets to me too

 

[dheltzel]

Curiosity got the better of me & I had to check out your web-site.
Very nice by the way...
You had mentioned a duck, "Australian Spotted-bantam", never heard of this, had to see what it was all about.
Awesome! I swear something new is learnt everyday!!
Didn't realize this duck is not Australian and it was brought into creation by two Pennsylvanians!
Thank you for for this new knowledge.
These ducks are another on the list of future endeavors!
Glad you enjoyed the Farm Show...the walking on mostly-concrete always gets to me too

I love those little ducks! They are so much like Calls, but have no problems hatching (a major reason really good Calls are expensive) and lay a lot more eggs. And they come in 3 color varieties, like blue/black/splash chickens. The "green heads" look like snowy calls, the "blue heads" look like blue fawn calls, and the "silver heads" look like pastel calls. And I can hatch all 3 colors from 1 pen of ducks.