Sell Me On A Duck Breed

[Mimi13]

That should have made December’s calander page!

Thank you. My Dominique, Lena, my most annoying chicken. Of course she was the one to let me.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

All gorgeous for their own reasons. But Brownie is definitely the one I did a double take on. Wow. I also like the buff drake.

What is your ratio of male:female? As it stands right now I only want females, that’s why I’m shying away from hatching. Until I learn a bit more about ducks I don’t want to tackle processing them. I’m pretty smooth with the chickens, and I’m sure the two have a lot of slaughtering similarities. I’ll have to read up on the differences. But I’m game.

Do you slaughter at all or are yours mostly pets? Do you let the ducks take care of hatching or do you incubate as well?

I know, I’ve got a thousand and one questions. I’m sorry, but I appreciate everyone’s sharing.

Just ask us your thousands of questions! That's why BYC was invented. (I guess?)

I have 20 Ducks and 8 drakes, with Limpy counting only as ½ drake (He is way too lazy!), so i am at 2.66 ducks per drake. I really hope with the well behaving young drakes, like Brownie, this spring won't be too bad, because i can not butcher one of my drakes! And i wouldn't know whom to give away either. I was somewhat lucky last summer with Katharina's babies, she hatched 4 girls and 3 boys, but then my neighbors hatched 4 boys and only one girl, decided not to want ducks (Chicken people!) and gave the little ones back to me.
I speculate on some rescue Easter-Ducklings from Craigslist. Even my wife cannot protest if i save a cute duck from being dumped somewhere, can she? - I will also visit the public parks around Charleston and watch out for any dumped domestic ducks. And WV-DNR has me registered as duck refugee-camp…
Depending on how many ducks you want in total, i definitely vote for one drake: Depending on the breed they are just beautiful, most drakes really care for their girls, calling them in when they found something good to eat and they are the watch-towers while the girls are foraging. - And lastly, you may want to have some more cute little fluff-buts in the future. Trust me, there's nothing more cute to see than a Momma-Duck caring for her Babies!

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

No one better have a video like that.
It is illegal to treat chickens inhumanly...

Chickens deserve better than dux as neighbors......

Man! What is your problem with Ducks? - Have you been attacked by a Momma Duck as a little boy? Did a Duck pooped on you car? Why that »**DUX MUST BE DESTROYED AT ALL COSTS** « line in your footer?

 

[duluthralphie]

Man! What is your problem with Ducks? - Have you been attacked by a Momma Duck as a little boy? Did a Duck pooped on you car? Why that »**DUX MUST BE DESTROYED AT ALL COSTS** « line in your footer?

Well. A horrible dux did poop all over my boat, tackle and fishing rods for about a week straight until I finally caught him..

 

[shawluvsbirds]

Man! What is your problem with Ducks? - Have you been attacked by a Momma Duck as a little boy? Did a Duck pooped on you car? Why that »**DUX MUST BE DESTROYED AT ALL COSTS** « line in your footer?

Relax hillbilly. Ralpies dux humor is all in good fun. You get used to it
You might even name a dux after him out of spite. Or send him dux eggs.

 

[duluthralphie]

Relax hillbilly. Ralpies dux humor is all in good fun. You get used to it
You might even name a dux after him out of spite. Or send him dux eggs.

Cruel.. cruel cruel!!!

 

[Mimi13]

Relax hillbilly. Ralpies dux humor is all in good fun. You get used to it
You might even name a dux after him out of spite. Or send him dux eggs.

Shaw, thanks for putting the dux fire out for me. I was busy ordering my duckie babies. I guess HillBilly has never crossed Ralphie’s path until now.

 

[duluthralphie]

Shaw, thanks for putting the dux fire out for me. I was busy ordering my duckie babies. I guess HillBilly has never crossed Ralphie’s path until now.

That’s most likely cause I am the shy and quiet type and don’t get around much..

 

[Mimi13]

Okay folks, the verdict is in and the order has been placed.

Don’t look, Ralphie, don’t look! Turn away now!


I ordered from Metzer. Never have before. Here’s hoping to smooth and trouble free travels, little duckies!

I wound up ordering SIX. No one knows that yet, other than y’all and myself.

Here’s the order:

They are to ship on March 30th. It won’t be long?

As you can see I did not order any Muscovies. They are very interesting to me though so I might order them later (in a year or so).

Also, I didn’t order a drake. I’m still on the fence about that. If you think I should get one, please let me know which breed. I should be able to add one to my order without much of a problem.

I had to go ahead and place my order because my little carton of eggs that I intended on incubating have been staring a hole through me every time I walked by them. They would all be mutt chicks, but beautiful just the same.

Here they all are, minus the two brown on the right. I had just taken this picture this morning for color comparison of my BCMs.

You never know, I might still do it. If I set them today, I most likely would already have them out in the coop before my duckies got here. I do have several heat plates, and enough feeders and waters, but I’d have to come up with another brooder container. Oh, decisions, decisions.

BUT, and this is a big but, I would have to process some of my older girls for room. Of course the excess cockerels would be processed. I don’t know that I’m quite up for that right now. Or I guess I could sell some, but I’m not too keen on that either.

There’s no way I could build two new houses, a duck house and another coop. My DH would definitely have me committed...just for mentioning it.

Anyway, does anyone have a drake suggestion?

 

[Mimi13]

That’s most likely cause I am the shy and quiet type and don’t get around much..

Uh, yeah, I hear ya! All the way from MN. You know, sound travels well through the crisp, cold air (which even I have right now)!