Hi,
I just got some silky ducks from Holderread farms in OR. I thought I would share my experiences since there doesn't seem to be too much info on Silkies. First off, I ordered 6 silky, 2 Australian Spotted, and 2 standard silver Appleyards. I put my order in in Sept. of last year and got my babies end of April. They are almost 3 weeks old. My experience with Holderread was great! They filled my ordered plus sent an extra white appleyard. They answered all my questions and corespondence in good time. I would highly recommend them. The appleyards are the calmest baby ducks I have had. I have had swedish and cayuga and rouan. They let me hold and pet them without freaking out. The silkies and spotted are skittish and quack a lot. So far, they are at the ugly duckling stage. From what I understand, the silkies could have silky feathers or straight feathers but carry the silky gene. I can’t tell which of the 6 will actually be silky yet. They also seem to be of different sizes. Some seem rather small like calls; others are bigger than but not as big as the appleyards which are the same age. I plan on trying to breed and hatch some more silkies from these guys, but I understand it can be difficult. Apparently the eggs of the silky duck are not as porous as they should be, so it’s a good idea to breed to other ducks. That’s why I got the spotted. I will keep you all posted of my experience with these guys so hopefully can help provide info for others interested in the silky duck. If you have questions or information of your own I would love to hear about it.
I just got some silky ducks from Holderread farms in OR. I thought I would share my experiences since there doesn't seem to be too much info on Silkies. First off, I ordered 6 silky, 2 Australian Spotted, and 2 standard silver Appleyards. I put my order in in Sept. of last year and got my babies end of April. They are almost 3 weeks old. My experience with Holderread was great! They filled my ordered plus sent an extra white appleyard. They answered all my questions and corespondence in good time. I would highly recommend them. The appleyards are the calmest baby ducks I have had. I have had swedish and cayuga and rouan. They let me hold and pet them without freaking out. The silkies and spotted are skittish and quack a lot. So far, they are at the ugly duckling stage. From what I understand, the silkies could have silky feathers or straight feathers but carry the silky gene. I can’t tell which of the 6 will actually be silky yet. They also seem to be of different sizes. Some seem rather small like calls; others are bigger than but not as big as the appleyards which are the same age. I plan on trying to breed and hatch some more silkies from these guys, but I understand it can be difficult. Apparently the eggs of the silky duck are not as porous as they should be, so it’s a good idea to breed to other ducks. That’s why I got the spotted. I will keep you all posted of my experience with these guys so hopefully can help provide info for others interested in the silky duck. If you have questions or information of your own I would love to hear about it.
