So tell me about your Buff Orphington ducks!

[Going Quackers]

Some may have noticed in my siggy of the impending arrival of this breed lol Anyways, i decided to complete the flock with a new breed, i am officially the owner of two buff ducks due to arrive end of May.

The breed sounded like a good type to add in with the Muscovy, i am sure they may find them a touch odd being a more classic vocal duck, but should be interesting to see how much so being mixed with a breed known for being less than.

I am aware of the Mule issue, i have no plans to breed these, i just wanted to finish out the flock and have been waffling with the idea of trying a new breed before i close the flock down. (and yes, for those who had read my other thread, dusty is trying to change that, she's still sitting this AM

)

Anyhow, tell me about yours? i have read quite a bit but i always love to learn more.. anyone else have 'scovies with buffs? I bet these will enjoy the pools even more than the 'scovies do but otherwise i think they'll fall into place quite well.

 

[duckins]

Proud owner of 2 buffs almost 4 mon. old very sweet gentle girls beautiful ducks what most impresses me is their nurturing side introed 4 crested babies they were so calm and interested in the babies now when the 3 mon old crest fuss which is a lot one buff buttercup runs to see if their ok.

 

[Going Quackers]

Proud owner of 2 buffs almost 4 mon. old very sweet gentle girls beautiful ducks what most impresses me is their nurturing side introed 4 crested babies they were so calm and interested in the babies now when the 3 mon old crest fuss which is a lot one buff buttercup runs to see if their ok.

Good to hear, thank you. I like hearing they are tolerant and mix well... since these will be ducklings it should be ok, they are pretty good with adapting to young here, older birds.. not so much so i stick to young.

 

[Amiga]

We have added a total of five (but lost one, Shelly, to egg yolk peritonitis last summer) buffs to our runner flock. It took time, as I documented in the Welcome thread for the trio we adopted last fall. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/712646/welcome-to-the-flock-carmella-bean-and-hazel-d

Romy and Shelly integrated into the flock within hours. Not completely, but to the point where the flock would go nowhere without them, and they were happy to tag along. Aside from Shelly being gate-challenged (she would take a sharp left or right at the gate, though everyone else went through it), it was fairly smooth.

It took the coffee ducks much longer.

Because these were rescues, and not (as far as I can tell) ever really worked with intensely, Bean, Hazel and Carmella are friendly but not cuddly. All are good foragers, just like the runners. They are beautiful.

Romy is a doll. She lost her bff, but now that Bean is responding to her flirtations, she seems pretty happy. She lets me get closer to her than the other buffs do. She and I have been through some things together, so I think we have built a little trust that the coffees don't yet have with me.

 

[Valntyn]

The main part of our flock is Muscovy, but we also have four Anconas and a Buff Orp girl. I think she thinks she's an Ancona, though. She's part of the Ancona mini-flock; where they go, she goes.

When we talk about something the five-some has done, we always have to amend our sentence: " ...the Anconas. Oh, and Seelie." Maybe WE think she's an Ancona, too!

 

[Going Quackers]

We have added a total of five (but lost one, Shelly, to egg yolk peritonitis last summer) buffs to our runner flock. It took time, as I documented in the Welcome thread for the trio we adopted last fall. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/712646/welcome-to-the-flock-carmella-bean-and-hazel-d

Romy and Shelly integrated into the flock within hours. Not completely, but to the point where the flock would go nowhere without them, and they were happy to tag along. Aside from Shelly being gate-challenged (she would take a sharp left or right at the gate, though everyone else went through it), it was fairly smooth.

It took the coffee ducks much longer.

Because these were rescues, and not (as far as I can tell) ever really worked with intensely, Bean, Hazel and Carmella are friendly but not cuddly. All are good foragers, just like the runners. They are beautiful.

Romy is a doll. She lost her bff, but now that Bean is responding to her flirtations, she seems pretty happy. She lets me get closer to her than the other buffs do. She and I have been through some things together, so I think we have built a little trust that the coffees don't yet have with me.

Thank you for sharing Amiga!

 

[Going Quackers]

The main part of our flock is Muscovy, but we also have four Anconas and a Buff Orp girl. I think she thinks she's an Ancona, though. She's part of the Ancona mini-flock; where they go, she goes.

When we talk about something the five-some has done, we always have to amend our sentence: " ...the Anconas. Oh, and Seelie." Maybe WE think she's an Ancona, too!

LOL! how do the Muscovy deal with a more typical duck?(ie; vocals) I am going to assume since these will be babies, they will likely just mesh into the flock the way the other young have but i admit i don't know with certainty. The will be arriving just on the heels of one of the ducks turning 1yo and the others being 10mths(these would be the youngest counterparts) UNLESS dusty is successful with her idea(she's sitting a nest) so possibly could be some younger... (almost 3mths)

 

[jdywntr]

I had gotten some day old Rouens when I had just a pair of Muscovy. They were not at all thrilled with the babies and as the Rouens grew they stuck to themselves and never hung out with the pair. There was never any aggression, outside of my drake occassionally grabbing a rouen tail but they just didn't "like" each other. The Rouens still quacked and everything, probably not as much as my first runners but still did. I sold the Rouens when they were about 4 months old though so I don't know how things would have changed if I'd kept them.

 

[Going Quackers]

I had gotten some day old Rouens when I had just a pair of Muscovy. They were not at all thrilled with the babies and as the Rouens grew they stuck to themselves and never hung out with the pair. There was never any aggression, outside of my drake occassionally grabbing a rouen tail but they just didn't "like" each other. The Rouens still quacked and everything, probably not as much as my first runners but still did. I sold the Rouens when they were about 4 months old though so I don't know how things would have changed if I'd kept them.

Interesting, mine are used to add-ons lol how old were the 'scovies? Generally, the birds get on alright, i even added 3 unrelated 'scovie girls at 2wks old and they meshed eventually into the flock, thankfully bonding with the only ducklet we got from the hatches we did here.

It should be interesting to see how it goes. Worse case i could always separate them but i don't think it'll be needed, they don't make much fuss when they have had the odd chicken get into the space lol

 

[Valntyn]

Quote:
Our 'scovies don't really care that their flockmates are 'different.' We've got a pretty peaceful group at the moment.

The only real noise we get is twice a day, when the ducks hear me leaving the house to go feed them. The Anconas-plus-Seelie quack it up during my walk out to their pen. I toss their peas around the pen and they attack them with gusto. The Muscovies stay under my feet while I go pour grain into the trough and then the Muscovies dive into that. (It's the Muscovies we raise for meat, but I swear, if we ever do eat the Anconas-plus-Seelie, they will be THE healthiest meat, preferring the greens over the grains *chuckle*)