The Duck Thread

[Miss Lydia]

Wow! 11 years is old! Our oldest chicken is...4. Taming poultry can be really hard, I know. My birds can be perfectly tame, but if I don't work with them for a few weeks, they get flighty again

But, oh well, I try to make time to hold them anyway

I have a Cochin bantam frizzle hen who is 7yrs old she is my oldest. I think it depends on the breed too, my bantam game chickens are my flighty ones I only have 2 roo and hen but I tell ya they are like the jungle fowl they can go out in the woods and forage fly back inside the fence they have great survival skills.

 

[BantamFan4Life]

I have a Cochin bantam frizzle hen who is 7yrs old she is my oldest. I think it depends on the breed too, my bantam game chickens are my flighty ones I only have 2 roo and hen but I tell ya they are like the jungle fowl they can go out in the woods and forage fly back inside the fence they have great survival skills.

Game chickens tend to be that way, are they OEGBs? My bantams are the only birds we have that aren't flighty. I think it really depends on the breed too. If you get a leghorn, you're almost guaranteed a flighty bird. If you get a d'Uccle, you're almost guaranteed a sweet bird. I assume duck breeds are the same way? I think it was call ducks that I read were tame, am I correct?

 

[18angovem]

Game chickens tend to be that way, are they OEGBs? My bantams are the only birds we have that aren't flighty. I think it really depends on the breed too. If you get a leghorn, you're almost guaranteed a flighty bird. If you get a d'Uccle, you're almost guaranteed a sweet bird. I assume duck breeds are the same way? I think it was call ducks that I read were tame, am I correct?

Sometimes... You have to raise them from babies or handle them.

 

[BantamFan4Life]

Sometimes... You have to raise them from babies or handle them.

Oh, okay, what other breeds are tame?

 

[18angovem]

Oh, okay, what other breeds are tame?

Duck or chicken? You cant go wrong with silkies for tameness!! For ducks I dont know..... I only own my call ducks. My aunt has pekins but they are free range and arent all that nice....Miss.Lydia are your tolouse geese aggressive?

 

[BantamFan4Life]

Duck or chicken? You cant go wrong with silkies for tameness!! For ducks I dont know..... I only own my call ducks. My aunt has pekins but they are free range and arent all that nice....Miss.Lydia are your tolouse geese aggressive?

I meant ducks. But, since you mentioned it, I've had a silkie and lots of d'Uccles. My d'Uccles have all been really tame and my silkie was mean. Isn't that weird?

 

[needlessjunk]

Oh, okay, what other breeds are tame?

I haven't found one breed to be "tamer" than another. I do think it is in how they are raised. Metzer farms does have a chart though that gives general guides for friendly vs flighty but for my girls it hasn't held true. My runners are the first to come running and eat treats out of my hands while my other two who are suppose to be really clam take their time coming up. However my runners don't want to be petted or held while the others deal with it. My runner will climb all over your if food is involved.

 

[BantamFan4Life]

I haven't found one breed to be "tamer" than another. I do think it is in how they are raised. Metzer farms does have a chart though that gives general guides for friendly vs flighty but for my girls it hasn't held true. My runners are the first to come running and eat treats out of my hands while my other two who are suppose to be really clam take their time coming up. However my runners don't want to be petted or held while the others deal with it. My runner will climb all over your if food is involved.

With charts, it's the same way with chickens, it's just very generalized, that's probably why. I think some breeds have tendencies to be tame, but it's across between that and how they are raised that make the tameness.

 

[wildsam]

We had pheasants and chickens first. Then SO said that he'll get more chickens and I warned him if he did, I'd get ducks, as I wanted them all my life.
He got chickens, I went and got me ducks. And he went from absolutely not liking them to loving them more than all the other birds we have. Plus, he keeps telling everybody that our ducks are funnier and lay more and more consistent than the chickens and that was his downfall. Lol.

And last year, he went duck crazy. Now we have a farm breeding mostly ducks and he is in heaven. Lol

 

[jtn42248]

We had pheasants and chickens first. Then SO said that he'll get more chickens and I warned him if he did, I'd get ducks, as I wanted them all my life.
He got chickens, I went and got me ducks. And he went from absolutely not liking them to loving them more than all the other birds we have. Plus, he keeps telling everybody that our ducks are funnier and lay more and more consistent than the chickens and that was his downfall. Lol.

And last year, he went duck crazy. Now we have a farm breeding mostly ducks and he is in heaven. Lol

Why do I identify so much with what you say? Oh, now I remember. This other person who lives here, after much cajoling, finally agreed to maybe 5 chickens. Now we have 23 chickens, 20 ducks, 8 bantams and 3 geese and I have to put my foot down for any other birds...at least for the time being.