- Mar 21, 2009
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It's awesome to have you here, Aubrey! I'm sure you are a wealth of information from hand's on experience (something I personally really value). Too many people just parrot what they have heard from others without a lot of first hand knowledge (not that this is always bad of course). I can't wait to see more of your birds and read about your experiences. I have never been as into ornamental waterfowl as I have been in domestics, but I have really been itching to get back into them. One of our primary problems here is adequate space (which may be remedied soon). My husband and I are keeping some of our birds here (a smallish .5 acre lot in town) and a lot at my Mother-in-law's farm, which is about 7 acres. So much of that though is mountainous, so just not enough room for us anymore. So much different than when I leased a farm and of course also had access to my family's farm and flock.
For awhile my Father (and Grandparents) did a lot of work with ornamental waterfowl as well, not just domestics. Dad had probably about 30 species, but really always focused more on domestics. Once you have had the more exotic waterfowl though, you always still want to keep a few in your collection. Their beauty is really something, even in the bird world outside of just waterfowl. They would go head to head in that department even with the most beautiful parrots, IMHO. Anyway, our birds almost across the board always did better when we had them in large planted flights (with actual flight room) and expansive ponds. I know that not all species necessarily need this, but I think ours always did better in that environment and we just don't currently have the space for that anymore (at least not here in CO). I know this thread is going to really make me want to push the hubby to buy a new farm! LOL
BTW- I can totally relate to starting early in life and having people think they need to be talking to your dad! LOL, I can't tell you the number of times that happened to me.
For awhile my Father (and Grandparents) did a lot of work with ornamental waterfowl as well, not just domestics. Dad had probably about 30 species, but really always focused more on domestics. Once you have had the more exotic waterfowl though, you always still want to keep a few in your collection. Their beauty is really something, even in the bird world outside of just waterfowl. They would go head to head in that department even with the most beautiful parrots, IMHO. Anyway, our birds almost across the board always did better when we had them in large planted flights (with actual flight room) and expansive ponds. I know that not all species necessarily need this, but I think ours always did better in that environment and we just don't currently have the space for that anymore (at least not here in CO). I know this thread is going to really make me want to push the hubby to buy a new farm! LOL
BTW- I can totally relate to starting early in life and having people think they need to be talking to your dad! LOL, I can't tell you the number of times that happened to me.