This place is so bad for me

[zooweemama]

. You could get more of a unique color like the Chocolates:

Come to the Turkey side! They're so much fun! But their like potato chips you just can't stop at one

Umm gorgeous! I was sorta eyeballing the chocolates and the jersey buffs. Narragansett are stunning too. I like the idea of getting a trio of an excellent quality critical breed. And starting slow and see how I like zee turkeys. I know a lot of people that have chickens. And I really only want to do ducks/geese for waterfowl and ONE land poultry. The fact that I just cannot get excited about chickens (and haven't been able to in the 2 years we have talked about having them) I think means I should not do them. Still waffling. When we settled on ducks over chickens I was absolutely excited. Still am. Geese? Can't wait! Getting chickens - just the thought makes me feel like...ugh another chore. But turkeys make me excited again! LOL I have a whole year to research though! Maybe by winter I will figure out what I want to do so if it's turkeys...I can place an order a head of time and maybe get something good with a good breeder.

 

[Going Quackers]

. I know the losses are probably one of the hardest parts. I lost both of my "Grandfather Stock" ducks back in March. When it happened I thought about just rehoming everyone but thanks to a few of the members I decided to keep everybody and continue to run my "Farm". Plus I have a broody Goose on 6 eggs which are due to hatch very soon so I'm sure there will be 1 or 2 losses in that hatch as well.

That must have been so hard! we unexpectedly lost one of my original day old ducks, she wandered off, was missing for days and we found her dead.. nothing had harmed her.. you could see nothing wrong at all... everyone is healthy so i have no idea what happened. That really kicked the we should let some of the remaining girls sit so we can increase our ducks... i knew loses will happen but i guess i didn't expect quite so much, i have never done any of this before...

I think if she'd had one survive I might have felt better but to lose the only one from her nest at 4 days old seem to be just gut kick me, that and my oldest kid had the pleasure of seeing it hatch, she happened to be there when doing a check made it worse.. (she's late teens so emotional at the best of times lol)

Best of luck with your goose, i hope the hatch is successful!

Aww that's so sad. I would be sad and stressed out too. I know that I will be glad I closed the flock after June as we contemplate what we want to do next year. While I am not overly concerned with making money off selling our extras eggs- I would like to recoup the cost of feed and the added water costs which as rather significant for us (keeping a man made pond full that drains nicely plus triple digits and nearly no humidity in full sun means a once a week top off.). So we have a lot of things to consider this year while we get our feet wet with farm livin'. I both dread and look forward to the breeding stages- for the very reasons to what you are experiencing right now. The excitement/stress. <3

I made sure we didn't venture into trying nests till we'd owned the birds for awhile.. as i knew it was real uncharted territory i guess i did not realize how much death you have to deal with... not a fan of that part, the one that has come from it is doing so well and it's been a great pleasure watching it grow, it's mama took it swimming for the first time yesterday.. and we got to see it happen.

It's actually been a rough year at my farm as i have had some livestock loses too.. i know it comes with the territory but i doubt i'll ever get accustomed to it.

 

[Kevin565]

I would defiantly go for a quality trio of a heritage breed. IMO they have way less problems than a lot of the Meat crosses a lot of the hatcheries sell. I've never been a huge chicken fan either. I've thought about adding them a few times but have always stuck to another species. So far all the species I've raised I've enjoyed well with the exception of guineas

.

 

[Going Quackers]

. You could get more of a unique color like the Chocolates:

Come to the Turkey side! They're so much fun! But their like potato chips you just can't stop at one

Quote:
what a lovely bird! i had no idea they came in chocolate...

 

[Kevin565]

Oh no!

And thanks! She's probably my favorite bird and this is her time getting to be a mommy so I hope everything goes well.

. My first duck hatch was a complete disaster and every single duckling ended up dying. I felt terrible for her for weeks.

That must have been so hard! we unexpectedly lost one of my original day old ducks, she wandered off, was missing for days and we found her dead.. nothing had harmed her.. you could see nothing wrong at all... everyone is healthy so i have no idea what happened. That really kicked the we should let some of the remaining girls sit so we can increase our ducks... i knew loses will happen but i guess i didn't expect quite so much, i have never done any of this before...

I think if she'd had one survive I might have felt better but to lose the only one from her nest at 4 days old seem to be just gut kick me, that and my oldest kid had the pleasure of seeing it hatch, she happened to be there when doing a check made it worse.. (she's late teens so emotional at the best of times lol)

Best of luck with your goose, i hope the hatch is successful!

I made sure we didn't venture into trying nests till we'd owned the birds for awhile.. as i knew it was real uncharted territory i guess i did not realize how much death you have to deal with... not a fan of that part, the one that has come from it is doing so well and it's been a great pleasure watching it grow, it's mama took it swimming for the first time yesterday.. and we got to see it happen.

It's actually been a rough year at my farm as i have had some livestock loses too.. i know it comes with the territory but i doubt i'll ever get accustomed to it.

 

[Kevin565]

what a lovely bird! i had no idea they came in chocolate...

They're even cuter as babies:

 

[Going Quackers]

They're even cuter as babies:

awe i can honestly say i have never seen one before! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Miss Lydia]

I guess I should just give in.

 

[zooweemama]

That must have been so hard! we unexpectedly lost one of my original day old ducks, she wandered off, was missing for days and we found her dead.. nothing had harmed her.. you could see nothing wrong at all... everyone is healthy so i have no idea what happened. That really kicked the we should let some of the remaining girls sit so we can increase our ducks... i knew loses will happen but i guess i didn't expect quite so much, i have never done any of this before...

I think if she'd had one survive I might have felt better but to lose the only one from her nest at 4 days old seem to be just gut kick me, that and my oldest kid had the pleasure of seeing it hatch, she happened to be there when doing a check made it worse.. (she's late teens so emotional at the best of times lol)

Best of luck with your goose, i hope the hatch is successful!

I made sure we didn't venture into trying nests till we'd owned the birds for awhile.. as i knew it was real uncharted territory i guess i did not realize how much death you have to deal with... not a fan of that part, the one that has come from it is doing so well and it's been a great pleasure watching it grow, it's mama took it swimming for the first time yesterday.. and we got to see it happen.

It's actually been a rough year at my farm as i have had some livestock loses too.. i know it comes with the territory but i doubt i'll ever get accustomed to it.

When we lost 3 of our ducklings early on- that was really hard. It was a rough lesson for the kids. But I think for us a good one. Not fun at all though. I don't think we'd ever get used to it either. I'm sorry for all your losses. <3

 

[Going Quackers]

Oh no!

And thanks! She's probably my favorite bird and this is her time getting to be a mommy so I hope everything goes well.

. My first duck hatch was a complete disaster and every single duckling ended up dying. I felt terrible for her for weeks.

Oh gosh, that would be awful! as i said i am glad one of our ducklings has survived that brings hope but man, it's so hard to lose one.. they are so small and helpless you feel so darn accountable.