Topic of the Week - Duck Hens 101

Sigh, brownie's offspring... (Those that I posses that are females.(All of them, actually!)) All get pretty upset about being handled. Brownie and Nibbles babies Peanut, Acorn, and Carmella, get kind of nervous about being handled. Cupcake, (Brownie and Fuzzy the white call (Who's no longer with us since 2013 sadly. :( ) ) offspring absolutely hates being handled. If you chase them around for long enough, they do the campbell thing that they do when they get nervous. They of course, fly... All the females are pains in the butt to catch. Plus, they are not good broodies, (My blue swedish/call cross did a better job. She's also runner-sized, but looks more like a blue swedish) but they lay a little better than calls, so I guess they are kinda useful. What i'm trying to address is that khaki campbell x white/any call crosses can be pretty nervous around being handled. Sometimes more than pure KC's, but who knows? Maybe it's because Brownie and most of the offspring are bigger than a call but smaller than a mallard. I would be scared to if some giant handled me and I was a duck slightly bigger than a call! ;) ;) ;)
 
Love the part where you talked about how it's much harder to get clean duck eggs than with chickens. So true, lol. What is your drake to hen ratio. I know without the right amount of hens drakes can get pretty crazy and aggressive.

I honestly don't know what the ratio is, lol... I don't believe in any set number... I have a lot of drakes... and a lot of ducks... you have to go with what works for your flock...

But what works for mine is having the older, Alpha females... young drakes growing up learn respect very early here... so there is very little issues with drakes when they get older... there's some chest feather pulling between the drakes occasionally, to see who gets to try to court a given female, but they don't get out of line with the girls... if they do, the Alpha females put them back in their place... :)
 
I am getting ducks in the spring, and plan to hopefully only get females. I am debating on getting two or three. Any suggestions? Should I get two or should I get three?
 
Honestly, I would go with 4... gives them each a buddy for days when they don't all get along...
I would love four ducks, but that is a bit too much. With fifteen chickens I think even three is pushing it. I don’t want the pen too poopy and I don’t want to buy a big tub. I was just going to use a sandbox that sits on the ground that would be big enough for two or three ducks.
 
I would love four ducks, but that is a bit too much. With fifteen chickens I think even three is pushing it. I don’t want the pen too poopy and I don’t want to buy a big tub. I was just going to use a sandbox that sits on the ground that would be big enough for two or three ducks.
If you think three or four are too many, just get two. :D
 

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