WH girls + Cayuga boy?

[DanielleInUro]

This is an indelicate topic, so if you really feel strongly that ducks should wait until marriage to do what ducks do, or if you think it's rude to talk about precisely what happens when a girl duck and a boy duck really love each other, you might not care for this topic.

So I had two boys and three girls, which I know is an off ratio, but while Bork (a big Cayuga) and Willie (an equally big buff) are not precisely GENTLEMEN, my girls (Pica, Trish, and Jenny) weren't balding and don't seem overbred. Bork and Willie were raised together and don't fight, all good. Then Jenny passed away.

Trish and Pica are keeping up with their lady-duck duties all right, but Jenny was always the town bicycle, and I know I was really on thin ice trying to get away with such an even ratio. It's hot enough that Bork and Willie are too busy watching "Cheers" reruns and sitting on the couch to get up to too much duck-friskiness, but I want to make sure they don't run the girls ragged when the temps drop. So I ordered thirteen Welsh Harlequin eggs, which I'm expecting to be all the way hatched by Monday. I planned to keep two girls and give my friend the rest for his farm. But I chose them entirely by pictures and purported temperament. Then today, I got an actual look at some WH ducks. You guys, they are TINY.

I am thinking about if The Rock and Nicole Richie got together. And I am worried for my tiny little baby WH's who don't exist yet but will be itty bitty compared to the boys when they grow up.

Are Bork and Willie likely to hurt them because of the size difference when they love them so much that the love they have tries to become a baby duck or twelve?

 

[cheezenkwackers]

I don't have the answer to your question (mine are all the same size) but you cracked me up with how you wrote the post. I hope you get your answer.

 

[DanielleInUro]

Thank you. I work a super-ordinary job, with a LOT of people who are very curious, so I've gotten very used to a certain tone.

 

[Krazyquilts]

I have 2 Cayuga females and a Welsh Harlequin female (all three from Meyers Hatchery) and while my WH is a bit smaller than the Cayugas, I don't think there would be a size problem with Cayuga males and WH females. Of course, your experience may differ. (My WH and Buff females played "hop on top" with each other aaaaaall the time before we got our drake, and even quite a bit after getting him too!)

I love my WH. She is so smart, the best forager, the bravest when it comes to coming to me for treats, and earlier this summer when she went broody for the first time she did an amazing job sitting on the eggs (even though none of them were actually from her - she doesn't like our Golden Cascade drake ) and has been the fiercest little Mama Duck you can imagine! Now that we have a 50-acre farm, I hope to order WH ducklings from Holderread's next year.

I love my Cayugas too. They are just gorgeous - especially on a really sunny day when they are all wet from taking their 257th bath. Mine haven't been as good layers as my WH or Buff girls, but not bad for a breed that is really more of a meat bird, probably 3-4 each a week as opposed to 5-6 each a week from the other girls. Several of my ducks went broody all at the same time and so abruptly that I didn't have enough of their own fertile eggs for them to sit on, so I ordered hatching eggs on EBay and chose Cayugas as one of the breeds I ordered. (Even managed to get Holderread-line Cayugas! Only the best for my ducks' broody little butts to sit on!)

My Buffs aren't as obviously stunning as the Cayugas and WH but they are so lovely in a more subtle way and they are the only ones that make a sort of "trilling" noise when they are particularly pleased with something - fresh straw bedding, a choice bug or soft garden dirt. I'll continue having Buff ducks just for that cute noise, in addition to being a very good dual purpose breed.