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Silver appleyars sound nice Oregon blues, but arent they kinda hard to find? I would love to have them insted of rouen, but they are so stinking hard to find! But im still in love with my WH even though they are only two weeks old lol.
My Mallards were raised with my Pekins, so perhaps that is why they are people-oriented. They can fly. They free-range, but they stay right near the house. They just laid their first 2 perfect eggs - blue-green, hard shell, clear 'whites' and firm yolk:
I needed more Pekin girls, and I wanted Runners for cuteness and egg-laying, but they are still very young. I cannot help but notice how much more nervous the Runners are than my first batch of Pekin / Mallards. The little girl Pekins are following the nervous trend. Also odd - the yellow ducklings, both Runner and Pekin, always go first to the 'scary thing'. I think the dark ducklings actually push them forward.
The Mallards have been laying eggs right by the door of their new night house. I understand Runners may leave them everywhere.
Oh - also, I have predators of all types. A Chicken Hawk was circling for a long time on Saturday. I believe my very mature trees and ample bushes and whatnot are providing adequate cover for my 7 ducks and 4 chickens. We shall see how they fare when leaves start falling. Fortunately, many trees around the house are 100 - 200 year old pines. Perhaps that is why they stay in the yard when I live on a large farm.
The appleyards are really bigger than I want........I hear you on th protection but I am of the approach that sometimes a free range bird doesn't make it. But I accept that in exchange for the forage they access, the higher quality of food they produce and the higher quality of overall life they have. I coop them at night but daytime its bug hunting.....they have planty of places to hide if need be.
