Whats the breed for me?

[ilovemuscovy]

muscovy ducks!
j.m. hatchery sells muscovy but they are white.
your best option is to look on craigslist!

 

[LittleSquidgenHome]

Craigslist, local 4-H poultry person might know a local breeder, BYC auction pages and forums are great places to make connections.

 

[BarredBuff]

Quote:
Anconas
About half my girls went broody and were pains in the butt about it, the ones with the broody itch were impossible to break up, the ones without it could have cared less about hatching a clutch.
Very good foragers, ours are completely sustaining on pasture and pond and gaining, albeit slowly.
Great layers, in my opinion, when laying we get 5-6 eggs a week per hen and they respond beautifuly to winter light.
They usually give us about a 6lb carcass for males and 4 pounds for females.

What you dont want: They are not bantams, but they can be mostly white. However they come in MANY color combinations and you can cull the ones with feathers you dont like.

Muscovy
EXCELLENT broodies, superb mothers! These are my incubator.
The hens and babies are very good foragers, males can be lazy but are still fair.
They are seasonal layers. In my opinion they are not good layers, mine only lay in the spring and want to hatch everything they lay and are not happy about being broken up.
Excellent meaties! Lean meat and males can get HUGE. They take a little longer than mallard derived breeds to grow out, but they are tasty.

What you dont want: They are not bantams and can come in white but most often come in other combinations, and there are some beautiful color patterns out there.

I am sure there are BYC'rs that sell both breeds.

Silver Appleyards are not white or bantam(though they can come in bantam versions), lay a good amount of egg and produce a large carcass, I have no input on their broodiness though.

I think Blue Swedish are not white, hence the name, and supposed to be good table birds and good layers too but again no idea of the broodiness.

Good luck!

Where did you get your Anconas?

 

[LittleSquidgenHome]

I found a local-ish breeder, on Craigslist oddly enough, about two hours away in Michigan who was looking to switch to another breed. I purchased 3 adult hens and a drake, and then the same summer I ordered 15 day olds from...Strombergs hatchery. I ended up with 16 day olds and they all thrived. We culled a large number for undesired traits, but currently have a breeding flock of 9 girls and 3 boys. We just took 8 of this years hatch to butcher a few weeks ago.

I think there is a BYC breeder of Ancona close to Indianapolis, and maybe one in Bloomington too. Check the auction forum, they are selling hatching eggs fairly regularly and I have learned it never hurts to ask if they have any adults or juveniles they are willing to part with, you never know you might get lucky. It depends on how far you are willing to travel.

I found my muscovies through the local 4-H poultry lady.

 

[ShrekDawg]

i dont really know much about ducks but i agree, the breeds suggested all sound like pretty good breeds and good for you. also i would reccommend checking craigslist, local 4h shows or groups, byc auctions on here, etc, also ask around, someone may know of someone selling or getting rid of their birds or something, and check back reguarly. also some hatcherys may have them, i dont know many hatcherys, but have heard of mcmurray hatchery but im not sure if their good and/or they may just have chickens, i think they have ducks and some other birds too though but not sure. oh and i would also reccomend checking out www.petfinder.com, its a great website and they have lots of wonderful animals in need of homes, you just enter your area and what type of animal (dog, cat, bird, horse, farm animals, small & furry, etc) and it shows you lots of animals in need of homes and you can narrow the search down by size, age, gender, etc and/or you can enter a certain breed or type too (so for instance for dogs id choose dog, enter Labrador Retriever or retrever in the box then enter my location and it would show me all the labs or retriever type dogs near me, then i could further narrow it down by the above mentioned charicteristics), its a great website you should try it. and i dont know about you but near me there have been known to be at least a few ducks listed, not so much chickens (they have some, mostly roos and stuff though), but they do have ducks so i would reccommend you check it out as well as all the other places mentioned. you could also google it (the ducks) and/or search for local breeders to find out more about them and/or find some in your area. good luck!

*edited for spelling*

 

[ducklover15]

Rouens!

All of the rouens I've had have been the BEST mothers!! They also laid at the same time everyday. I think I only had one girl miss one day of the entire year.
My girl went broody three times already this year. They get nice and big and the boys have some beautiful feathers. But the females are loud. They're always loud. =]
Good luck!