Re: Ducklings My iPad has gone a bit nuts so I can't see all the photos....but I'm so glad you have got such a good group!And Christoph er/Ina is show ring material!inope you get lots of success with her and a lovely next generation with the girls you've bred this time ,thanks for all you write,I know it will be time consuming but we all appreciate it x
Re: Ducklings [quote author=Oberon link=topic=3806.msg50240#msg50240 date=1390812755] I've decided I'll keep up to three girls. They would all eventually live with a black drake (name of Marco Polo). Silver plus black produces 100% blue so that's a mark in Harrison's favour. I do also have the option of agisting birds at a friends' farm that's about an hour away.... [/quote] Ooo! Oooo! No, no, putting pressure on you to keep 'our' birds would be bad. Very bad indeed. Bad, Julie, bad. I'm sure the pretty, characterful, silver Harri will be fine whatever you decide. Is Marco Polo handsome? I think we need a pic...
Re: Ducklings Yay! Meri quacks! Yay! And take no notice, Meri, if she says your markings are weak - I think you're just beautiful! Don't feel you have to conform to someone else's perception of beauty; the pressure on young females these days is absurd - just be the best you can be : Love the picture of chilled out duckling on its back... And if perfect markings are so hard to come by, does this mean that there is a criminal element who would consider duck rustling? In the same way that racing pigeons can be stolen over here??? Clare
Re: Ducklings Ooo thanks for the close up of Temeraire!! And her quack!! . I think they all are gorgeous, but of course I am a little biased in favour of Temmi. Thanks for all the info, too, it's all very fascinating!! So how many ducks can you have before you run out of room?? Have you reached your limit?
Re: Ducklings [quote author=Lisa link=topic=3806.msg50381#msg50381 date=1390852322] So how many ducks can you have before you run out of room?? Have you reached your limit? [/quote] Rachael just needs to buy more land. And extra hours for her day... Clare
Re: Ducklings Exactly. I need a farm [quote author=ClareJ link=topic=3806.msg50372#msg50372 date=1390851480] And if perfect markings are so hard to come by, does this mean that there is a criminal element who would consider duck rustling? In the same way that racing pigeons can be stolen over here??? [/quote] Sadly, yes, birds do get stolen. My pens are padlocked but that wouldn't stop someone serious. It happens mainly with show chickens though. I wouldn't call it common but it's far from unusual. Meri is quite comfortable with her free-form bib. She knows she's the cutest anyway Along with Woodget.
Re: Ducklings Woodget doesn't get a lot of airtime. Thank you for mentioning him/her (but more likely a him now?)
Re: Ducklings I think that Woodget is a girl, but I'm not sure yet, so don't quote me! Will feature Woodget and Meri a bit later in the week. They are both going very well and like to hang out together.
Re: Ducklings They really are the two cutest little things Really sweet faces. I would have to say that they are my favourites.
Re: Ducklings [quote author=Lisa link=topic=3806.msg50381#msg50381 date=1390852322] So how many ducks can you have before you run out of room?? Have you reached your limit? [/quote] If I keep three from this lot then I probably have room for only two more but I need to keep capacity for next year or the year after that. If I kept three I might not breed any next year (though at a certain point in the year I start to get cravings for more ducklings ) Will get a pic of Marco Yes, he is a handsome boy.
Re: Ducklings I usually go straight to health ....but these days my first check in is Duckling news!x
Re: Ducklings LOL, it's turned into a bit of a marathon thread....might have to set a date cutoff I'll have them all for at least the next 4 weeks.
Re: Ducklings In this group Marco is the one in the middle, with the green head. They didn't really want their photo taken - I should have had some peas at the ready... The white one is Freycinet, actually a very pale version of Silver. She is about 7 or so years old. The other black one is LaPerouse who is about 3. As most black females do she's going white with age. Doesn't seem to happen to the males. Marco is about 6 years old. It's over 30 degrees and they still all want to sit huddled together... In this pic Ariel is on the far left, Meri is obviously the black one and Harrison the yellow one. Temeraire is the blue one closest to the camera, Woodget the blue one closest to the wall of the little chook house and Christopher is the remaining blue one.
Re: Ducklings [quote author=Oberon link=topic=3806.msg50468#msg50468 date=1390860632] They really are the two cutest little things Really sweet faces. I would have to say that they are my favourites. [/quote] I am now trying very hard not to get impossibly excited at the possibility of maybe some day seeing pictures of Meri's children and grandchildren... Next question - life expectancy? At what point might you start to see, um, turnover in your flock? Sorry, horrible question, I know... and what age do they stop laying? How does the life expectancy of domestic birds compare with ducks in the wild? Clare
Re: Ducklings Ducks are very hardy animals. It'd be reasonable for one to live for about 10 years. So far I haven't lost any, touch wood. At some point if I want to keep more that I've bred I might have to look at the agistment option 'cause the ones I've got don't look like dropping off the metaphorical perch anytime soon. I'd say that in the wild it'd be much shorter, due to predators and food shortages. A couple of the ducks that I bought when I started out have stopped laying but I think that's more because they were inbred. Normally a good layer would just start laying later in the winter and stop earlier in the summer. Over the years they lay fewer per year, but don't necessarily stop totally. I've got four 3 year old ducks that are fantastic layers. They'd still be laying about 200 eggs a year each. We give away a lot of duck eggs.
Re: Ducklings Cakes always turn out better with duck eggs. Last posting, a friend in the village had chickens and ducks. Loved it every time my youngest went round to play as she came home with a box of eggs. She went through a spell when I dropped her off on a Sunday morning to help clean them out. She loved it. My friend's children thought she was mad - they had been forced to help for years and couldn't see how Edie thought it was a treat!! I had to look agistment up :-[ Sounds like a sensible option though, if needed. Clare
