30 new Ancona ducklings.

[DoubleDogFarm]

I'm off to the Post Office. I just received the call that my new ducklings have arrived. Be back soon.

Eric

[DoubleDogFarm]

Here are a couple quick pictures. I need to get back to work. 30 new mouths to feed.

[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Ancona%20ducks/AnconaducklingsJune292012001.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Ancona%20ducks/AnconaducklingsJune292012002.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Ancona%20ducks/AnconaducklingsJune292012007.jpg[/img]

Eric

[Susan W]

Baby ducks, baby dog. Tell me when do you have time to garden and work with caring and laughing at (or is that with) them?!

Thanks for sharing pic of your new babies.

[DoubleDogFarm]

Time, I don't need no stinkin time. Just keep working 25/8.

Checked on the ducklings this morning. One died. It was a runt about half the size of the rest. I had a feeling this one wouldn't make it. It kept falling over and some of the others would peck on it. I let nature take its course.

Eric

[DoubleDogFarm]

Eric, I know what you mean about letting nature take its course. The last batch of chicks we got had two that didn't look right to me. I isolated them just in case they were diseased, but they died within a couple of weeks. They just weren't strong enough to survive, but they weren't sick. The other chicks grew up to be very healthy, hearty hens!

It's a lot like plants. If they start out puny or spindly they take twice as much care and give you low return. Best to reap from the healthy of either case.

I uploaded a new video.

The Anconas are 3 weeks old in this video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvPZ85b3iXA&feature=plcp
and about 4 weeks old here.
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Ancona%20ducks/Ancona%20Ducklings%204%20weeks%20old/AnconaducksJuly27th2012001.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Ancona%20ducks/Ancona%20Ducklings%204%20weeks%20old/AnconaducksJuly27th2012010.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Ancona%20ducks/Ancona%20Ducklings%204%20weeks%20old/AnconaducksJuly27th2012019.jpg[/img]

Eric

[applestar]

Wow they grew fast. Do you always buy ducklings? Aren't they ...um... Self-renewing?

[DoubleDogFarm]

Wow they grew fast. Do you always buy ducklings? Aren't they ...um... Self-renewing?

Cough cough, um... yes, but like many vegetables hybrids are hybrids. "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you gona get".

All but one of the ducks were killed by predators that slink in the night. Only Mr. Muscovy knows what happened and he aint talking. If you cross a muscovy with any breed from the Mallard line, you end up with a mule. Sterile duck.

Ancona is a new breed for me and they breed true. From Carol Deppe's book Resilient Gardener, the Ancona are better mothers, foragers and may lay eggs in the winter. Most egg layers need long day light hours or artificial light.

Eric

[DoubleDogFarm]

Not quite 2 months later but close. The Ancona ducks will be 12 weeks old on Thursday 20th.

I went head hunting today. DUCK!

[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Ancona%20ducks/Ancona%20ducks%20Sept.%2018%202012%20031_zps4d771819.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Ancona%20ducks/Ancona%20ducks%20Sept.%2018%202012%20025_zpsb619b293.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Ancona%20ducks/Ancona%20ducks%20Sept.%2018%202012%20026_zpsa0499b92.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Ancona%20ducks/Ancona%20ducks%20Sept.%2018%202012%20021_zps08054589.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Ancona%20ducks/Ancona%20ducks%20Sept.%2018%202012%20034_zpse0817e0b.jpg[/img]

From their profile shot I could easily name these ducks and keep some kind of log. The names could be like our Orca whales. They are identified by their markings. Instead of J-pod 13 (J13) It would be A-duck 13 (A13)
https://www.whaleresearch.com/orca_ID_pods.html

[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Ancona%20ducks/Ancona%20ducks%20Sept.%2018%202012%20010_zpsed936a0e.jpg[/img]
Eric

[DoubleDogFarm]

Eric, those are lovely ducks! It seems that most survived, for which I am very glad. They have freckled bills! I didn't expect that. Ducks look wise somehow, as opposed to chickens, which are cute as can be but rather silly.
We have a pond, but it is far from the house. I wonder, if I put in a small pond near the barn, and had a run from an enclosed area around the pond to a "duck house" in one of the barn stalls, if I could keep ducks. I don't know what I'd do with them except bond with them, name them, and spoil them rotten, but then, what else do I have to do?

If you go for 6 ducks a small kids wading pool would work. You would have to set it up so they could get in and out easily.

Ducks lay more eggs per year and have more nutrition than chicken eggs.

I noticed today, 12 weeks plus 3 days, I definitely have one drake. I been looking and listening. A drake has more of a rasp call compared to a female quake. I believe there are more raspy voices but the tail curl is a dead giveaway.

Handsome boy.
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Ancona%20ducks/AnconaDrakeSept232012002_zpsd028530c.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Ancona%20ducks/AnconaDrakeSept232012008_zps544c83a4.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Ancona%20ducks/AnconaDrakeSept232012006_zps7038637f.jpg[/img]

Shake that tail feather

Eric

[applestar]

Wah. I want one... Or six. I could manage a wading pool -- Do you think the neighbors will notice?

[DoubleDogFarm]

Wah. I want one... Or six. I could manage a wading pool -- Do you think the neighbors will notice?

Apple,

Just play the radio very load all day and everyday. What ducks, I don't hear no ducks.

I would move.

Eric

[DoubleDogFarm]

Okay Eric, so I get a hole in the ground about the size of a child's wading pool, and have an enclosed run from the "duck house" in the barn to the pool with a fence enclosing the pool and a few feet around it, the ducks would be safe and happy? I'd be happy to have duck eggs to share with the neighbors and to eat. I have geriatric hens, so having a few elderly ducks in a few years is fine.
Do I need to put the ducks' pond in the shade? I could locate it where there would be part shade in the morning with sun in the afternoon.

No, I would have the pond in full sun or mostly but have some plants around for the ducks. Your climate is considerably warmer than ours. The ducks would need some shade to rest under.

Will a hole in the ground hold water or will you be lining?

Eric

[applestar]

If you are up for it, it would be interesting to see project progress photos.

[rainbowgardener]

Wow! Finally a use for my pure clay native soil! Line a pond with it. I don't really have flat space to do it, but I'd love to try. Wonder how a small pond would look under the huge old lilac tree....

But then don't you still have to have pump, fountain and everything to keep it from being a mosquito breeder or don't you have mosquitos in the quantities we do.

[DoubleDogFarm]

@ marlingardener,

Are you interested in Ancona ducks? Fertile eggs or day-old ducklings in the Spring.

PM me

Eric

[DoubleDogFarm]

Koalinite.

We use Bentonite on occasion.

Bentonite is an absorbent aluminium phyllosilicate, essentially impure clay consisting mostly of montmorillonite. There are different types of bentonite, each named after the respective dominant element, such as potassium (K), sodium (Na), calcium (Ca), and aluminium (Al). Experts debate a number of nomenclatorial problems with the classification of bentonite clays. Bentonite usually forms from weathering of volcanic ash, most often in the presence of water. However, the term bentonite, as well as a similar clay called tonstein, has been used to describe clay beds of uncertain origin. For industrial purposes, two main classes of bentonite exist: sodium and calcium bentonite. In stratigraphy and tephrochronology, completely devitrified (weathered volcanic glass) ash-fall beds are commonly referred to as K-bentonites when the dominant clay species is illite. Other common clay species, and sometimes dominant, are montmorillonite and kaolinite. Kaolinite-dominated clays are commonly referred to as tonsteins and are typically associated with coal.

Eric

[DoubleDogFarm]

Ancona ducks will be 22 weeks old on Thursday. No eggs so far, but I've seen flirtation. 23 weeks is about average for the first egg, it may take up to 34 weeks.

[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Ancona%20ducks/AnconaducksNov272012005.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Ancona%20ducks/AnconaducksNov272012006.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Ancona%20ducks/AnconaducksNov272012003.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Ancona%20ducks/AnconaducksNov272012002.jpg[/img]
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Ancona%20ducks/AnconaducksNov272012004.jpg[/img]

Eric

[Green Mantis]

Love your ducks They are so pretty, obviously have a great home too.

Very happy looking ducks.

Just out of curiousity, why did you get rid of your rabbits?

Love all the beautiful pictures you post, congrats.

[DoubleDogFarm]

About 30 weeks and finally eggs. Found two eggs this morning. A light green colored egg in their house and a white one outside.





Applestar, I should be able to send a few soon. When will your setup be ready?

Eric

[DoubleDogFarm]

Two more eggs this morning. Again, one white and one green. That's a good start. With 10 hens it should ramp up.

Fertility is low. Only one of the four eggs had the little blood spots in the yolk. With ten drakes, I'm thinking this will change to 100% fertility.

Eric

[DoubleDogFarm]

Collected 7 eggs from the duck house this morning. 3 out of the seven are blueish green.

Here's some pictures from the last couple days.




Eric

[applestar]

They are so pretty! Half shells would look cute with something tiny growing in them, like grass or chia, alfalfa....

These should get customers attention if you sell them at farmers market -- will you be doing that when it starts up in spring?