I have several friends who keep ducks, and the ducks that they love, love, love, are these.
People who keep these ducks go on and on about the antics and delightful personalities of these birds. Personally, if I’m at a holiday party, I’d much rather hear duck stories than political discourse. If you have ducks, please leave a comment, the more involved the story, the better! We could all use a bit of fun distraction in this lull between Christmas and New Years.
I have added 3 call ducks, they get along fine with the chickens and are too cute. I am in love with them, They are so comical. They run around in straight lines, quacking all the time, my little girl has on occasion run up behind a chicken and grabbed her by butt feathers, not a good idea, lol, but the chickens have accepted these little pests as part of the group.
I have one little Khaki Campbell hen. She is a very good layer, and so cute. She is very dark brown. I have her with a Welsh Harlequin, and an Indian Runner. Most of the year these 3 hens give me 2-3 eggs every day! In the winter, I usually get 1 a day. The eggs are all the same color, just different shapes. One is longer, one is rounder…. so I don’t know who lays the egg, when there is only one! They are very good eggs, and a favorite to the family that purchases eggs from me! It is a comical dozen eggs to observe— brown, white, and green chicken eggs, small , medium , large, and then these big duck eggs! Actually these little duck eggs are not much bigger than a good sized brown chicken egg! I am amazed at the differences in weight of these three breeds. The Indian Runner hardly weighs anything, the Khaki a little more, and the Welsh is much heavier. To see them they don’t look that much different in size!
I kept a pair or white Pekins for many years. On occasion I would lose one and have to replace it with the same sex. One time during a very icy winter we lost our female and the male was just pineing away so we brought him into our basement and set up a large dog crate from our great dane and a large mirror on the outside of the crate. He thought the reflection of himself was another duck and it bought us some time until we could find him a mate.
Another time, I. found myself in the same position needing an adult female as a mate for my male. I couldn’t find any locally but someone told me about a butcher in the Italian market in Philadelphia that sold all types of livestock.
I drove into the city myself with two cardboard boxes because I didn’t know what size I would need. I arrived right before closing time and the butcher was anxious to leave. He had little patience with the customers. I got on the end of the line and ended up being the last customer he would leave in the shop. As I got to the front of the line he said to me “heads and feet”?. I said “yes I want heads and feet, this is a pet”. He disappeared into the back room and came back with both boxes containing a female duck. I only expected one but now I had a spare. I went to buy a pet and almost came home with dinner.
I laughed all the way home. Those ducks gave us such joy.