[Cleo]

We are hatching ducks. Unfortunately this batch at ten days has only one viable egg. It is a mini silver appleyard and will be small.

We are getting some Cayuga eggs shortly ( within the week ) and aim to hatch these alongside.

1. will the smaller single duckling be okay for a couple of days as an only ?

2. will the breeds mix without difficulty ?


Ducks are a new adventure for us. We have read widely on the subject before venturing BUT couldn't find an answer to these questions.

I like to be prepared ( can you tell :-) :-)

[Vember]

Hi Cleo

In an ideal world 2 would be better but hey you can't plan for these things
What I've done with my 2 runners is put a teddy in thier box and hung a mirror up, as long as someone is around checking on it etc then you shouldn't have a problem for a couple of days.

As far as mixing I have 2 lots of calls 3 are 2 years old and 2 are 9 weeks and I'm having problems intergrating the 2, eevn though they've seen each other since day one!!
I'm really not sure as to how yours will get on, I would tend to wait and see, size really counts you might find they are perfectly matched size wise (by the time the bigger ones hatch), or the bigger ones might pick on the smaller one? It's hard to tell


The other thing and I don't want to sound negative but at 10 days alot could go wrong with the appleyard, I've lost ducks at day 15/16+

Really think you should tackle any problems as and when, keep fingers crossed and let nature do it's stuff.

JUst my opinion I've only had ducks 2years so am no expert, wishing you all the best and I'll keep my fingers crossed for a succesful hatch for you


Sorry for waffling on
Take Care

Vember

[Cleo]

Thanks Vember for the tips.

Cayuga eggs arrived today. V disappointed...have never received such dirty eggs. Have decided to risk hatching the two least grubby...but will keep it separate from the mini apple.

[Kate and her Ducks]

Congratulations of starting with ducks, I love them and sure you will too so I am sorry that it has a bit fraught so far :cry:
I only have limited experience with ducklings but have found that they really need company so seem to adapt very quickly to new ducklings certainly in the first week of so. One of mine was left alone after his siblings being killed by magpies at 2 weeks. He immediately took to the 2 replacements I got him even though they were a week younger and much smaller. Think the main problem you will ahve is with the lonliness of the solitary one.

As to the new eggs, if it was me I would put them all in. You never know which is fertile and the last thing you want is none to hatch. You can wash them in an egg sanitising solution or just leave them. Think how dirty the ones that hatch by the canal under real ducks!

GOOD LUCK and we will expect regular updates and pics of the ducklings (we'll get Freecyclegardener in the end )

[Cleo]

Am going to give all the eggs a chance...except the one that exploded before I could get it in the incubator ( small mercies ) ...I have a feeling these not exactly fresh but have been suprised before so...

[flocko]

Those eggs dont sound too fresh if one exploded. Be careful that the rest dont explode as well which will contaminate your incubator and your appleyard eggs. I would contact the person you got the eggs from as I think you've been sold at least one OLD egg.

[Cleo]

Candled all my eggs last night. Four of the six were full of bacteria...one was clear and possibly viable. So now have One Appleyard and one Cayuga.

Contacted the seller who assures me all eggs collected fresh the morning
before I received them , washed in egg sterilizer and sent on their way.

fresh eggs cleaned up and posted wouldn't have had a bad smell though.
I knew there was something wrong with my parcel before I opened it.

[Vember]

Oh Cleo that's bad  :cry:


Really sorry, your first experience of ducks is starting all wrong  :cry:

Where abouts are you?? I'll have a look round see what I can find

[Cleo]

Hi Vember,

It's a bit disheartening :-(

I'm in Birmingham. We have a large garden and what I'm trying to achieve is a pair of one of the quieter breeds ( to keep any neighbours happy ) to roam the garden during the day. I have all my best veg on the allotment so I'm not too precious about the garden.

It's all proving a bit more difficult than I anticipated. :-(

[Vember]

Muscovys are the quietist I know of, they have a lovely whistle rather than a quack

I'm having a look round now

[Vember]

I've found some Runners hatching eggs from the same place I got mine and I got 3 out of 6 from them (got 4 but one died )and they're lovely, can't tell you much about noise as they're only 3 weeks old at mo and still squeeking  

[Cleo]

Just removed the last Cayuga as it was starting to smell.

Back to my single appleyard :-(

Hoping to get hold of some Muscovies.
Does anyone have experience with them?
What are they like personality wise ?

[Vember]

I knew someone who had 2 and they were delightful always came to the door for titbits liked being handled etc...

The whistley noise they make is soft and real nice


I'd describe the 2 I knew as gentle if thats any good to you, my Call ducks on the other hand are more like Hoodies  

[Cleo]

I know...and they look so kind and gentle :-)

just goes to show you can't judge a bird by it's feathers LOL

[Cleo]

Well...I have successfully bought some lavender and white and black and white Muscovy eggs. Should be arriving in the next few days. The more I read about them the more I am looking forward to them arriving.

I am not sure how my appleyard is doing. We may have a late fatality but I will candle again tonight to be sure.

This duck rearing is tough work....and I haven't even got as far as the ducks yet :-)

On a positive note our Guinea pigs have pigged and we have ten tiny babies running in the big pen to the enjoyment of the four kids..(11,9,7,5 )