The handsome duck on the right is a Muscovy/Rouen cross, but will be sterile. The door is open and the ducks are able to come out, but so far only four exited their comfort zone. The rest were finally taken out by hand and I bet they will not want to go back. The ducklings and 4 goslings began their lives in the granary, along with the chicks. Two goslings were flown in from Ontario from Performance Poultry and are Sebastopol Geese, fluffy ruffled white gentle geese. They are quite rare and hard to breed, therefor expensive, but oh, so pretty. I am hoping the gander will cross breed the geese and produce coloured Sebastopols, which are equally pretty, but not all will have the ruffled feathers.
There are some Muscovy cross ducks, which are sterile mules. Although the Muscovy can breed the North American ducks, the offspring crosses cannot breed, so are for meat. They are supposedly very meaty and tender with less grease than a regular duck and a larger carcass.
There are two white ducks, the progeny of the white Khaki Campbell and it looks like a regular Campbell. Six Magpie, black and white ducklings were part of the order from Performance Poultry, and truthfully, I cannot tell them apart from the Ancona ducks. There are also a good number of pure Khaki Campbells and Rouens and three Rouen ducks are sitting on their nests of 9 - 14 eggs each, so there will be lots of Rouen ducks. It is odd, but the breeds tend to stick together and although the drakes will sneak over to the other girls, the hens stay with their own for the most part.
The door was open and there is a ramp out, but the ducklings did not exit en masse. Only 4 left the coop and the others had to be taken out, but boy, once out, they were in Heaven. They played in the water and ate all the grass they desired. Tomorrow, after cleaning their coop and relocating it, I will move the livestock panels around it to create an outdoor run, put some netting on it and let the chicks out of the granary. The youngest ones still gravitate to the heat lamp, though they really do not require it. It is just their comfort area. There are several hens sitting on eggs too, so there will be some chicks hatched from the mamma hens. It was a good day for the ducklings, though, because they are finally free!
There are some Muscovy cross ducks, which are sterile mules. Although the Muscovy can breed the North American ducks, the offspring crosses cannot breed, so are for meat. They are supposedly very meaty and tender with less grease than a regular duck and a larger carcass.
There are two white ducks, the progeny of the white Khaki Campbell and it looks like a regular Campbell. Six Magpie, black and white ducklings were part of the order from Performance Poultry, and truthfully, I cannot tell them apart from the Ancona ducks. There are also a good number of pure Khaki Campbells and Rouens and three Rouen ducks are sitting on their nests of 9 - 14 eggs each, so there will be lots of Rouen ducks. It is odd, but the breeds tend to stick together and although the drakes will sneak over to the other girls, the hens stay with their own for the most part.
The door was open and there is a ramp out, but the ducklings did not exit en masse. Only 4 left the coop and the others had to be taken out, but boy, once out, they were in Heaven. They played in the water and ate all the grass they desired. Tomorrow, after cleaning their coop and relocating it, I will move the livestock panels around it to create an outdoor run, put some netting on it and let the chicks out of the granary. The youngest ones still gravitate to the heat lamp, though they really do not require it. It is just their comfort area. There are several hens sitting on eggs too, so there will be some chicks hatched from the mamma hens. It was a good day for the ducklings, though, because they are finally free!
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