Recent content by cheezenkwackers

I had an incubator get unplugged for over 12 hrs. Most of my eggs still hatched. It won’t hurt to try.

No, not necessarily. Your ducks have several genes wild Mallards normally do not have. The main ones being sex-linked brown and extended black. They are also bigger than wild Mallards. They would only lose these traits if there was selective pressure for many years against those traits. For...

When I eat their eggs I save the egg shells, remove some of the inner membrane, wash them off, dry, and crumble them. I then mix the pieces with their oyster shell. They will eat it that way.

Your reasoning makes sense to me, so I would think so. According to Storey’s Guide to Raising Ducks, white in Muscovies is different from that in Mallard derived ducks. White in Muscovies is incompletely dominant so if your Muscovies had it you would see white splashed in the feathers. Since...

Thank you! Finding them is the hard part.

This is my crested Silver Swedish. In the US, silver means having two blue dilution alleles, it is called splash in other parts of the world. The girls can looks all white, like mine. Her brothers, who I only saw pictures of, were a light gray. I bred her to a drake who was 1/2 Khaki...

Are you sure you have a male and a female? Same sex couple will “practice” mate. Does one quack and one sound raspy or hoarse? Even if they seem to be mating the eggs will not necessarily be fertile. Collect your eggs and crack one open to check. When you collect them, it makes the female...

They start laying eggs around this age. She could have a hidden nest. It is possible she is egg bound or sick. She also might be the bottom of the pecking order. I would keep her separated. If she seems fine, I would add a nice friend to be with her for a day or two. If she is the bottom...

Mallards are pretty small so I think your box should be big enough for sleeping. Cool water yes, not shockingly cold. I still do lukewarm in the bathtub though. When mine are outside the water is air temperature since I fill their pool the night before. It gets pretty warm here during the day...

The box should be ok for sleeping. But, it is too small for being in all the time. I also currently have 4 week old ducklings, 3 of them. Mine are in a 55 gallon aquarium at night. The things is, they need to move and exercise their muscles during the day. Mine swim in the tub at least two...

Brewers yeast is good at preventing niacin deficiency but it isn’t always enough when issues are already present. Instead, if possible, get injectable vitamin B complex. Also get some syringes. Don’t worry, you are not going to inject it. Instead, withdraw 1mL and squirt it on a treat. Dry...

I agree. They are beautiful and the big one does look like a Silver Appleyard. I suspect it is a drake based on it’s coloration. The other two also do look like Mallards. I suspect you have a pair. Female mallards have the saddle shaped color on their bill like the one in the front of the...

It possibly could be a Silver Appleyard but Welsh Harlequin ducklings do not look like yours. They are yellow with the tips of the down shaded dark. Only Appleyards and Golden 300s have the Mohawk.

Maybe that one is a girl?! But, boys peep much longer than girls, then they get raspy like they have a sore throat. I fear you have an all drake flock. I wonder if who you got them from vent sexed them.

It looks beautiful! How long did it last? :oops: