sara | July 7, 2011
Duck keepers often wonder what is the best combination and ratio of male to females and I am often emailed about the numbers of drakes and ducks in a group and whether they will get along ok.
Carolyn has just emailed as she has two draks and two ducks.
The ducklings I got at Easter have turned [...]
sara | February 23, 2011
Well I now have a real mix of ducks and drake here on the farmingfriends farm!
I have 11 khaki campbells (2 drakes and 9 ducks – one is a doubled breasted khaki) They lay white eggs.
I have a pair of magpie ducks (1 drake & 1 duck) and I think they lay blue/green eggs.
I have [...]
sara | January 18, 2011
The age of maturity of male birds will differ between species of birds. The maturity refers to the age at which the males reach sexual maturity and will start breeding with their female partners.
Quail = about 60 days old.
Hen = about 6-8 months old.
Partridges = male grey partridges mature from about 10-12 months old.
Pheasants [...]
sara | January 13, 2011
The age of maturity of female birds will differ between species of birds. The maturity refers to the age at which the females reach sexual maturity and will start laying eggs and breeding with their male partners.
Quail = about 50 days old (I have observed that female Japanese quail will start to lay eggs from [...]
sara | January 11, 2011
Here is a rough guide to the male to female ratio for keeping different varieties of poultry together.
Quail = 1 male to every 3-4 females.
Hen = 1 males to every 6-10 females. (The Domestic Fowl Trust normally recommend 1 male to 6 females for breeding chickens.)
Partridges = 1 male to 1 female.
Pheasants = 1 male [...]
sara | January 10, 2011
With the recent Wintery weather in the UK and other countries suffering with snow, frosts and minus temperatures, there has been alot of debate about how to keep poultry drinkers and waterfowl ponds from freezing and keeping your poultry supplied with fresh water.
Looking for advice – we are in the north so we do get [...]
sara | January 7, 2011
I have been asked if concrete flooring or 1/2″ chicken mesh will hurt ducks feet.
I live in an area with alot of raccoons….and due to lack of forage, have to move the duck pen around alot….Will it hurt them to walk on 1/2″chicken mesh and concrete??
Linda
I know that concrete can give them sore feet if [...]
sara | January 3, 2011
I am often asked about what may have caused a duck to limp.
It can be quite common for a duck to have a limp, as quite a few of the members on the farmingfriends duck forum have had a duck with a limp.
Reasons for a duck limping:
It can sometimes be due to a knock,
broken [...]
sara | October 31, 2010
I have a cayuga drake so have been reading up about the cayuga breed.
The cayuga breed of duck originates from the USA.
Cayuga are a table breed.
The cayuga has black plumage with a green/purple sheen on the feathers.
The cayuga’s bill and webs are black.
Cayuga ducks can lay about 100 eggs a year.
The cayuga is classified as a [...]
sara | October 9, 2010
Jim sent an email asking for some advice about his newly hatched duckling who was very weak.
“hi Sara
Just a quick question, one of the ducklings that has hatched cant seem to stand up, hes flapping his little wings and his legs seem very strong, he wasnt help out of the egg although it did [...]
