Tuesday, June 23, 2009

6 weeks old and Awesome!

Wow do they change in a week. What a week it has been. Onyx, our Ancona Drake that we assumed was the standard black and white has been changing every day. First came this beautiful rust/copper color on his breast area and this week, a beautiful teal color is appearing on his face, head and back end. So...it looks like Onyx will be a tri-color which is thrilling as he is going to be paired up with my silver ancona duck, Sasha.



Ancona




Ancona





Ancona





Ancona





Ancona





Ancona




He will be paired up with Sasha. She is what i believe to be a silver ancona. Yay.



Ancona



Then my three chocolate anconas will become a trio.

There is Mounds, a female


Ancona



Hershey, also a female


Ancona



KitKat, the drake


Ancona



I will have a trio of Golden Welsh Harlequins, Draccus, the Drake



Golden Welsh Harlequins





Golden Welsh Harlequins




A female, Nibblets


Golden Welsh Harlequins




The second female, Lilly


Golden Welsh Harlequins




I also have three Golden Welsh Harlequin drakes that will be in a bachelor pad until I find them good homes or until I get more females.


Their favorite green is Spinach Leaves....oh my they go nuts for it.


Ancona,Golden Welsh Harlequins





Ancona,Golden Welsh Harlequins





Ancona,Golden Welsh Harlequins




So, the adventure continues. I am building the duck house and have a smaller coop coming for the bachelors so I will post pics of that as I go too.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

They are 5 weeks old + and amazing


There is never a dull moment around here with the duck crew of 11. As you can see above, Onyx was having fun playing in the pool. They are a hoot! Each one has a different personality and is unique in his/her own way.
So far it looks like we have 6 drakes and 5 females. Well 5 are clearly quacking and 6 are not. My Golden Welsh Harlequins have very distinct looks too. The two that are quacking are a rusty beautiful brown breast area, the other 4 are splotchy and have dark heads and are not quacking. So time will tell for sure but I love em all anyway.

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Here are some pics of my favorite harlequin drake...he loves the hose and being nosey. He has to check out everything I am doing or have.

Golden Welsh Harlequins,Ancona

Golden Welsh Harlequins,Ancona

Golden Welsh Harlequins

Golden Welsh Harlequins

All 11 of them in their play pool. They have a much larger one which they are sleeping in at night in the garage while their duck house is being built.

Ancona,Golden Welsh Harlequins

Kitkat refusing to use the steps, silly duck

Ancona

Sasha being too lazy to get out of the pool

Ancona

Nibblets

Golden Welsh Harlequins

Hershey

Ancona

Mounds

Ancona

Sasha and Onyx headless

Ancona

Water Play

Ancona

Then of course we must groom afterwards

Ancona

It looks like I will be looking for females for my 3 extra drake harlequins because I just do not have the heart to butcher the extras. I bought them as pets and love them as pets...so pets they will stay. If I need to rehome them I will do that or make them a bachelor pad of their own, which is the current plan.

More updates on the crew later because something is always happening with these guys.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

They are 4 weeks old

They are growing and providing many more moments of fun and antics. It is amazing how quickly they grow. They are growing more beautiful each day.



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There were also moments of near heart failure for me...such as when I was taking pictures and one of the ducks was missing its head! Silly duckie had his/her head bent backwards grooming and fell asleep. I nearly went into cardiac arrest.



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They absolutely love the water hose being sprayed at them.



Ancona,Golden Welsh Harlequins



Ancona,Golden Welsh Harlequins






Ancona,Golden Welsh Harlequins



Ancona,Golden Welsh Harlequins


And when I stop spraying...everyone tries to get in the tub at once.



Ancona,Golden Welsh Harlequins


This weekend they should have their own house done. right now it is weather dependent. We have been getting rain which they love but it hampers any building of the duck house. So, for now, they walk to their tractor outside each morning and then back to the garage brooder area each evening. They are very smart and learn things so quickly.


Here is a video of them being herded. They do not like the roomie very much and he was filming...so they sounded like their lives were in immediate danger. hahahahaha