Home Grown Babies

Home Grown Babies 2003

In anticipation of some day raising babies from top show quality stock from Holderreads' Waterfowl Farm, I gave my goose some eggs from my production/breeder quality ducks. I wanted to see if she would hatch and raise them as her own. (I have been told that some geese will kill baby ducks. But this goose was originally hatched and raised by three bantam hens, so maybe she doesn't know she's a goose!) The experiment was a wonderful success. She was still chasing the other ducks away from "her" babies when they were 12 weeks old.

Since I only had one male and two females to get eggs from, I didn't have alot of color choices. I didn't expect all the babies to be the same basic color, but most of them were - a very pale chocolate milk color that I am calling beige. This is one of the reasons I like runners. The colors seem to be endless. You just never know what you're going to get. I think my beige is a very pretty color. The lightest one is my favorite. And even she has noticable lacing.

Day-old home grown babies following "mother goose" into the nest box.

Home grown babies at 4 weeks old.

Far right - Double Spot's baby boy. What happened to his runner pattern? What a mess!

I have combined the fawn and white runner pattern with other colored ducks a couple of times. You never know what's going to happen. Whitey's babies that were half Khaki Campbell had either no white or only a tiny little "clergy collar". Double Spot's babies are all runner and all messed up! They each got some wierd bib with broken edges. Bandit even got some white primary wing feathers on each side. She's all flash and color splash.

This is not the way to maintain birds that meet the breed standards!

But it does give me ideas for color experiments in the future. So check back in fall 2004 to see how it turns out.

L-R: Bandit, Fleck, Stormy, Flash and Inga at 8 weeks old.

Bandit and friends at 8 weeks

Bandit and her friends are good examples of what to avoid when choosing breeders. Hershey had a long tail that was always cocked upward. All his children have his tail. All of the babies have "leaky" dark feathers, especially Bandit. The runner pattern has been completely lost on all of Double Spot's kids. And the white on the solid colored ones' necks, a common problem, is also incorrect. Despite all the faults that my untrained eye can see, I think these are pretty and interesting colors. They have the added bonus of being easily identified at a distance since no two are exactly alike. As a very small flock owner, I like being able to tell my birds apart from across the yard. That's why I have so many different colors.

Even though the runner pattern is completely lost with just a random broken bib, I think Inga and Bandit have developed into very pretty ducks. None of my birds will ever see the show ring, so why not have a little fun with the colors. They are supposed to be my entertainment and pets - first and foremost.

Inga and Bandit at 12 weeks

This page last updated February 12, 2004.

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