Devonviolet Acres

[Baymule]

Missy is a beautiful girl. I know she will bring years of joy and happiness to your daughter and family.

The ducks picture is cute. They do love to play in the water!

 

[babsbag]

My ducks thing they are chickens...they seldom go to the pond. Weird.

 

[goatgurl]

what a beautiful pup. I know your dd and sil will enjoy her for years. hope you enjoyed the day.
don't the ducks just enjoy their showers so much. they crack me up running around catching the drops in their mouth.

 

[Devonviolet]

Yes, we did enjoy the day! I adore my DD, SIL & GS! My SIL is such a goof ball! He has a very dry sense of humor (it drives DD crazy! ) He loves to make me laugh! And he does it often!

 

[goatgurl]

just had to share a pic of my duckels having a good time in their pool. cracks me up when they dive down below the others and then come up under them with a big splash. these are the youngest hatch this year. I don't like to let them out of the big pen until they actually have wing feathers to get away from things. i'm getting a lot of blacks and chocolate browns this year. trying to breed out the white and pied markings for less predator problems. seems to be working pretty good.

 

[Devonviolet]

Wow @goatgurlThey are getting big! Our KC ducklings are a wide variety of sizes. Two are larger, more like yours, and putting on lots of big duck feathers. But several are at least half the size of the bigger ones, and don't have a lot for big duck feathers yet. Can anyone hazard a guess as to why that might be? They all came together, as ducklings, and were the same size when they arrived. I think they hatched the 29th or 30th of July, and they arrived on August 2nd.

I called Murray McMurray this afternoon and the lady there asked me to send a photo showing what sizes they are. So, I sent this one:

 

[CntryBoy777]

Ohhh they're so Cute!!..
Ya know that I'm no expert, but I'll share my thoughts on the size issue. Since they are a cross between rouen and runner there are traits that show up more in some from one side or the other.....just like people, tho it is the same exact parents the offspring will differ....some taller, or shorter....another a bit heavier than another. Our hen, Lil Bit has always been a little smaller than the rest, but now after they have moulted their light phase to dark phase feathers the size difference isn't as noticeable. Even within the rouens there is inconsistency in their size....2 are much larger than the others. So, I don't think they are "Cookie-Cutter" breeds and have variances from bird to bird......
Even if ya look in your pic, ya can see a difference in their posture....the smaller ones are more upright....(runner influenced)....and the others are more of the stately stance of the rouen.

 

[Devonviolet]

Even if ya look in your pic, ya can see a difference in their posture....the smaller ones are more upright....(runner influenced)....and the others are more of the stately stance of the Rouen.

I appreciate your feedback CntryBoy. What you said makes a lot of sense.

Yes, I had noticed that. The biggest one, in the back, is almost horizontal, and the tiny ones are more vertical, like a runner duck. I thought maybe I was imaging that, since their head shape & coloring are all the same.

So, does your Lil Bit lay the same size eggs as the bigger KCs?

 

[Devonviolet]

Well, I have some back peddlin' to do.

The other day I posted that DH picked some Passion Fruits & they tasted like a cross between cucumber & melon. He said the flowers were purple.

He has been pulling the vines & cutting up the fruits, to toss to the ducks, 'cause they LOVE them! The goats love the vines.

This morning, when I was milking Ruby, DH was talking about the vines, and said the flowers were yellow. That got me thinking that the "fruit" was a wild cucumber, rather than Passion Fruit.

So, I asked him to pick the vine & show me what it looked like. Sure 'nuff! It is a cucumber vine!

 

[CntryBoy777]

So, does your Lil Bit lay the same size eggs as the bigger KCs?

Yes she does and is a prolific layer.