GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post

16-03-2004, 08:12 AM

In article ,
(Mark) wrote:

"Anonny Moose" wrote in message
...
Congratulations! Ducks are pretty darn sloppy but cuter than all get out.
They eat a fair share of the bugs and spiders and slugs and fertilize the
area, to boot. How can you beat that?? Did you get them sexed or will it be
a surprise?

Karen

Well, it's going to be a surprise, I guess. I had wanted to make sure
I got all females, but the guy at the feed store couldn't guarantee
it. He didn't claim to know how to sex them beyond hearing somewhere
that the females have smaller heads than the males. (No sexist vibe,
either)

I figure that they'll be fun no matter what sex they are, but if we're
going to eat duck eggs, I'd really rather not crack one open to find a
fetal duck inside.

I'm all over the idea of having these guys around to keep the slug 'n'
bug population under control. My kids eat stuff straight out of the
garden, so I don't use pesticide...the closest I come is laying out a
bowl of beer to kill a handful of slugs each night.

Mark

With Pekins, when they mature, the males will be larger than the females
and have a different "voice". Females quack loudly, while drakes have a
whispery quack... Also, the males, at about 3 months, will have a "DA"
feather pair in their tail. A pair of curled feathers that are quite
obvious. This goes for mallards too, but they also have a different
color pattern. Since Pekins are solid white....... ;-)

Pekin drakes will also screw anything they can catch! Including
chickens. I had to give away the one I had due to this problem. He
harassed my bantam chickens. G

It's a duck thing.
K.

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