Farm1 wrote:
wrote in message

Ducks are pretty garden friendly, but chooks will turn the
garden into a desolation.

Try Silkies if you want to try chooks in the garden. They are small
and not as active as bigger hens.

yeah, they're nice. We had a large and expanding gang of langsheng bantams
for some years, and they were nice in the garden, although they liked
dustbaths and took over a sunny spot in the garden to have them. They didn't
wreck stuff though, or behave in a disgraceful manner like larger chooks.

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wrote:
Ms Leebee wrote:
I am also ashamed to say I must be a very bland person, as I find
duck eggs too rich for my palette !

A lot of people say that, but I haven't noticed. We eat them soft
boiled and haven't found them too rich. They have a lovely
green-blue colour though, which could be a bit off-putting. First
time I saw one I thought it was rotten and smashed it on the
back fence.

we had ducks for years, Khaki Campbells. The eggs were "normal", just large,
and I often got upset guts from them. They were very "eggy". A cake with the
number of eggs in where the recipe was for chook eggs was distinctly eggy.

Khaki Campbells laid a lot. Pooed a lot, too.


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wrote in message
Farm1 wrote:
wrote in message

Ducks are pretty garden friendly, but chooks will turn the
garden into a desolation.

Try Silkies if you want to try chooks in the garden. They are
small
and not as active as bigger hens.

We had some silkies. I was not particularly impressed. I found them
a bit delicate, they aren't great layers and they are too broody.

I don't like them either but many gardeners swear by them.

Maybe I will get a pair of australorps.

Of the readily available pure breeds, I like Autralorps the best.

"Barbara" wrote in message

You need some lizards, Blue tongues are very good for getting rid of
snails.

The only problem with that is that Blue Tongues and snakes both like
exactly the same sort of garden.

HC wrote:
Are you sure you aren't confusing Muscovies with ducks? Muskies are
genetically, a goose.

I have heard that before, and certainly Muscovies are very goose-like
(they hiss rather than quack). But they cross-breed with other ducks,
so I guess that makes them the same species?

wrote in message

HC wrote:
Are you sure you aren't confusing Muscovies with ducks? Muskies
are
genetically, a goose.

I have heard that before, and certainly Muscovies are very
goose-like
(they hiss rather than quack). But they cross-breed with other
ducks,
so I guess that makes them the same species?

Horses and donkeys interbreed and they are the same species being both
from the equidae family. The offspring (mules and hinnies) are
(almost) always sterile. I'm fairly sure that the same "species" rule
applies to both Muscovies and ducks and I know that the sterility bit
does. I've yet to hear of the offspring of the duck/muscovy mating
being fertile.

None of my family thought duck eggs had an 'eggy' taste, although
Muscovy eggs, as do other goose eggs, had a stronger flavour.

Their feed will make the eggs taste....when I first got ducks I threw
out some leftover curry, sure enough the eggs the next day had a
distinct curry flavour and were a strange colour. Just make sure they
get plenty of green pickings and access to fresh water (although they
like to play it their drinking water too) and the eggs will taste more
hen-like. I always added some laying pellets to their feed bin but
quite often it's very salty...taste some of the pellets yourself is the
best test, I found. Not all laying pellets are equal!!

We ate the eggs soft-boiled, scrambled, poached, fried and any other way
I could think of to cook them as well as cakes, pavlovas, caramel
pies...the list goes on and on.



ant wrote:
wrote:

Ms Leebee wrote:

I am also ashamed to say I must be a very bland person, as I find
duck eggs too rich for my palette !

A lot of people say that, but I haven't noticed. We eat them soft
boiled and haven't found them too rich. They have a lovely
green-blue colour though, which could be a bit off-putting. First
time I saw one I thought it was rotten and smashed it on the
back fence.


we had ducks for years, Khaki Campbells. The eggs were "normal", just large,
and I often got upset guts from them. They were very "eggy". A cake with the
number of eggs in where the recipe was for chook eggs was distinctly eggy.

Khaki Campbells laid a lot. Pooed a lot, too.

Muscovies take 35 days to hatch....as do geese. Ducks, on the other
hand, hatch in 28 days. Muscovies will breed with anything...our dog
discovered this one day much to his disgust!! ROFLMHO!!

wrote:

HC wrote:

Are you sure you aren't confusing Muscovies with ducks? Muskies are
genetically, a goose.


I have heard that before, and certainly Muscovies are very goose-like
(they hiss rather than quack). But they cross-breed with other ducks,
so I guess that makes them the same species?

I'm guessing they would be sterile. Because I had up to 11 different
breeds of duck, only one breed were allowed out of their yard each day
during breeding season. I had way too many orders to get caught up with
crossbreeds.



Farm1 wrote:

wrote in message


HC wrote:

Are you sure you aren't confusing Muscovies with ducks? Muskies

are

genetically, a goose.

I have heard that before, and certainly Muscovies are very

goose-like

(they hiss rather than quack). But they cross-breed with other

ducks,

so I guess that makes them the same species?


Horses and donkeys interbreed and they are the same species being both
from the equidae family. The offspring (mules and hinnies) are
(almost) always sterile. I'm fairly sure that the same "species" rule
applies to both Muscovies and ducks and I know that the sterility bit
does. I've yet to hear of the offspring of the duck/muscovy mating
being fertile.

The Blueys that live in my garden poked their heads out on Sunday for
the first time this season. They were waiting for the obligatory bit of
chuck steak.



Farm1 wrote:

"Barbara" wrote in message


You need some lizards, Blue tongues are very good for getting rid of

snails.

The only problem with that is that Blue Tongues and snakes both like
exactly the same sort of garden.

HC wrote:
None of my family thought duck eggs had an 'eggy' taste, although
Muscovy eggs, as do other goose eggs, had a stronger flavour.

Their feed will make the eggs taste....when I first got ducks I threw
out some leftover curry, sure enough the eggs the next day had a
distinct curry flavour and were a strange colour. Just make sure they
get plenty of green pickings and access to fresh water (although they
like to play it their drinking water too) and the eggs will taste more
hen-like. I always added some laying pellets to their feed bin but
quite often it's very salty...taste some of the pellets yourself is
the best test, I found. Not all laying pellets are equal!!

Our ducks ranged over a 5 acre farm all day, and went into their shed at
night.


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Farm1 wrote:
"Barbara" wrote in message

You need some lizards, Blue tongues are very good for getting rid
of snails.

The only problem with that is that Blue Tongues and snakes both like
exactly the same sort of garden.

yes. Whenever I see them (the lizards) appear, my snake-hackles go up.
****ing browns.

I have some of those weird blunt lizards also, and horny ones that have
claws and drag themselves around. they come out first, and then it's time to
look out for the Browns.


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"HC" wrote in message
...
The Blueys that live in my garden poked their heads out on Sunday
for
the first time this season. They were waiting for the obligatory
bit of
chuck steak.

We used to have a bit of 4 inch aggie drainage pipe sticking out of
the ground in a previous house. In this pipe lived the fattest and
biggest Bluie I've ever seen. One day I caught my husband throwing
snails down into the pipe. When I asked him what he was doing he
looked a bit embarrassed and said he was feeding the Blue. He'd
apparently been doing it for about a year. No wonder the Bluie was so
big :-))


I haven't seen one yet. Still too cold.

"ant" wrote in message
Farm1 wrote:
"Barbara" wrote in message

You need some lizards, Blue tongues are very good for getting
rid
of snails.

The only problem with that is that Blue Tongues and snakes both
like
exactly the same sort of garden.

yes. Whenever I see them (the lizards) appear, my snake-hackles go
up.
****ing browns.

:-)) Yes. I also have a resident Tiger Snake along wiht my residnet
Brown. Brown near the front door Tiger at the back. Want either to
add to your collection?

I have some of those weird blunt lizards also, and horny ones that
have
claws and drag themselves around. they come out first, and then it's
time to
look out for the Browns.

What sort is that lizard?

Farm1 wrote:

I have some of those weird blunt lizards also, and horny ones that
have claws and drag themselves around. they come out first, and
then it's time to look out for the Browns.

What sort is that lizard?

Dunno. Some are armour-plated, and their front looks like the back, sort of
blunt at both ends. Some others are armour plated, but thinner and longer
and pointier, with claws. Some sort-of drag themselves around on their
stomachs, using their claws to pull them along. There's a few blue tongues,
too.

Apparently the chihuahuas killed a lizard last week. One had been obsessed
with lizards for years, spending hours motionless gazing fixedly at the rock
wall. I guess he finally got one. My brother found the two of them eating
it.


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