Eggs, and the results

[Airspeed]

Firstly, take a squizz at the loopy egg on the right:

Then there's this. 9 hatched out of 11 eggs. count all you like, 2 of them are out of frame!

[nigelb]

The one on the right looks a little eggscentric to my eyes!

Nigel²

[airboatr]

Good one Nigel²...

btw... have you ever made it to Polyface Farms?

Mike, you'd like the owner, Joel.. A real back to basics kind of farmer.

He was interviewed in a Docu-movie called Food Inc. ..

[Airspeed]

Hi Joe,
Hadn't come across that previously.
I see that the originator appears to be in Virginia.
I also find that there's an Australian farm following the same practices: Taranaki Farm.
I also find that it's only a 30 minute drive from here.
I've noted details, and I'll look into it further. I'm taking over the buying role in our Wholefoods Collective as of 1st January 2016....they may get a new customer

[511Flyer]

When we lived on a farm 1991-2007 we had some Kyuga ducks. Very attractive, and good layers. Unfortunately, even though had very good housing, they refused to sit on the eggs. An old farmer suggested that we put the eggs in with a broody hen, which he just happened to have, and these are some shots of the result. A dozen eggs, and they all hatched.

Some of the adult ducks who laid the eggs.





The old hen with her baby ducklings, which she dearly loved and wouldn't believe they weren't chicks.



The growing ducks. All of them survived.



One big problem that we had, is that ducklings get waterproofed by snuggling under their mother. The old hen couldn't do that, so when they eventually went into the pond, they nearly sunk without trace. We were forewarned of this, so we stood by with fishing nets and hauled them out if they got into trouble. After a while, they developed their own waterproofing, and all was well.

Den.

[Airspeed]

Great stuff, Den.
I never knew that about waterproofing ducklings.
btw, the wild ducks have been grazing next door with 14 ducklings, they're so cute!