First day out of the nest and a trip to the newly planted fig area. Just planted these new varieties and in this spot will be able to put about 60 plants but at the moment just 21 planted.......guess that means I need more varieties.  Just got the irrigation in and mulched yesterday.  The arched bamboo stems over the small plants are to protect them from waddling feet.  

15 new ducklings in this group and those are the two mom's....they both sat on the nest together which is not unusual.  The last nest that hatched 2 weeks ago had 3 ducks all sitting on the same nest.  

Adorable!  How do the ducks know who is mom?  Read a story on the web last week about a cat who just gave birth to kittens adopting 3 or 4 little ducklings.  No clue where that moma duck was, but the cat takes really good care of the ducks like her kitties!  I suppose in that case the owners will get those babies back to the mom duck.

Suzi

Congrats on the babies, Wills! 

Suzi,

They know the mom's call. Sometimes the two batches of ducklings get mixed up and the 5 "mom's" have a bit of a fit sorting them out.

Those are so cute.

Errr... how do you cook them? ;)

Pan seared breast medium rare :)  Tastes just like beef.  

NOOOOO...sounds good!

I would not cook the mama ducks.  They produce eggs that are really good when fresh.  If anybody goes to the hatchet, the male!  Cook his sweet self, and let the ladies move on to more eggs, more ducklings.  Let the girls live to produce eggs, and let the male have one chance at a new generation.  Give him the Axe!   Sad but true.

Suzi

Suzi,

Yep that is how it works........bad to be a male in this case.  I also prefer the pure white ducks or white and dove....the darker ducks go to freezer camp.  In the batch in that picture there are two that will be dark colored.  I already have 19 adults, 16 ducks and 3 drakes.  

Willis, It's hard to be an animale...  He does his job, then he goes off to heaven.  I know this from my friend, Listenstohorses.  She is a member here, but any male goat produced, goes to the butcher at a young age.  The girls live to produce, and all little kids be it ducks or kids are adorable.  There are plans for them when they grow up.  Not really a democracy!  

Hey, go for it!  

Suzi 

Nice setup Wills.

No papa duck, no ducklings so leave papa duck to live another season

Too many papa ducks = stressed out mama ducks and general discord in the flock.  One male to every 5-6 females makes for a more harmonious flock.  

Look for a recipe ducks n figs.

this one looks good... 

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/seared-duck-with-fig-sauce

Love domestic duck!
wild duck, not so much.

Not so fond of duck.

Martin,

Duck breeds all trace back to the mallards except the muscovy and while the mallard type ducks are very fatty and some would say greasy the muscovy is very lean.  If you like roast beef you would love muscovy.....it tastes almost identical and same texture. 

Hi Willc,
Those are nice muscovy ducks - they are better than mallards as they are silent ! But 5 weeks waiting for hatching ! against 4 for the mallards.

But, I would be concerned for the trees, ducks have a big strength at their beak and they'll chew for fun, killing the small trees - the "choice" is yours :) .

About chicks and ducks: Females don't care for what they hatch, as long as the batch does hatch !
Gran ma hatched ducks at hens and an uncle hatched hens at ducks ... People would give the eggs at hands for hatching .
The only problem is ducks are no softys and they would crush the small hens, so he had to remove them upon hatching .
But gran ma had a hen with 3 chicks and 2 ducks acting like a family of sys and bros !

Jdsfrance,

Like I said I have 19 ducks and they have never once chewed on the figs and already have 100 or so in ground so I will take my chances.  They do chew on the blueberry stems and the bananas so they are fenced out.  Must be the fig sap has a bad taste.