A couple of young Anconas

Here are a couple of female Anconas ready to feather out into their adult coat

KLCC INTERVIEW BY JES BURNS AT THE BOONDOCKERS FARM

SAVE THE ANCONA DUCKS

And so it begins!

We got our Jamesway 252 yesterday! whew that's a relief! We are about to begin a great project that will create generations of amazing dual purpose Ancona ducks, and some other notable amazing Heritage breeds.

Ruth Stout Video on hay mulch planting

Drawbacks that never seemed to bother Miss Stout include slugs and snails, she needed to raise ducks to help her every time she would go out they would follow in an area she would need. Ducks wont eat things that are established, unless its a tender green.

Where does all the fois gras come from in the US?

Where does all the fois gras come from in the US? Please dont not support this type of food. There is such a thing as natural duck liver...

Pectines

Pectines plural or pecten singular, are comb-like structures, widely found in the biological world. They occur, for example, on the underside of scorpions, where they are used as sense organs. In ducks they are placed on the sides of the bill and serve both as food-strainer and as comb for preening.

"Pectinate" means supplied with a comb-like structure

Keep your domestic animals domestic

Why would you ever want to raise anything besides the Ancona on the farm? Biodiversity...Yes I good reason, but if you want to raise an animal that has all the characteristics of other ducks and the dual purpose of eggs and meat then the Ancona is the way to go. Raising other types of ducks in the Northwest is harder because they are not meant to be in such cold wet weather. Some breeds will do better than others.The Runner ducks are nice to look at and they are good eggs layers, but if you happen to like meat they are a very skinny breed with nothing on them. Much goes to waste when the males must be culled! The Muscovy would do ok in this area except raising them in your backyard is like trying to raise turkeys in town, you will need to pen them. They will be in the trees if you dont...! The Muscovy is not really a duck, it is (Cairina moschata), most closely related to the guinea fowl. They are in the Anatidae family, but they are wild but every means. The domesticated birds invade habits and can reproduce on their own in the wild in numbers quickly. They are not really meant to fit in the Anas Genus and I think they should be thought of differently, a wild species. In Florida they are having issues right now with how the populations of domesticated Muscovy are populating areas in cities. It would not be a problem but people seem to think letting their domesticated fowl mix with wild populations is fine, its not. If they were wild and not breed to have other traits, then they are wild but domesticated ducks are not meant to be in the wild, we create as much of a wild scenario for our Ducks at our farm but they are protected from predators and watched carefully. Here is a video from Florida showing the Muscovy in someones pool.


Hopefully if you raise animals you know the difference between a wild one and a domesticated one. The need to care for them and not let them run away and possibly overpopulate is a decision that we make and we can help to make the right one.

We recently acquired Holderread's Ancona Ducks

After many years of raising the Ancona ducks we have just acquired the original genetic stock of them from Dave Holderread of Holderread Waterfowl Conservancy. We are very excited and proud to have this breed in our breeding program. We are leaving them in Dave's original (TSQ), Top Show Quality pairs to ensure that his lines are separate from ours initially. We are learning more and more about the genetics of the Ancona which are far more confusing than most other species. The dilutions and recessive genes in these ducks are amazing, they show traits from many lines back and hold them dormant, as a carrier to be expressed another year. Here is a picture of the flock at our farm on the right.

Our newest certification NPIP, National Poultry Improvement Program

To get this certification we recently just had all of our birds tested for Salmonella pullorum. The disease affects hatchlings early on and is something you don't want on the farm. To read more about the testing or getting your flock tested the link below gives more specific information about how to get it done. Happy hatching!

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_health/animal_dis_spec/poultry/

From the USDA site: Raising chickens, ducks, turkeys, and other types of poultry--whether done for profit or pleasure--entails undertaking the serious responsibility of disease prevention. Probably the greatest single factor which limited the early expansion of the U.S. poultry industry was the disease known as Bacillary White Diarrhea (BWD), caused by Salmonella pullorum. This disease, later called pullorum disease, was rampant in poultry and could cause upwards of 80 percent mortality in baby poultry. Poultrymen recognized the problem, but were unable to manage it until the causative organism was discovered by Dr. Leo Rettger in 1899 and a diagnostic blood test was developed by Dr. F.S. Jones in 1913.

Great article on eggs and how they are sold in different countrieshow they are sold in different countries

http://gherkinstomatoes.com/2009/10/16/14168/

CHECK IT OUT A GREAT BLOG!