# Just wanted to share



## Lstein (Oct 2, 2014)

So here is my turkey "Turkey" with her newly hatched ducklings. Very proud mama!

















She's been broody for awhile, but I don't have a tom, so she's been sitting on golf balls and any eggs the chickens slip her. (She was broody in my nest boxes)

Well on Saturday I hatched a batch of 10 ducklings and decided to see if she would foster them.

Well as you can see she now loves them, right when I started slipping them under her she started cooing at them and fluffed herself out more to cover them.


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## JK_Farms (Nov 12, 2016)

Wow that's amazing that she accepted them!


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

That is too cute!


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## nancy d (Oct 5, 2007)

What cool pics, Happy Mother's day there Turkey!


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

Cute.


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## Lstein (Oct 2, 2014)

So far things are going somewhat ok, though note to self and anyone else that may have a broody turkey; they are very protective of their ducklings. 

I had some 2 month old chickens in the same coop with her and while I was at work she managed to take three of them out. :-| So she now has that coop all too herself and her ducklings. Thankfully she's not aggressive with me, so no worries there. But I never thought she would get that vicious with the other birds.

She just really loves her ducklings, takes them on little tours of the coop and has been showing them the wonders of chick waterers and trying to get them to leave it. It's kind of humorous watching them try to get over the language barrier lol.


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## PippasCubby (May 13, 2015)

That is so awesome.

We had a little banty chicken hatch turkeys several years ago and they drove her batty...they didn't listen to her and didn't come when called etc. I guess their languages didn't mesh well enough either! (Plus they were as big as her after a couple weeks!)


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

That is too funny!


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## Ranger1 (Sep 1, 2014)

Are those Ancona ducklings? They sure are cute!


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## Lstein (Oct 2, 2014)

Ranger1 said:


> Are those Ancona ducklings? They sure are cute!


Yup, I've only had my adult flock for a year now but I sure do like them. Such characters and have very interesting and unique patterns; much easier to recognize who is who. They also are amazing layers, they have a better track record than my chickens. Only I don't really care for duck eggs...so most go to waste unfortunately. Except for the rare occasion that I bake, there is nothing better than using fresh duck eggs for baking.


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## Ranger1 (Sep 1, 2014)

I bought a bunch of hatching eggs last year and started my flock. I like ducks more than chickens in general, and really like the color patterns of the Anconas. Other than when the ravens steal my eggs, I get one from every hen almost everyday. I have my second setting of this year hatching right now.


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## Lstein (Oct 2, 2014)

What do you do with your eggs? I feel bad wasting so many of mine, but I'm not a big fan of eating them as a cooked egg. Plus a lot get thrown away simply because I don't know how old some are exactly, they have a habit of being buried. So I only keep the ones I can confirm are fresh lol.


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## Ranger1 (Sep 1, 2014)

I personally can't handle eggs, but I have a large family and they eat them cooked, or in bakery. We bake quite a bit. Any excess duck or chicken eggs get sold to a family friend who eats a lot of eggs. I also sell them for hatching on the rare occasion that I get an order, or hatch them myself. The local feed store allows me to sell the ducklings in their store.


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## catharina (Mar 17, 2016)

Yes, sell them. You can put a sign by your driveway or even have an honor system pay box, locked & nailed to the fence. You could also see about donating them to a soup kitchen or women's shelter.


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## Lstein (Oct 2, 2014)

I'll maybe have to throw an ad on facebook or something. Unfortunately on my road, it's kind of far off themain one and all my neighbors are relatives who have chickens....so we are kind of all overflowing with eggs because we all have way to many birds lol.


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## Suzanne_Tyler (Jul 19, 2014)

That is so cute!!!


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## Karen (Jun 22, 2010)

Is there a food pantry in town, or a church that might know people who could use the eggs? 

I know the issue with finding duck eggs - I have scars on my legs from when Aunt Shirley's rooster attacked me - talons flying, as I climbed over the hay bales to go into their area to look for duck eggs. 

My cousin freaked, and brought me back inside, I was maybe 9, and I was cleaned up and bandaged. Aunt Shirley issued dark words to that rooster, as he'd been acting up more and more. 

We got home and about two weeks later got a later that included, "The dang rooster flew at ME (Aunt Shirley herself) the other day. Tough guy, had to boil for a couple days, but then he was rooster and dumplings, and no longer a problem!"


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## Lstein (Oct 2, 2014)

Yea, I don't tolerate mean roosters at all. I suddenly find the time to butcher a chicken when I get spurred. Thankfully I've only had one, in the last several years. Most of my chickens are brahmas, so they are all just big cuddle bears.

As far as food pantry, I'm not sure if I can without the possibility of getting in trouble? We have some rather strict egg selling laws here, need to have a license and get inspected, etc etc. Not sure if that counts for charity..... If its just for people I know, sure, but I don't know if the other options are a risk I'm willing to take.

One day I should really get a license etc. Then I could get more chickens!!


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