Nantahala Farm & Garden
Buy Live Comfrey Roots     Comfrey Books     Farm Book   Email
I no longer sell Ancona duck eggs. If you sell Ancona ducks or eggs, contact me and I'll add you to this list. You can find people with ducks or hatching eggs here:
The Livestock Conservancy: Rare Breeds
The Livestock Conservancy: Ancona Duck
Ancona Duck Breeders Association
Ancona Ducks- ISO and Where to Find
Heritage Ancona Ducks- Facebook: Follows Dave Holderread's breeding guidelines. See “Storey’s Guide to Raising Ducks”. This is a non-APA (American Poultry Association) Ancona group. There is no APA-accepted standard for the Ancona. We strive to preserve the original "Holderread" lines. We do not agree with the proposed standard. It would require culling Anconas which have any plumage colors other than black and white, and culling Anconas which lay any egg color other than white. Decreasing the gene pool and genetic diversity in an already-rare breed is a recipe for a disastrous decrease in health and vigor.
Ancona Ducks- Facebook: Wants American Poultry Association breed standardization of only black/white feathers with white eggs. Anconas have many varieties. Each color is a separate variety. The same holds true for all breeds of poultry. Many breeds having many varieties accepted by the APA. Each variety is a separate project and has to be admitted individually. Tri-color Ancona ducks will not be allowed.
North American Duck Alliance, na.anconaduckalliance@gmail.com

Worth It Farms: Ancona Ducks for Sale, Atlanta, Georgia, WorthItFarms@gmail.com
Victoria Couch in North Carolina, victoriacouch77@gmail.com
Mary Z. Ruby, The Ruby Roost, Marshall, North Carolina, mzruby@msn.com
Junifer Johnson, Lance-a-lot Ducks, York, Nebraska, lancealot.ducks@gmail.com
Jackie Mobley, Five Pine Farm, Green Mountain, North Carolina, jmob873@gmail.com
Sofia Bent, Logsden, Oregon, chickenduckpalace@gmail.com
Delaney McMaster, Taylors, South Carolina, dgmcmaster@hotmail.com
Audrey Geier, Cambridge, Ontario, Canada, audrey.geier@gmail.com
Emily Rothrock, Louisburg, North Carolina, emily.l.rothrock@gmail.com
Ana Nelson, Dade City, Florida, www.vitoriafarms.com, 352-769-2869, vitoriafarms@gmail.com
Michelle Jones, Western North Carolina, duckandpepperfarm.com, 910-262-0395, ancona@duckandpepperfarm.com
Angie Cordray, Ancona Acres, Missouri, yardroc@grm.net
Jennifer Miller, Fredon Township, New Jersey, millerfarm7@gmail.com. Flock is NPIP H5/H7 AI clean.
Cindy Loos, Weiser, Idaho, 208-549-3928, toadilycreative@msn.com. Hen raised ducks. Excellent mothers.

Breeding stock: Black, Chocolate, Blue, Lavender, Lilac, Silver, TriColor
Ancona Duck Hatching Eggs
Ancona Ducks #1
Ancona Ducks #2
Ancona Ducks #3
Ancona Ducks #4
Ancona Duck Colors: Part 1
Ancona Duck Colors: Part 2
David Holderread, Ancona Breeder
About Green & Blue Duck Eggs

Feed Comfrey to Poultry
Shipping Hatching Eggs
Types of Incubators
Make A Poultry Incubator
How to Incubate Eggs
Duck Eggs Hatched by Chickens
Duck Eggs Hatched by a Goose
How to Help Hatching Babies
How to Brood Poultry


Ancona Ducks: Fun Birds that Make You Smile
Enjoy Ancona ducks on your farm or homestead. Friendly and entertaining.



Ducklings About to Hatch

Ancona duck eggs piping. (Pip= a baby bird chips at the shell so it can hatch.) It can take 24 hours or more for the hatching process to be complete.

"I had 100% hatch rate. Great considering they came to Alaska. I love the colors." -Theresa, Palmer, Alaska

"They are adorable." -Lacy



"Sunday was lockdown day here for our little Ancona eggs. One little egg decided to pip Monday afternoon. Oh my gosh, I am not sure who is more excited, me or my twins. Hoping these little ones do ok through the hatching." -Jaime, Springfield, Vermont

"What a crazy, busy, but wonderful week we had. We had received 12 eggs from you, 2 were not developing at day 6 and all 10 seemed good at lockdown. We had 7 hatch by themselves, perfect little fuzzballs. In all, I am so happy with my first experience of incubating and hatching. Our family is in love with these crazy little buggers. They are messy as messy gets, but so worth it. Their markings are very cool and mostly different. 2 are almost twins." -Jaime



Ducklings in Incubator

These 2 photos plus the one above are from Keanna in Thorndale, Pennsylvania.

"They truly are beautiful ducks." -Keanna



Hatching Eggs in Classroom

These 2 photos are from Dorothy.

"We had 9 out of the 12 hatch so far! My students love them and are learning how to care for them." -Dorothy, McDonough, Georgia

Angel Ducklings

This photo of 6 ducklings (4 boys, 2 girls) is from Sara. There are two black males, one chocolate male, one lavender male, one silver or lilac female, and one yellow female (who will turn all white).

"Thank you so much for these little angels I cherish so much." -Sara, Fairfax Station, Virginia

Cute Ducklings In Pink Light

"We had 5 of 6 eggs hatch, and they are all healthy." -Debra, Muncie, Indiana

"Your ducks are beautiful and exactly what I am looking for. They are all growing nicely and are as goofy as they are adorable! Some of the 4-week-old females are beginning to try quacking, and it sounds so cute." -Nancy, Lake Orion, Michigan





Ancona Ducklings Having Fun

"It's day 21 of incubation and the ducks are developing beautifully. All the veins still look amazing." -Keanna, Thorndale, Pennsylvania


The above photo is from Timea in Rolesville, North Carolina.

"Hello Nancy and happy Spring. Our ducklings are just over 3 weeks old and doing well. Not sure their genders yet, but I assume I will figure it out eventually. They will be going outside soon, but wanted to send you a picture of them looking so much bigger, and experiencing their first real swim. Again, thank you. These guys have brought so much happiness." -Jaime, Springfield, Vermont

Jaime's photo is the one with the seven 3-week-old ducklings in the bath tub.




Sweet Ducklings

These 3 photos are from Roger in Sellersville, Pennsylvania.

"Am in love with what you do on your farm. May God continue to bless your hands." -Nasim, Maya, Congo
Ducklings From Homemade Incubator

"Out of 10 eggs we had 7 successful hatches! I think it was a highly successful hatch rate especially from a homemade incubator. I've included some pics of our 2-day-old little guys and girls. They are adorable and all so different looking!" -Chris, Marietta, Georgia

"I have 4 beautiful ducklings! It appears 2 are the black variety, one is a gorgeous light gray color, and the other is plain yellow. I am tickled to death with them. I am so excited to raise these beautiful ducks and try to get people more acquainted with this breed." -Linda, Middle River, Maryland



Cuddly Ducklings

These 2 photos are from Lynn Ann in Sellersville, Pennsylvania.

"I can't tell you how much we all love them! I’m thrilled! YAY DUCKS! Ancona ducks are the best.

My favorite thing about these ducks are the pattern differences and the surprise we get when they hatch to see what they look like!"
-Lynn Ann


Ducklings Love Water

"They have delightful personalities and are quite messy! (We knew that was going to happen.) Thank you for our Anconas!!" -Carthy, Austin, Texas

The photo is from Carthy.

Ducklings Hatched from Green Eggs

This photo is from Lacy in Taylorville, Illinois. I love the black stripes on their feet.

"You sent 7 green plus 5 white Ancona duck eggs. 6 green are fertile. All of the whites are fertile. Someone told me that the green gene could be carried by both the males and females - I plan on banding the green hatchlings so I will be able to track them going forward - I will let you know what my research turns up on the next generation green egg layers." -Kristen, Sharon, Massachusetts









Joy's ducklings at 3 weeks, above and bottom photo.


Happy Family

These 6 photos are from Joy in Bellevue, Washington.

"Well, I went downstairs early this morning to put the eggs in their hatching tray for lockdown, and this little one was on his way out! Not only eager to get out of that shell, but eager to get out of the incubator too! We took him out after about 6 hours, and he's quite a plucky little guy. The other 7 are taking their sweet time, but definitely getting close."

"All-in-all, we had 6/8 hatch. One had some trouble, but is now doing well, though a bit goofy. He's the one that looks a little different as well. The 7th egg pipped, but quit. The 8th had no sign of starting at all."

"We are happy with our little brood of 6. They have little personalities and have become quite tame. They love sleeping in our hands and pecking at our shirts and rings. Thanks so much for your help through this process. If we do this again in the future, I'll be contacting you for sure!"
-Joy, Bellevue, Washington



"Ours are now 6-8 days old. As you can see from the picture, they believe themselves to be lap-ducks. They are still currently inside in a modified doggy play yard. Our boys are loving their antics and cuddles. First swim later today!" -Joy





"Our flock of five is doing well! We have 2 males and 3 females." -Joy


The photo with the ducks in front of the pond are at age 2 months, photo taken by Joy.


Happy Ducklings Swimming

This photo is from Lauren in Laurel, Maryland.

"I just wanted to tell you that 8 out of 11 hatched! (Pretty good we think.) 2 black and white, 2 white, 1 grey and white, and 3 brown and white. Thank you so much for the opportunity to hatch these lovely babies!" -Lauren









Beautiful 2-Week-Old Ducklings

These 2 photos are from Shelly in Norman, Oklahoma.

"The 5 Ancona ducklings are thriving! They are eating and drinking well and runnng around and snuggling with lots of energy. It looks as if they all have different coloring and patterns of color. We know they will be beautiful when they are fully feathered! We are enjoying them every moment!"

"I think one will be black and white, and it has almost black feet. I think the one that I assisted a little because he was not progressing well and 24 hrs later than the others ...I think that little one is likely to be chocolate and white. The dark colored duckling (our grandaughter's from egg
#7) will be a Tricolor, and two with varying amounts of white and blue. They are adorable!"

"I'll send updates as they grow! We ordered Premier1 poultry netting today. We plan to let them have a large, movable area to forage around their housing."

"They are 2 weeks old today. They are delightful and growing so fast! It is difficult to believe they arrived here as little eggs just a few weeks ago. :)"
-Shelly


Update at 9 Weeks

"They are now about 9 weeks old and doing wonderfully! They are delightful and very tame. We enjoy them very much and are thrilled to have them at our farm! They are safe in their secured housing at night and basically free range within electrified poultry netting during the day. We are training them to come when called using mealworms, and we will eventually give them access to our front pond. They are a joy! Thank you!" -Shelly


Update at 3 Months

"The ducks are thriving… 3 drakes, 2 hens. They haven't got theirr curly feathers at their tail yet, but I can tell the boys by their quiet, raspy, voices and the girls by their hearty quacking!" -Shelly


5 Week Old Ancona Ducks

This photo is from Dan in New Hope, Pennsylvania.

A video of the ducklings in this photo playing in their kiddie pool: YouTube Video, 1:26 minutes from Dan.

Two more videos from Dan when these ducklings are 3 weeks old in their kiddie pool: YouTube Video, 52 seconds, and in their farm yard: YouTube Video, 38 seconds.

"The ducklings are 3 weeks old this week. I'm enjoying them immensely. They continually make me smile. They are very smart and excellent swimmers (they absolutely love swimming). I've also found that one of their favorite foods is watermelon." -Dan, New Hope, Pennsylvania

Baby ducklings in their brooding area, running around, having fun. From Dan: YouTube Video, 17 seconds.

"The Ancona ducklings hatched. Two were early, hatching on Wednesday eve. Three hatched Thursday (day 28). One hatched day 29. I moved them to a GQF incubator for hatching on day 26, I noticed 4 had started cracking through their shells. The GQF has a better layout for hatching eggs." -Dan

Two Month Old Ancona Duck

This photo is from Lauren in Laurel, Maryland. This female duck is a Tri-Color.

"These ducks are the cutest little things ever. Love them and plan to order again." -Vicki, Bloomington, Wisconsin

One-Year-Old Ducks

"Our 6 babies are all doing great, happy and healthy and laid eggs for us all through the winter. They are almost a year old. Hard to believe that this time last year we bought eggs to incubate from you!" -Liz, Franklin, North Carolina

Anconas Following Each Other

This is a great photo. Ducks love snow. It is very common to see ducks following one another in a line. Very cute. And now we can wonder why ducks cross the road...

"I thought you might like to see the babies all grown up and enjoying the snow. We love them! They are giving us up to 6 eggs every morning. We ended up with 6 females and 2 males from the 2 batches of eggs we got from you. The extra guy in there is a Khaki Campell / Ancona mix we got earlier." -Betsy, Indian Trail, North Carolina




Ancona Ducks Love Snow

On a snowy day:

"Our ducks came out of the duck house and then turned around and marched back in! Usually they are fine with snow. The crowd over here did finally come out as the day warmed. Normally they are out in any kind of weather and having a good time."

"Just as soon as I think I know what the ducks are going to do, they decide to do something else. When we had ducks on the lake, sometimes they'd be on the water almost full time for months on end. Once they decided that the land was better and stayed mostly on the shore for months."

"We brought the second generation of ducks over to a fenced area when they stopped coming back to go to bed in the predator-proof duck house and decided they wanted to be mostly wild ducks instead. Two drakes survive on the lake, but we lost the hens to predators when they tried to sit on eggs."

"I am endlessly fascinated and entertained by my ducks."


-Elizabeth, Suches, Georgia


2 Age Groups of Anconas

This photo is ducks from 2 hatches of my eggs.

"I thought you might like to see our newest set of babies. The adults in the background were all hatched from your eggs." -Betsy, Indian Trail, North Carolina


Dog Watching Ducks

"She is an Australian Shepherd so once she thinks she has a job, she does it all the way. Here is a picture with her ducks." -Paige, Cincinnati, Ohio


 

Buying Ancona hatching eggs.


 


Nantahala Farm in the Mountains of Western NC
No pickup at farm. I ship to the United States only.
ncfarmgarden@gmail.com

Please support small farms and sustainable living.

BUY COMFREY ROOTS
Organic Live Comfrey Plants for Sale
Comfrey Root Cuttings

FARM & COMFREY BOOKS
Farm & Garden Calendar
Comfrey Book, Volume 1     Comfrey Book, Volume 2

RESOURCES
Site Map    Rare Heritage Dominique Chickens
Juice Plus: Powder concentrates from fruits, vegetables


COMFREY RESOURCES
General Comfrey Information     How to Grow Comfrey
3 Types of Comfrey     Improving Soil with Comfrey
Comfrey Container Gardening
Permaculture & Fruit Trees     Comfrey as Feed for Poultry
Comfrey as Feed for Livestock     Comfrey: Animals & Health
Comfrey & Healing     Comfrey Research: Symphytum
History of Russian Comfrey, part 1     Comfrey History & References

All rights reserved. ©2008-2024