Ancona Ducks:
Fun Birds that Make You Smile
Enjoy
Ancona ducks on your farm or homestead. Friendly and entertaining.
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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
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Ducklings
in Incubator
These
2 photos plus the one above are from Keanna in Thorndale, Pennsylvania.
"They truly are beautiful ducks." -Keanna
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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
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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
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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
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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. |
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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Joy's ducklings
at 3 weeks, above and bottom photo.
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Buying
Ancona hatching eggs.
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