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I have ducks, and the first time I had to cull some drakes I tried dry hand plucking the first one. It wasn't too bad but I couldn't get all the tiny feathers off the back and near the feet. I finally gave up and just skinned it. If I had a propane burner I would use hot water with some wax to...

You probably do this already, but just in case your birds have picked up a few mites you should always take your saved feathers and put them in a plastic bag in the freezer for a few days to kill any hitchhiking bugs.

It won't be that hard to get the pretty feathers out. Just pull out the ones you want to keep, then dunk the chicken and go after the rest. I have dry plucked a duck before so I know you can do it. I go around the yard picking up the pretty feathers all the time!

If you want to use the feathers I would pluck some dry for that use before dunking them in the hot water.

There is information on them on the Holderread's website, I think. Since golds are the standard in the UK they are not dying out by any means. I would check with 4H to see what their rules and regs are regarding showing the birds before you make a final decision. Either way, you will love your...

Me, too!

In drakes, the head is an olive greeny-brown instead of bottle green, and so is the wing couvert. In females, the wing couvert is that color, and their bodies may be a bit lighter in color than the silvers with less stippling. They can be bred together, but it would probably diminish your...

In the past Holderread did not separate gold an silver phase. I had one gold drake and one gold hen in my orders, and the rest were silvers. If you want to get into breeding bigtime it might be worth it to get the TSQ ducklings, but like I said their regular ducks are so great you probably don't...

Unless you want to show your birds, you will be VERY HAPPY with the regular birds from Holderread's. Go for it! I have really enjoyed my girls. I started with the Welsh Harlequins the first year, and then added Saxonies the next. I love them both. I will say this about the Welshies, you have to...

I have gotten both their regular quality and their top show quality, and to be honest I can't really tell the difference looking at the birds. Their birds are just of such superior quality that you can't go wrong getting the regular birds.

Dianastarr, what was the Swiss secret of keeping them in milk without breeding them?

Yes, you do, and you will need to get rid of one of those drakes as your girls will be mated to death with that drake to hen ratio.

I don't officially have bees yet, so I have just been trolling on this site. I did have a hive in the wall of my house, but about a month ago they were going nuts and even got in the house, then just disappeared. I think they swarmed. I hope they come back! My landlord isn't wild about having a...

My ducks have just about finished molting, and my two oldest girls are now much browner than the others. Very pretty, but different.

In a market like Austin I can see where you can get $6 for chicken eggs. But out here, people just won't pay it. Once I get them trained to eat and love duck eggs, I will try to raise the price to $5.

I started out trying to get $5/dozen for my duck eggs, but people up here in Deep East Texas just wouldn't pay it. I am getting $4/dozen now. When I get too many I take them to the farmer's market on the town square in Center, TX on Saturday mornings and just park the car there and put my sign...

I am not a beekeeper (but want to be), but I got swarmed by bees coming out of the ground once when I was mowing the grass. They were VERY aggressive and stung me several times through my clothes, and several actually followed me into the house. I had to kill them with a fly swatter. I finally...

From time to time my ducks lay double-yolked eggs that are HUGE. I can't close their regular eggs into a normal egg carton, and their's no way the double-yolkers will fit. I always go around checking to make sure nobody is bleeding, but they never are! Here's a picture I took to compare egg...

Very handsome boy!!

I'd get the liquid Benadryl for kids and give that to him using a syringe, or a turkey baster. Also, you could give him something for pain. I can't remember if dogs can take Advil or Motrin, but I know you could grind up a baby aspirin and dissolve that in water for him. My vet had prescribed...