THANKS FOR SUPPORTING AMERICA'S SMALL FAMILY FARMS...same location since 1847 This auction is for 18+ Ancona Fertile Hatching Duck Eggs. We currently raise 3 breeds of ducks; Ancona, Silver Appleyards and Welsh Harlequins. We house our ducks at night in a secure weather proof shelter to provide protection from predators and bad weather. They lay their eggs in clean hay-lined nest box early each morning. Quality purchased feed and clean water is provided. Each breed is allowed to "free range" every 3rd day. There is a 2 acre pond close by with native, as well as, planted seasonal vegetation to provide nutritionally rich food, especially minerals and vitamins. This makes for very happy and friendly ducks. The Ancona Duck is a breed of domestic duck. These rare ducks[1] are considered to be a descendant of the Indian Runner Duck and the Belgian Huttegem Duck breeds. Anconas were developed in England during the early 20th century, but were not available in the United States until 1984. Even though their numbers have increased in the U.S., the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, in their 2000 census of domestic waterfowl in North America, listed the Ancona's status as "critical". Just like most other domestic ducks, the Anconas are a flightless duck, so they don't migrate. They are fairly calm animals and make good pond, yard, and breeding birds. They tend to be excellent foragers, and if allowed will augment their diet with greens, slugs, insects and other arthropods.[2] Their closest relatives are Magpie ducks and Dutch Hookbills. They typically lay 210–280 eggs per year.[3] Our ducks are descendants of original Holderread Waterfowl Farm & Preservation Center stock. These are pretty quiet birds and have been lots of fun. We have a mixed flock and you could get Chocolate, Black, Silver, Lavendar, Blue, Lilac, Rust, or Tri-color.. I have both cream/white and green egg layers. The Ancona averages 6 to 6.5 pounds and is a bit stockier than its close relative, the Magpie duck. It has a medium sized oval head, a medium-length bill that is slightly concave along the top line, an average neck that arches forward slightly and body carriage is 20 to 30 degrees above horizontal. The broken, mottled plumage is unique among ducks for, like Holstein cattle, there is no set design. "Any combination of white and color is acceptable as long as there are obvious broken areas on the head, backs, sides, and underbody." The neck is normally solid white, bills are yellow with dark green or black spotting, and the legs and feet are orange with black or brown markings that increase with age. (Holderread 2001, 53) Varieties include Black and White, Blue and White, Chocolate and White, Silver and White, Lavender and White, and Tricolored. Chocolate is a sex-linked recessive trait. If a chocolate drake mates with a black duck, all female offspring will be chocolate, while all male offspring will be black. A black drake mated to a chocolate duck produces all black offspring. Only male offspring will carry the sex-linked recessive chocolate gene. (Holderread 1985, 4) The Ancona is a hardy, adaptable, all-purpose duck. It is an excellent layer, typically laying 210-280 white, cream, or blue eggs yearly. The Ancona also grows relatively quickly, and produces high quality meat that is more flavorful and less fatty than that of most Pekin ducks. Anconas are well suited for situations where they can forage for some of their food. "They make excellent pond or yard ducks since they tend to stay close to home, do not fly under normal conditions and are large enough so that they are less likely to be preyed upon by winged predators. Typically they have moderately calm temperaments and make fine pets." (Holderread 2001, 52) We collect eggs every morning and store them in a cool environment, turning them as needed until your order is complete. Our nest boxes are full of fresh bedding, so the eggs are generally clean. Occasionally, a duck will lay an egg somewhere other than the nest boxes and the egg might need to be gently cleaned. We avoid cleaning the eggs as much as possible so that the bloom on the shell is preserved. This means better chances for a successful hatch. After your egg order has been collected, it will be packed carefully. Each egg will be individually wrapped in bubble wrap and then placed in a Priority Mail box filled with more bubble wrap, packing peanuts, and/or shredded paper or other packing materials. Your box will be marked “Fragile” on the outside unless you specify otherwise. (Some people feel that postal workers actually treat boxes marked “fragile” worse than unmarked boxes.) All packages will be shipped out via USPS Priority Mail Monday-Wednesday to ensure that your eggs get to you ASAP and without a lengthy weekend stay at the post office. PLEASE NOTE: There is no guarantee that your eggs will hatch. There are too many variables in shipping and incubation that are beyond our control. We check fertility at the beginning of the breeding season to insure that we are shipping fertile eggs. We also hatch our own eggs throughout the season. Your feedback is very important to us and important to maintaining our Ebay seller status. Please leave positive feedback as soon as your package arrives. We will leave feedback as soon as you have done so. If you have any questions, please use the Contact Seller feature to ask questions well ahead of the listing close time to allow us time to respond. We w ill combine shipping at a reduced rate for multiple purchases in some cases. We always state, at bottom of each auction, our intended shipping date so you can make proper incubation plans. We do want you to have a satisfying hatch. These eggs, less than 3 days old, will ship on Tuesday or Wednesday, June 14th or 15th. I will add any extra eggs and/or that I can place in box. Fertility has been running quite high. Sorry, no International shipping.
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