At Hedges Homestead, things are just ducky!
We just love ducks. With 20 ducks currently in residence, and two geese as well, things are quite ducky! We share our homestead with three breeds of ducks: Khaki Campbells, Blue Swedish, and Cayuga.
2007 wrap up: So far in the last 12 months, "Saucy" (Blue Swedish Female) has won three Best of Breeds! "Calvin" (Cayuga male) has won one Best of Breed and Reserve Champion. And from our 2007 hatch, "Kevlar" (Khaki male) has won one Best of Breed and Reserve Champion. We are very pleased with the typiness of these ducks and thrilled with the overall personality of all our ducks.
The Tolouse Geese enjoyed their first show as well. Well "Honda" (female) had a rough start when she cut her foot at the show. She was pretty frazzled in the beginning and fought pretty hard when we treated her wound. But by the next day she seemed to enjoy the show. "Screaming Eagle" (male) was Best of Breed!
2008 is just beginning and already we have two new champion ducks! Blue Suede was Champion Medium Duck at the PNPA Spring Show. And not to be outdone, HotWings was Champion Light Duck! Clifford was Best Cayuga. My gorgeous Saucy girl was Reserve Champion Medium Duck and Kerry was Reserve Champion Light Duck. Winter months are hard on the ducks as all they think about is breeding. The males are non too gentle about it either. So we're about to do some sorting and give our poor girls a chance to grow out some new feathers and hit the summer show season. Two new additions to the HedgesHomestead: Welsh Harlequins!
Eggs aplenty, the dogs enjoy them several times a week with their
dinner and clients enjoy purchasing the white eggs, and the occasional light blue or light green eggs our Swedes produce.
August, 2008 update - Boys and girls are being
separated in the duck yard as we get ready for our Fall and Winter show
circuits. Now the Girls can concentrate on growing out their new
feathers and the Boys will start being worked again by the dogs. Maybe
we�ll find time to attend a herding trial this Fall.
Ducks for exhibition:
At RoseArbour, we exhibit and/or raise the following duck breeds: Khaki Campbell, Blue Swedish, and Cayuga. At the December'06 Washington Feather Fancier's show, our Blue Swedish "Saucy" earned Best of Breed and was a contender for Best Medium Duck. Our Khakis also did well earning placements in their classes. At our Spring'2007 show, "Calvin" our Cayuga was Reserve Champion Medium Duck, "Saucy" again going Best of Breed Blue Swedish, "Hot Wings" our Khaki old female was 1st place in her class. Our next shows will be in August and September, and then again in December.
Juvenile ducks of the above breeds will be available after August 15th, 2007. We do not guarantee them to be show potential ducklings. We do not ship.
I currently have 2 Swede and 2 Khaki settled in our climate
controlled duck-raising room. I have to admit I get awfully fond of the
ducklings and it is hard to imagine letting them go.
Poultry shows and incubating eggs takes priority over our next favorite "duck" activity: herding
Ducks for herding training and trials:
UPDATE:
Day old - 10 week old crosses of Khaki/Blue Swede/Cayuga ducklings available throughout the year. Email for more information or to pre-order.
I plan to have one trio of dog-broke ducks available for "rent" or purchase after August 15th. Another trio may be ready by September 1st.
I can probably accommodate a Puppy Party in July/August/September.
Please contact Carlie if you have interest in ducks for the above activities.
Send us an email by clicking the image below
Next update planned for the first week of November! Since 1996 we at the hedges homestead have enjoyed the use of AOL for many of our website storage centers... on October 31, 2008 AOL will discontinue online storage capabilities for we pathetic human beings. I am frantically downloading years of pictures and documents and have no clue what my webpages will look like come Saturday morning... So please be patient while things are updated and recovered or recreated. - Carlie