Waiting for spring!!!

Winter Solstice arrived Dec, 21st so that means day light hours will be increasing everyday!
Yeah!!
BUT here in the north we have another 3-4 months of cold weather.

What are your breeding plans for this year?
I'm really excited about my new saddleback Sebastopol Geese and my Marans from Bev Davis.
Can hardly wait for Spring!!!

Im Planning on letting some of my hens set if they chose and also planning on hatching a ton of white pekin babies!!! Maybe even buy some eggs off ebay and try hatching them... I can hardly wait too!

Do you eat your Pekins?
What kind of waterfowl and chickens do you have again?

I can't wait from Spring because then maybe the ducks will start laying

Not enough light right now.

Oh DUH! Look at the siggie!

We do eat our ducks but so far haven't because people keep wanting to buy them off me. I plan to raise some extra drakes this year for the freezer.

Wifez...my scovies are late starters. They like it really warm before they start up and that don't happen around here til late May-June but I do get some eggs before that. They aren't very good layers.

Vicky,
I have found that too (with Muscovies), However, I stopped letting them hatch eggs around September and I started collecting them daily with the chicken eggs. One of my female Muscovies just finished laying about three weeks ago. I was really surprise that she layed that long! She is finally starting to moult (the other moulted months ago).
Wifezilla, We used to keep four Campbell hens with no drake. They were exceptional layers... better than any chicken. They layed almost consistently every day all year long. Light didnt seem to have an effect on ours. I figured it up and they averaged 330 eggs pper year per duck. They layed like that for 3 years until they became dinner for the local coyotes!!!
Having said that, we have one Campbell/Mallard cross who has layed well all year, but quit when the last Muscovy did. This particular duck will set a nest all day, and hatch babies, but all of her babies seem to die. The only thing we can figure out is they get kicked out of the nest and get too cold. I have taken eggs away once they pip and successfully hatched them the rest of the way under a heat lamp.
Anyway, You will love your Campbells. Once they start laying, they are hard to stop!
MF

Hey MF...
Good to hear from you!

Do the Campbell eggs taste "ducky?"
My scovie eggs have sort of a ducky taste
I'm not real fond of even when used in baked goods.
Sort of what their eggs smell like.

Thanks for the info muscovyfan,

That's why I can't help but wonder if I am doing something wrong. From what I read khaki's and runners lay all the darn time. Not mine though. Oh well, it has only been 1 week.

As for my runner....I saw her walking around the yard today (I left the pen open and they all went for a quick stroll...LOL) and I seriously doubt she is a purebred. She looks more like a khaki campbell in body type but she is a fawn runner color.