The teenagers, as they are affectionately called on the smallholding, are 6 ducks which we hatched out in 2 batches, using the incubator, back in March and April 2014. They consist of 2 pure Aylesbury’s; a duck and a drake. Then there are 3 Buff Orpington’s; 2 ducks and “Boy George” the most magnificent drake. Finally, we have “Runty”, who is a cross between the two breeds.
The Aylesbury’s are the result of the union between Limpy (who can still perform when required) and Mrs Limpy, who is also known as Nag-alot-amus, since she constantly nags poor Limpy. Boy George and his sisters are the offspring of George (who sadly, is no longer with us and no, we didn’t eat him) and Mrs George (who is still with us, but is in her dotage). As for Runty, we are not sure if Limpy had a fling with Mrs George, or George had an affair with Mrs Limpy, or indeed Scrappy-Do, the third unattached Aylesbury duck was a brazen hussy and tempted George with her ducky good looks! Whatever liaison occurred, Runty was the result. He had great difficulty when hatching and we didn’t think he would survive and although he is smaller than the other teenagers, he still eats as much and is not intimidated by them at all.
Boy George is a fine looking Drake and he knows it! He can often be seen strutting his stuff around their enclosure and if he had a mirror, we think he would admire himself in it all day. His eldest sister, who we haven’t named yet, has just started laying her first eggs, which are a lovely green and taste wonderful with their huge orange yolks. We hope that the remaining young lady ducks will start to lay soon, restoring our duck egg supply.