Mandarin Duck : The Famous Oriental Duck

This duck is a beautiful ornamental duck.We can raise this bird at your house. Facilitate the duck with poll so they can swim at there.

They have beautiful brown feather while the female has bad color. Unlike other duck, either drake and hen care the duckling until the duckling independent. Se this lens and give the thumb for this lens. You can also buy the duck egg here and you can hatch the duck with incubator.

 Photo by : Mike Bowler

Mandarin Duck is a famous ornamental duck from Chinese. As where its get name, this bird origin is Chinese but we can find this bird at Russia or Japan. This bird is also found at the British, Ireland, and United States. It has beautiful brown color. There are small part of green beetle feather at wing and shoulder. The breast color is white. There is some white color at face and wing. This duck has unique feather that similar to chicken sickle at upper neck. The duck bill is red light in color and short. Some Mandarin also has albino variations with white color but the beak is still red in color.

This duck is small with slender and shorter body which is only 41-49 cm in long include the tail. The male is heavier than the female.

The female color is very bad. The color is dull brown with black spot. The beak color is also black unlike the male.

Both duck spend their time at water or water bank. They find food at the water such as small water plant. This water bird is a smart hunter too. The female lays the eggs at tree cavity. They incubate the eggs for four weeks or 28 days. Mandarin female is not different with other duck female that incubate egg alone without Male assistance.

If you want care this beautiful bird, you have to provide pool so they can swim at there. You can feed them with game bird feed, small fish, vegetable and others.

Read Also:

Cayuga: Native American Duck

Anatomy of Duck

Ancona Duck

Champbell Duck

How to hatch Egg Duck

Bantam Cochin : A Chinese Bantam

When I look this chicken, It reminds me with Elvis Presley's pant which is widen at below legs. The chick also has thick feather in shank and legs. This is an exhibition chicken or ornamental chicken. It is derived from Cochin domesticated chicken. The body is smaller than the common chicken. That is why people call it Bantam Cochin.
Cochin is also called Peking bantam hence with its origin. The British troops introduced as ornamental fowl in 1860s in Britain. There are some exhibition for Cochin bantam in Britain.
The cock weight is one kilogram; meanwhile, the hen is 750 gram. It is has 14 combination color such as white, lavender, golden laced, mottled, red, blue, barred, buff, birchen, partridge and others. There are some variety plumage like frizzle and silky. Most Cochin feather tail does not grow perfect. The comb is red color and single. The hen comb is smaller than the cock. The beak of the chicken is small curve to point.
This chicken is good for your backyard too because it just need small backyard. The bird is easy to care and it is strong enough. This bird is very tame. The hen could produce much eggs to and it can be raised as layer hen. Its egg is light brown color. Some breeder use the bird for mother foster other chicken chick. It because the thick plumage keep the chick from cold weather. The thick plumage is useful for incubating the eggs. If you have any chicken that is not able to incubate eggs, you can put the eggs to the bantam nest. Off course, you should consider the eggs number. Do not put more than twelve eggs in a bantam nest.
If you want care it, you need to provide the chicken pen. The pen should be located far from people reach. Feed them with poultry feed, fresh grass, fruit,scratch,and scrap.
Read Also:
Dutch Bantam Profile
Sultan Chicken : Chicken wear Turban
Silkie Bantam : The Most Famous Bantam
Serama Bantam
Rose Comb : The oldest Bantam

Zebra Dove : The Most beautiful Singer Dove

Zebra dove or barred dove that has beautiful song in the world is very expensive in Thailand, Malaysia, and Philippine, and Indonesia. There are numerous Zebra dove on those areas.

Zebra dove performance is not beautiful. They have zebra-like color gray and brown. The iris of the bird are various such as yellow, blue, and green. The length is not more than 20-23 cm. There is albino zebra dove with red iris eye. The unique albino price is very expensive.

Photo by Oggie dog
The beak is straight at curfew at the edge. The feet are in color like most doves feet. This dove is solitaire dove unlike other dove that lives in a group.

The habitat of the bird is secondary jungle, savanna, and farm crop. It likes seed, grain, and small insect. In farm, the breeder feed them with high quality seed such as paddy, millet, black seed, red rice, ketan, and others. Cuttlefish bone that contains calcium is also good for this bird. Some breeder also mixes the seed with honey and chicken eggs. Some Java people make traditional medicine so the bird can sing beautiful. The hobbyist put the bird at high place so people can hear the song.

The female can lay one or two eggs in a clutch. Both male and female will hatch and care the bird until they can independent.  In the farm, the breeder do not let zebra dove to hatch and care their eggs. The breeder want the zebra dove lays eggs only. They will take the eggs and give it to ring-necked dove. The eggs will hatch in 17-19 days. The ring necked dove will care the zebra dove kid for one to one a half month.

Zebra dove are raise in big farm intensively. The owner selects the best breed from the champion zebra dove. The breeder believes that the champion will bear the champion too.  Surely, the breeder also selects the good female that can sing beautiful.

The hobbyist often organized zebra dove championship before avian flu H5N1. The winner of the championship could get prize and it price increase to thousands dollar. A hobbyist dares to barter SUV car with zebra dove champion. The avian flu has crushed this business. We find rarely any zebra dove contest today. The breeder also cannot sell much zebra dove as much as before avian flu. They do not expand the business. Some breeders prefer to close the farm because they cannot stand to finance the operational costs.

read also:
What is Homing Pigeon?
How to make Pigeon cage
Fantail Pigeon: The most Famous Fancy Pigeon
King Pigeon: King of Squab
Jacobin Pigeon

Silky Bantam: The Chinese Bantam Layer

This bantam come from China. It has soft silky feather like hair. Unlike other bantam, its tails is not grow perfect. It is blood red rose comb.The height of silky could reach 20 cm. Its iris is dark brown color. The famous silky bantam color is white but there are black silky bantam and buff silky bantam.

Photo by : eggybird
In China, This bird is raised as layer hen. It can produce up to 250 eggs a year. This is the most productive bantam. Silky can hatch the egg well. It is a good mother too.

In my country, some people silky bantam meat can cure some diseases. I think it is just a myth.
Dutch Bantam is the most famous Bantam in the world. The height is only 20 cm. The cock has wide curve tail. The comb is red blood single. It is not more than half kilos weight. The hen is lighter than the cock. Dutch bantam color is various like red partridge, green partridge, gray, black, and others.

Dutch Bantam is originated at Dutch or Holland. Some story said that the Dutch trader imported the bantam from South East Asia. I believe the Dutch trade brought from Java because Java was under Dutch occupation. It is descendant of Gallus Bankiva or red jungle fowl.

It is prolific layer too. A Dutch bantam hen can lay up to 200 eggs per year. The eggs is light brown color which is size is smaller than common chicken.

Sebright Bantam : The England Bantam whose has unique feather

Photo by: me'nthedogs
Sebright Bantam is a bantam from Britain. The breeder of the bantam is Sir John Sebright. There are two kind sebright: gold sebright bantam and silver right bantam. It is gold laced and silver laced feather.

It is full breast, V-shaped tail feather, and near vertical wing. Unlike most bantam, Sebright cock has no train tail and saddle feather. Both cock and hen has same plumage. The difference between male and female is the comb. The female  has small pea comb but the male has large pea comb like a crown.

I have cared this bird. It can fly up to 10 meters but it does not run from my pen. The hen lay much eggs but it does not want incubate or hatch the eggs. Therefore, you need other hen to incubate the eggs.

 Read Also:
Dutch Bantam Profile
Wyandotte Bantam Chicken
Orpington Chicken Profile
Booted Bantam
Famous Italian Chicken

Serama : Smallest bantam in the world

This chicken is domesticated in Malaysia. The breeder crossbreed various bantam like Japanese bantam, silky, and Malayan native chicken. Unfortunately, only few people know the Serama gen composition. Now, the chicken also breed in Thailand and Indonesia. Serama name is taken from Sri Rama, a Hindu God.

Serama is the smallest and shortest chicken in the world. It is less than half kilo or one pound weight. It is less than 20 cm tall. I saw some Serama is less than soda can. the color of the chicken is various such as red partridge, silver partridge, buff, barred, dark blue, and others

It has full breast, near-horizontal wing, horizontal tail feather. The chicken looks so mighty when walk in show. 

Serama is ornamental pet. Malaysia often organize Serama Exhibition. The winner is the smallest beautiful chicken. The shorter, the better. The bantam price that win contest is increasing. Some insane people dare to change their SUV car with the bantam.

This strain is difficult to breed. The hen just lay six eggs. Only 50% eggs can be hatch.

Read Also:
Rosecomb: The Oldest Bantam in the world
Bantam Breeding Method
Serama Contest
How to produce bantam chicken
Old English Game Bantam

Image by Habib Rahman from Pixabay

How to hatch Egg Duck

To increase your duck, you need to hatch the duck eggs. For some breeder it is not difficult to hatch duck. It will took 28 days or four week.

1.  If you care a group duck that contain drake and hen, collect the eggs. You can let the hen hatch the eggs. Provide the nest box for the hen. You can make wooden box or card box. Fill the box with hay. The hay help the hen to heat the eggs. The benefit of using hen is that the hen can care the duckling until mature.

2. If the duck does not want to hatch the eggs, you  can use chicken hen. For example, most Indian runner does not want to hatch its eggs. Some chicken hen is the best incubator. You should find the hen that lay some eggs. Replace the chicken eggs with the duck eggs. The chicken is not clever so it hatch the duck eggs. notice: if the hen know you replace its eggs, it may break the duck eggs.

3. Some breeder use incubator machine. You can buy incubator machine too. If you have much eggs, you need to buy a big incubator machine. Turn on the light for 28 days or four week. Further, read the manual book of incubator machine. After hatch, let the chicken stay at incubator machine for 24 hours. You do not need to feed them for first day.

4. You can hatch the duck egg with rice husk. In Alabio district (Kabupaten Alabio) , South Borneo, Indonesia. People use to hatch duck eggs with rice husk. They put rice husk in big basket and let duck eggs hatch. This is way is cheap way because we do not need any energy.

You can use any method that you like. For backyard farm, I suggest you use duck hen to incubate the duck eggs.

Read Also:
Cayuga Duck : An American Native Duck
Anatomy of Duck
Ancona : The English Duck
Campbell duck : England Heavy Duck
Bali Duck

Chicken WInter Care

It is not easy to raise chicken in a subtropical region where winter occurs. In winter, the flock owner should spend more money for electric because they should turn on the light all day. On the other hand, the revenue of flock owner will decrease because the chicken stops to production in winter. Some chicken breed cannot lay in winter such as Asian Chicken and Mediterranean Chicken. Therefore, you should select the breed that has egg-laying ability in winter such as Rhode Island Red, New Hampshire Red and other.

It is because they may suffer from cold. The cold weather also causes the frostbite in chicken. The frostbite often attack the chicken whose has wide single comb.

A hen can lay when it feel comfort and has enough food. The flock owner should do like this to keep the chicken warm. To raise the chicken in winter, you can do like this:

1. Place the additional heater lamp during winter. The lamp can make the cage warmer. The heat of lamp depends on the weather and the coop. Some articles suggest 75 Watt lamp for the cage. I think it is not absolute. You can observe the chicken with the lamp. If the chicken far from the lamp, it means the lamp is too hot. If, on the other hand, the chicken close from the lamp, it means the lamp is not hot enough.

2. Put the warm water inside the cage. Do not let the water frozen because the chicken cannot drink it. Alternatively, you can change the water often. Water is essential for chicken especially layer egg. They need sufficient water to keep laying.

3. In an attempt to produce eggs, you can increase the chicken appetite by pouring water to the feed. The feed is easy to eat.

4. Design the coop for winter that can reduce cold.

5. The ventilation and air circulation inside the cage should be good. It helps chicken to get fresh water and decrease the humidity. Some flock owner think that closing the ventilation can make the chicken warm. They are wrong. The closed cage can caused diseases such as lung disease.

6. Remove the chicken coop to warehouse or chicken house. They will be comfort inside a building.

7. Add the chicken hay bedding. The hay can control the manure stinky. Change the hay when it dirty. You can use the hay and manure as fertilizer too.

Campbell Duck : The heavy duck from England

similar to the ancestor Wild Mallard. The drake has green beetle color head. 

Campbell duck is the cross duck between the mallard and its ancestor such as Rouen Duck and Indian Runner. Campbell looks fats than other duck breed. The body slender like the muscovy duck. The beak and feet color is dark.
It weighs 4 pounds or two kilograms. The duck could be considered as the dual purpose duck. It can produce meat as much as chicken.

Photo by: Superfantastic
The breed was introduced in 1898 in United States. The duck was crossed by Adale Champbelin England.
Khaki begin to lay the eggs at six month like New Hampshire Chicken or Rhode Island Chicken. They rarely hatch the duckling like Indian runner duck.

Bali Crested Duck
Ancona Duck
Shepherd Indian runner duck
Anatomy of Duck
Cayuga Duck: Native American Duck

Bantam Chicken: The beautiful Small miniature Chicken

Bantam is small miniature chicken that is also ornamental chicken. People raise this bird for fan. Some people also care this bird for meat. Raising this bird is easy because you need small pen and few chicken feed. There are some bantam various. Perhaps you want to raise it.

Japanese Bantam is a beautiful bantam from Japanese, According to wikipedia, this bantam origin is Java Island, Indonesia. A dutch trader brought the bantam to Japan as a gift. Japanese Bantam is also called Chabao. It words similar with cebol that is mean dwarf.

After hundred years in Japan, This strain become famous as Japanese chicken. It is the Japanese aristocrat pets. Indonesia people called it Katai Jepun. They do not know that the origin of the bantam is their country.

The bantam is one kilos weight for cock and six ons for the female. It is 15-20 cm tall. The head is proportional with its body. It has near-horizontal tail feather, wing, full breast, and red blood single comb. Japanese bantam has so many various color like white, white-black tail, buff, black red, Buff-black tail, buff-white, and others.

Read Also : Rose Comb: The old Bantam in the world 
Silkie Bantam : The Most Famous Bantam
Hamburg Chicken : Germany Bantam
Old English Game Bantam
How to Produce Bantam Chicken

Image by Xuân Tuấn Anh Đặng from Pixabay

Polish Chicken profile : The crested beautiful chicken

The polish has bizarre performance. It has large crested at the top of head. Some crested cover the chicken eye so they have bad sight. I think this chicken is similar with rocker due to its crested.
Actually this chicken’s origin is not Poland. The origin of the bird is Asia. In 12th centuries, The Mongol invader brought the chicken. I saw that The mongol invader has hat like this chicken crest. This chicken has been developed in Ukraine-Polish border. In 16th centuries, this chicken were distributed to Western Europe, Germany, Dutch, England and Italy.

black-white crested polish chicken

Photo by : Thomaspix
The chicken is slim and it has thick plumage. The cock weighs 6 pounds; while, the hen weighs 4.5 pound. They have color variation that have been recognized as a breed like golden, silver, white, buff, buff laced, white crested black, and black crested white. They have crested color variation too like white, black and golden. Beside crested, some Polish has also beard or additional feather below the beak. The color of bread is buff, white and black. In front of the crest, there is a small unique V-shape comb like a horn. The feet and the shank has no feather. The shank is white and khaki in color.
Due its unique and beautiful feather, some people raise this chicken as game bird, or ornamental bird. Actually, it is a layer chicken because it can produce much eggs. The hen can lays two white eggs a week. Unfortunately this chicken cannot lays in winter even they come from region where winter occurs. The chicken also cannot hatch the eggs too. You should find another mother to hatch the chicken eggs or you can use incubator machine.

This chicken is docile and tame. You can hold this chicken easily. This chicken is good for your backyard. You may get fresh egg from this chicken everyday.

Read Also:
Sultan Chicken : Chicken wear Turban
Cut The Polish Chicken hair
Nankin Bantam: The Chinese Bantam
How to breed blue silky bantam
Rosecomb: The Oldest Bantam

Indian Runner The Most Prolific Duck

Indian runner is the most prolific duck in the world. It can lays up to 300 eggs in a year. It is more productive than domesticated layer hen. It begins to lay at six month age. It can lay up to two years effectively.

Yet, the domesticated duck is not originated in modern labs. Ancient people have domesticated the bird from mallard duck. Indian runner is slimmer and higher than the ancestor.

The egg is 80 gram weight. It is light blue color. The yolk sac is bigger than the domesticated Chicken egg. Some duck lay red yolk sac egg. It is because the duck eat prawn or dried prawn. It is more expensive than common duck eggs.

The farmer usually salts this egg with salt and burned hay. In Philippine, the farmer sells embryo duck eggs. They hatch the eggs for 18 days only until the embryo grow inside the egg shell.

The Indian runner drake is almost similar with mallard color duck. The drake head's is light green color. Indian runner has variety color like buff, brown, black, black blue, and white.

Like the ancestor, they can fly high. In West Sumatra, the farmer organizes flying duck competition yearly. The duck are forced to fly to the finish line. The winner is the duck that arrive in finish line first.

Indian runner is the bad mother. It cannot incubate its egg moreover other fowl eggs. Some breeder use chicken or Muscovy duck to hatch the duck eggs. Alternatively, they use incubator machine to hatch it. In Bali and Borneo, the farmer incubates the eggs with paddy skin.

The sexing is quite easy. The drake differs with the hen from its tail. The drake has curly tail. The drake sound is also louder than the female. Some farmer can differ the duckling by pinching the feet. The farmer can differs the duckling sound. To be honest, I am not good at it.

Indian runner are distributed at South East Asia. In Indonesia, There are so many various strain of Indian runner such as Itik Bali, Itik Magelang, Itik Cirebon, Itik Tegal, Itik Bali, Itik Alabio and others. The most beautiful is Bali duck. It has crest in hand and is white color.

Most the duck is risen in beach region. The farmer feed the duck sea fish or dried fish. The farmer just uses simple diet for this bird. They mix rice, paddy, and dried fish.

In Bangkok, people raise it with fish. The duck is allowed swim at fish pool. Off course the, the farmer will not allow the duck swim at the small fish pool.

Photo: From Steve 2008

The duck is useful for pest control too. The farmer often releases the duck at paddy rice to kill golden snail that is paddy rice pest.

Read Also :
Bali Duck : Crested Duck From Bali
Cayuga Duck: A Native American Duck
Ancona Duck: English Duck
Anatomy of  Duck
American Game Fowl

The benefit of raise guinea fowl

Guinea fowl is also important for the crop. It can eliminate so much bugs that eat potato plant. They can eat more bugs but they do not crush the potato plant. They also can keep cotton and strawberry plant. You do not have to buy insecticide to kill the bugs.

Photo by: Guinea Fowl Flock

Unlike chicken, guinea fowl do not use the claw to catch the bugs. They do not disturb the plant. We can put four guinea fowl for a acre land. When winter, you should not let them outside. Their feet cannot stand with the winter cold. Let the guinea fowl outside will make them wild. They will stay at the tree at the night.
This bird is similar to goose. They have very loud sound that warn you. They can detect anything that close to them.
Vulture Guinea Fowl
How to Sex Guinea Fowl
Guinea Fowl
How to raise peacock