Amber, yeah, I am sensitive to that whole issue (pet neutering). Poor you though with the rabies shots! As a kid I always thought the whole big-shot thing was just my mom trying to scare me from picking up whatever wild creature I was trying to catch at the time. Congrats on the sheep and llamas! You must have great fences

Liz, yeah, well you guys are the exception to most rules! But yes look at the size of those Pekins. I figure I have another two weeks, even though I know they will continue to increase in size for a while after that. They are a bit more interesting than the meatblob chickies, too…and readily available. I have Tom convinced (thanks to you) to try the Anconas next year. Eggs! Meat! Wacky-looking duckies!

The only way I know to sex ducks before the males get that little tail curl is to listen to their voice… a deeper quack says female, and a weaker one says male.

We are totally going to raise some of those Pekins for meat. One of these days!

Sex, with the ducks? I don’t know, I just call them all “Dinner!” Really, sexing waterfowl is something I am going to have to learn how to do. I would guess you could tell the difference by their heads: geese and ducks (as opposed to ganders and drakes) have slender, pretty, girly heads. These three obviously look very much alike. Oh but I will need to post more about the geese and the turkeys. They are so cute, so friendly. The geese will follow you absolutely everywhere. And I am also hoping numbers are with me: I got three of each. The chances of getting all three the same sex is fairly slim, so the odd girl or boy out will be dinner, the other two hopefully will become breeding pairs. At least that’s my hope, knock wood!