For Sale - Abacot Ranger Ducks - Beds. or meet via a show

Tim

Tim

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Hi there,

I have bred around 30 ducks from my German bloodline this year. They are all looking rather good and are feathering up into their adult plumage now. (I will post pics once they have their full plumage). I will be keeping a dozen or so for breeding next year but will have a surplus that I intend to sell at the shows.

I imported the parents from the Hannover show last year, they had very high marks from the Judges and they are beautiful looking birds and have bred true (unlike some of the UK lines I have had and seen).

I am selling them in pairs - they will be brother / sister. Hatchability has been very good this year so I don't believe you will have any problems with this mating but next year (all being well) I will have another unrelated german line from Chris & Mike Ashton so if you wanted to outcross the year after, you could.

£45 / pair to forum members placing an advanced order.

They will be ready for collection Mid to late August. I can reserve a pair and meet at one of the poultry shows: BWA National, Welsh National, PCGB National, or East of England Autumn (Peterborough) show but I will require £50 then as they will need feeding for an extra couple of months.

Any questions? Please Ask. Thanks. :D
 
Hi, I was wondering whether you have a few Abacot Ranger Ducks for sale please. I only want two or three, a drake & a hen or two hens. Problem is that I'm situated in the Republic, in the midlands! Many thanks, Kim
 
I need a pair of Abacot Rangers. Are they still available, regards, Richard.Tel No. 01...
 
Hi Richard,

I will have 2 pairs available in about 3 weeks time. I was going to take these to the BWA National to sell but if you wanted a pair before then, I can sell them to you if interested.

Tim

PS I have removed your phone number above for security and will give you a call when I'm home later ;-)
 
Hi does anyone have any Abacot ranger females for sale?
Looking for 2 or 3 to join a pair I purchased at Melton in Sept.
 
I'm afraid not. It's usually quite difficult to buy ducks like this as most people want to sell them as pairs to save raising and then killing lots of Drakes.
 
Yes I understand this.
We dont kill any of ours, just sell surplus drakes at Melton/Leek.
Do you have any pairs for sale?
We have only just started with abacots and only have 1 pair, so I am sure having more than 1 drake would be ok, as they are running with other ducks - Magpies, call ducks, and buff back geese.
Was going to try at Poultry Sale at Stafford Showground next weekend, but they seem so scarce there probably wont be any there.
 
I do have a pair... although they are German bloodline so it would be better if breeding from them not to cross them to the UK Abs. Having two drakes may be distressing for the ducks in the spring, I doubt they will pair up with the Magpies and the Calls are too small.

Tim.
 
Hi
Why would it not be ok to cross the bloodlines??
How much would your pair be?
Are you going to the show/sale at Stafford?
I am in Derbyshire, do you use a courier to transport your birds?
Thanks
 
Hi bchadwick,

Yes, you can cross bloodlines. But I guess I've been trying to sell pairs of birds to people who will continue to keep the bloodline pure...

Basically, the UK created the Abacot Ranger and they became popular in Germany. During the 1960's, there was a Hybrid Cross created by Leslie Bonnet called the Whalesbury Hybrid (You can pick his book up on ebay cheap called Practical Duck Keeping which talks about it.) The drake looked very similar to the Abacot Ranger. The Abacots were low in numbers, the Whalesbury Hybrids very popular and alot of the UK Abacots got crossed with these.

The result has been many breeders won't touch the Abacots because you get so much variation in the offspring - orange or yellow bills, and odd markings. These are throw backs from the Whalesbury Hybrid.

I tried UK Abacots for a number of years from different breeders and couldn't get 'pure' birds from the offspring. So eventually, I bit the bullet and went to Germany importing birds.

The German birds are slightly smaller and ducks can be slightly lighter in colour but have not been messed with so the offspring are all fairly similar.

I'm going to the Federation -- but that's my last show of the season.

I don't use a courier. I charge £45 per pair and a courier would probably cost £30+ or more...

I realise it's difficult with drakes but I'd really recommend you hatch a reasonable number of birds out from the pair, then get a good duck to drake ratio - 2 drakes to 5 or 6 ducks would be good. You'll find the drakes argue over the females and bother them too much with repeated mating due to competition.

Tim
 
Hi
Thanks for all your info - very interesting.
We will carry on with the pair we have and keep looking for a couple of females, even if it takes some time, and hopefully this pair will breed next year.
 
It should be fine to keep a pair together and then hatch from them to get females. You will of course have the drakes to contend with but you can at least be sure to get some females next year. You can collect eggs over 10 days or so, turn them daily and then incubate after 10 days when you have a reasonable number of eggs,

It would be interesting to see some photos of the offspring to see how they turn out too...

Let me know if I can help in future.

Tim
 
Dear Tim,

I have purchased some hatching eggs from you in the past. Unfortunately the fox visited last night and took my last trio. Can I npurchase some more or even some breeding trios?

Regards

Phil
 
Hi Phil,

Sorry to hear about the fox getting your ducks. I don't have any eggs at the moment, it's a little early but should have some in a couple of months if you want to remind me then?

I normally have pairs for sale October - November time but I have unfortunately just dispatched my 'spare' drakes a couple of weeks ago so don't have any pairs available now.
 
Tim,

thank you. I will request again at the end of February.

Regards

Phil
 
Tim. Have your AR's started laying yet? If yes, can I purchase some please?
Phil
 
Hi have you a trio of abacot rangers for sale ifso how much? I could collect from Stafford show ground if you are showing there thanks jeff
 
Hi Jeff,

I've selected my stock to over winter now and didn't plan on selling any more this year -I will have a look what I've got tomorrow and see if I can spare a pair or a trio.

Tim.
 
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