MO - Dutch Hookbill Hatching Eggs

by Connie Abeln

Looking to share our good Dutch Hookbill ducks with breeders who will appreciate and use them. This spring and summer we will have a limited number of hatching eggs available, but we are sold out of juveniles and adults until later in the summer.

Dutch Hookbills are listed with the Livestock Conservancy as critically endangered ducks. They are friendly outdoor birds, hardy in cold and heat, good and reliable layers spring through fall. They eat very little feed if they have access to pasture, and they readily come back to their pen as it gets dark to be locked up safe. We have snowy, bibbed, dusky, mallard, and a few other colors. Our flock includes extreme and moderate bill hooks. The eggs are large, and range in color from pearl-white to blue and blue-green. Our flock is NPIP certified and AI-free.

We showed our Dutch Hookbill ducks at the November 2023 Ohio National Poultry Show in Columbus, Ohio. Our Hookbills won best of variety for Mallard, Bibbed Mallard, Dusky, and Bibbed Dusky. Our Bibbed Dusky drake and hen won Best of Breed and Reserve Breed, respectively. Dutch Hookbill ducks are not recognized yet by the American Poultry Association, so they show under All Other Ducks.

Our prices for Dutch Hookbill Ducks are:

- If they were showed and won, $50/bird
- If show quality but not yet showed, $40/bird
- If not show quality but almost perfect, $25/bird

We have hatching eggs when the ducks begin to lay in the spring. We offer local pickup as soon as the eggs test fertile. We begin shipping hatching eggs in April, when the weather warms enough for safe shipping of viable eggs. We fill the previous year’s orders first, then move on to this year’s requests.

Hatching eggs are $30/dozen. Let us know if you have a color preference,
or want a mix, and we will do our best to fill it with the eggs that are laid. We cannot guarantee what happens to eggs after they leave our control, but they will be insured. We will send you the shipping receipt with the tracking number, so you can track their trip, and file any insurance claims with the USPS, if needed.

Hatching eggs are shipped express mail, delivery guaranteed in 1-2 days depending on location, in a padded box to minimize damage from physical movement and temperature changes. Shipping costs range from $80-125, depending on distance and weight of eggs shipped.

All shipments are insured, and the buyer is responsible for filing any insurance claims with the US Postal Service if the eggs arrive late or broken. The buyer pays for all shipping costs.

Contact me at connieabeln@gmail.com to order eggs for shipping, or to coordinate a time and place to meet for delivering hatching eggs. We are near Saint Louis, Missouri. We attend some swaps and shows in other states, so we may be able to work something out.

Updated February 6, 2024