- Apr 22, 2014
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Tevye is a White Crested we got along with 10 other ducklings.
At the time we got him we knew nothing about the plight of the crested ducks
. If we knew then what we know now, we probably would not have gotten him, and would have missed out on a VERY cool duck.
We think he is a German (upright) Pekin. Metzer Farms doesn't specify other than White Crested. He is longer than our Pekin Duck, but has a more slender build and walks every bit as upright as any of our 4 runners. And while his crest makes him really stand out, he would be a great duck without it.
Tevye takes life at half speed. He can run just fine, and on the very few occasions where he needs to, he can keep up with any of the other birds (except maybe the runners), but he usually chooses to saunter. When we go out with lettuce, he lets the other ducks dash up in a frenzy. He shows up about 10 seconds later having taken his time - the lettuce will still be there.
When other ducks go from point A to point B, he looks around checking out the bugs / plants along the way. Always very alert (usually one of the first to spot a bird overhead), but still laid back.
One of the things we did know about crested ducks when we got him was that with the sometimes violent mating habits of ducks, crested females would often get severely injured by having drakes grab their crests instead of their necks. This is why he was one of the two drakes we got. The other one was a Rouen (because they are so darn handsome) named Kaine. When they were in teen feathers, Kaine and Tevye used to fight all the time, not too violent, but very frequent. By the time Kaine's green head was fully matured, it was clear that Kaine would lead the flock as the dominant duck and the fighting stopped. We assumed it was because he was stronger and beat Tevye. It turned out that Tevye just wasn't all that hot about running things (we will get there later).
Tevye marches to a different drummer, that is for sure. We are always trying to figure out if he is the smartest duck in the flock, or the dumbest. We bought a grandpa's feeder where the ducks have to step on a ledge to open the feeder, then they can eat. Shortly after they were eating out of that, Tevye walks up to a dog bowl we have filled with grit. It can just sit out in a dog bowl because it doesn't matter if it gets wet and the squirrels will not eat a lot of grit. He lifts his right leg slowly and purposefully... then he sets his foot down on the edge of the dog bowl.... He stares at the grit for several seconds...
I am not sure what he expected to happen, but when nothing did, he turned and wandered off, gazing at a dandelion along the way. We so enjoy his antics.
The drakes get a bit older and their thoughts turn to ducks. Kaine runs around the yard like he is on fire. Must hop on every duck every hour of every day. Tevye pairs up with Rhiannon. They actually spend time together walking around, swimming, enjoying each other's company and sometimes they mate. By duck standards, Tevye is even gentle which is good because he probably weighs half again what Rhiannon weighs.
Finally the time comes that our last two ducklings (about 7 weeks) get introduced to the flock. Kaine is merciless and chases and attacks them repeatedly.
We would interfere when it got too brutal, but we figured the ducklings need to learn to stay away from Kaine. They are both runners, so they are faster. Within a couple days, they leaned how to avoid being cornered by Kaine. At this time, we still were taking the duckling girls in at night to stay in their brooder. About 1/3 of the flock was aggressive toward the ducklings. About 1/3, the ducklings were aggressive toward. And the final 1/3 were pretty indifferent. Until about day 4. All of a sudden, the ducklings had found a friend: Tevye.
Tevye would go to the ducklings and they would go to him. They would swim together and they would bob heads at each other, and Tevye never tried anything aggressive with them. When they wandered off, Kaine would still try to attack them, but usually he couldn't catch them.
After the ducklings had been out about a week and a half (we were starting to talk about letting them sleep in the duck house with the big ducks - but were worried about what Kaine would do to them in close quarters), I was outside just enjoying the flock and Kaine caught Mystique and ripped quite a few feathers out of her back and tail before she got away.
It happened in seconds, so there wasn't anything I could do to prevent it, and once it was over, I figured Mystique would learn to be more careful (both the ducklings had been getting closer to Kaine as he was reducing his "radius of attack"). A minute later, Tevye (who is generally very quiet), cornered Kaine in one of the gazebos and quacked incessantly at him for over a minute.
When he was done, Kaine quacked once then left.
I called my wife and laughed and told her Tevye gave Kaine a tongue lashing. I figured it was just me putting my human spin on duck actions that probably had nothing to do with what I was thinking. Sat down and watched the ducks a bit more. About a half hour later, Kaine started chasing the ducklings around again. Well, I thought, guess Tevye doesn't have much pull with Kaine. Well it wasn't two minutes later when Tevye cornered Kaine in the same gazebo again. But this time, he kicked the snot out of Kaine.
The most spectacular part I caught in these two pictures. He grabbed Kaine deep in the chest feathers and threw him about into the side of the gazebo. Kaine is the flock leader so he didn't back down, but it was clear Tevye bested him effortlessly. Kaine lost quite a few minor feathers in the scuffle, Tevye had one feather on the left side of his neck twisted around backwards.
The next day I went out to check on the ducks and the ducklings were running up to Kaine and he was as nice as can be with them
and would even swim with them with no funny business.
Now the ducklings have been sleeping in the big duck house a week (we have a night-vision camera inside so we could make sure they didn't have too rough of a time). Kaine has never laid a bill on them since Tevye straightened him out. For a couple days after the fight, he pecked Tevye in the chest (not too hard) and Tevye did nothing but walk away. He let Kaine save face.
Now we know what happened those months ago when they stopped fighting and Kaine took over the flock. Tevye told Kaine, "If you want to run the flock go ahead. They give me the same amount of feed if I do nothing but watch the clouds."
I think Tevye might be the smartest bird in the flock.
Tevye sure is an awesome duck!
At the time we got him we knew nothing about the plight of the crested ducks
We think he is a German (upright) Pekin. Metzer Farms doesn't specify other than White Crested. He is longer than our Pekin Duck, but has a more slender build and walks every bit as upright as any of our 4 runners. And while his crest makes him really stand out, he would be a great duck without it.
Tevye takes life at half speed. He can run just fine, and on the very few occasions where he needs to, he can keep up with any of the other birds (except maybe the runners), but he usually chooses to saunter. When we go out with lettuce, he lets the other ducks dash up in a frenzy. He shows up about 10 seconds later having taken his time - the lettuce will still be there.
One of the things we did know about crested ducks when we got him was that with the sometimes violent mating habits of ducks, crested females would often get severely injured by having drakes grab their crests instead of their necks. This is why he was one of the two drakes we got. The other one was a Rouen (because they are so darn handsome) named Kaine. When they were in teen feathers, Kaine and Tevye used to fight all the time, not too violent, but very frequent. By the time Kaine's green head was fully matured, it was clear that Kaine would lead the flock as the dominant duck and the fighting stopped. We assumed it was because he was stronger and beat Tevye. It turned out that Tevye just wasn't all that hot about running things (we will get there later).
Tevye marches to a different drummer, that is for sure. We are always trying to figure out if he is the smartest duck in the flock, or the dumbest. We bought a grandpa's feeder where the ducks have to step on a ledge to open the feeder, then they can eat. Shortly after they were eating out of that, Tevye walks up to a dog bowl we have filled with grit. It can just sit out in a dog bowl because it doesn't matter if it gets wet and the squirrels will not eat a lot of grit. He lifts his right leg slowly and purposefully... then he sets his foot down on the edge of the dog bowl.... He stares at the grit for several seconds...
The drakes get a bit older and their thoughts turn to ducks. Kaine runs around the yard like he is on fire. Must hop on every duck every hour of every day. Tevye pairs up with Rhiannon. They actually spend time together walking around, swimming, enjoying each other's company and sometimes they mate. By duck standards, Tevye is even gentle which is good because he probably weighs half again what Rhiannon weighs.
Finally the time comes that our last two ducklings (about 7 weeks) get introduced to the flock. Kaine is merciless and chases and attacks them repeatedly.
After the ducklings had been out about a week and a half (we were starting to talk about letting them sleep in the duck house with the big ducks - but were worried about what Kaine would do to them in close quarters), I was outside just enjoying the flock and Kaine caught Mystique and ripped quite a few feathers out of her back and tail before she got away.
I called my wife and laughed and told her Tevye gave Kaine a tongue lashing. I figured it was just me putting my human spin on duck actions that probably had nothing to do with what I was thinking. Sat down and watched the ducks a bit more. About a half hour later, Kaine started chasing the ducklings around again. Well, I thought, guess Tevye doesn't have much pull with Kaine. Well it wasn't two minutes later when Tevye cornered Kaine in the same gazebo again. But this time, he kicked the snot out of Kaine.
The next day I went out to check on the ducks and the ducklings were running up to Kaine and he was as nice as can be with them
Now the ducklings have been sleeping in the big duck house a week (we have a night-vision camera inside so we could make sure they didn't have too rough of a time). Kaine has never laid a bill on them since Tevye straightened him out. For a couple days after the fight, he pecked Tevye in the chest (not too hard) and Tevye did nothing but walk away. He let Kaine save face.
Now we know what happened those months ago when they stopped fighting and Kaine took over the flock. Tevye told Kaine, "If you want to run the flock go ahead. They give me the same amount of feed if I do nothing but watch the clouds."
I think Tevye might be the smartest bird in the flock.
Tevye sure is an awesome duck!
