Even from the first time you move them into their brooders, the mallards are already acting wild. As the days go by, it’s constant water refills, bedding cleanings, and noisy quacking. These are our precious bundles of joy, mallard ducklings.
Our coop bought 4 ducklings last year, 3 mallard females and a drake, they immediately became obsessed with their water, and my cat Watermelon. I never had to worry about Watermelon attacking them, for she never wants anything to do with them.
Ducklings tend to follow around their mother figure for a few weeks, or more, when ether that’s your dog, cat, their actual mother, or you. You should always keep an eye on your ducklings when your letting them play outside their brooder, they are fragile compared to chicks, and more prompt to injuries or sickness.
When my mallard babies grew up, my drake and my smaller mallard hen had become mates. When they had learned to fly, they were constantly flying everywhere around the yard together. My other 2 hens preferred to stay at the house, and didn’t fly as often, they were half Rouen and not so built for flying.
Everytime it rains, your mallards will most likely create holes all in the yard (like mine did) which you could easily trip and injure yourself from, so it’s best to keep a large water source (such as a large baby pool) somewhere around the coop, this is needed so ducks can preen, and clean themselves of bugs. Mallards who don’t have sufficient water have a chance of flying off and never returning.
Ducks are good weeders for your garden, they will eat the weeds and seeds (ducks love seeds), and avoid harder vegetables (unless they have the help of chickens), but never let them in your garden after it rains, they will uproot your plants, and create holes everywhere.
All ducks depend on company, when ether it’s you, or their duck friends. Lonely ducks can become sick and die, or fly off and leave you. It’s always best to buy at least 2 or more ducks.
Never let your ducks out at night, or leave them out at night. ducks can’t see in the dark and will attract predators, which would make an easy meal of your duck.
Duck eggs, mallards will lay eggs in places easy to build nests at, such as a nesting box (if well covered with chips) or a bush, sometimes they will even lay their eggs in water. Never mess with a mallards nest, even if they’re not hatching eggs, they will abandon it at the slightest difference to what it once was.
If your mallard duck is disappearing for a day or two at a time, it might be nesting. We clipped one of our mallards wing because she kept disappearing. We eventually found her nest in our neighbors bush, with 21 eggs in it. Never try to move a nesting ducks nest if you are planning on letting her hatch them, she will abandon the eggs.
Don’t put food and water near your ducks nest, it attracts wild animals, which will eat your ducks and eggs. Our duck who was nesting in the bush was killed by coyotes, or stray dogs, and later that night, her eggs were taken.
When you have multiple ducks, they might not notice one of them is missing, as mine somehow didn’t, but it’s best to monitor their behavior to ensure they aren’t becoming depressed.
And lastly, always be kind to your ducks, they don’t know when they’re doing something wrong, so don’t go out of your way to hit them or kick them. You could badly injure them unknowingly. Always treat your ducks with love and care, and most of all, have fun with your feather babies.
Our coop bought 4 ducklings last year, 3 mallard females and a drake, they immediately became obsessed with their water, and my cat Watermelon. I never had to worry about Watermelon attacking them, for she never wants anything to do with them.
Ducklings tend to follow around their mother figure for a few weeks, or more, when ether that’s your dog, cat, their actual mother, or you. You should always keep an eye on your ducklings when your letting them play outside their brooder, they are fragile compared to chicks, and more prompt to injuries or sickness.
When my mallard babies grew up, my drake and my smaller mallard hen had become mates. When they had learned to fly, they were constantly flying everywhere around the yard together. My other 2 hens preferred to stay at the house, and didn’t fly as often, they were half Rouen and not so built for flying.
Everytime it rains, your mallards will most likely create holes all in the yard (like mine did) which you could easily trip and injure yourself from, so it’s best to keep a large water source (such as a large baby pool) somewhere around the coop, this is needed so ducks can preen, and clean themselves of bugs. Mallards who don’t have sufficient water have a chance of flying off and never returning.
Ducks are good weeders for your garden, they will eat the weeds and seeds (ducks love seeds), and avoid harder vegetables (unless they have the help of chickens), but never let them in your garden after it rains, they will uproot your plants, and create holes everywhere.
All ducks depend on company, when ether it’s you, or their duck friends. Lonely ducks can become sick and die, or fly off and leave you. It’s always best to buy at least 2 or more ducks.
Never let your ducks out at night, or leave them out at night. ducks can’t see in the dark and will attract predators, which would make an easy meal of your duck.
Duck eggs, mallards will lay eggs in places easy to build nests at, such as a nesting box (if well covered with chips) or a bush, sometimes they will even lay their eggs in water. Never mess with a mallards nest, even if they’re not hatching eggs, they will abandon it at the slightest difference to what it once was.
If your mallard duck is disappearing for a day or two at a time, it might be nesting. We clipped one of our mallards wing because she kept disappearing. We eventually found her nest in our neighbors bush, with 21 eggs in it. Never try to move a nesting ducks nest if you are planning on letting her hatch them, she will abandon the eggs.
Don’t put food and water near your ducks nest, it attracts wild animals, which will eat your ducks and eggs. Our duck who was nesting in the bush was killed by coyotes, or stray dogs, and later that night, her eggs were taken.
When you have multiple ducks, they might not notice one of them is missing, as mine somehow didn’t, but it’s best to monitor their behavior to ensure they aren’t becoming depressed.
And lastly, always be kind to your ducks, they don’t know when they’re doing something wrong, so don’t go out of your way to hit them or kick them. You could badly injure them unknowingly. Always treat your ducks with love and care, and most of all, have fun with your feather babies.
