All wise advice. One extra idea, you might want to let your young ones spend some time with just your older female. That way, she gets used to them when she isn’t trying to make sure they aren’t stealing her man. Just a thought.
I call that the “hee haw” because I thought it sounded like a donkey too. Drakes do it when they are happy and excited. They often do it right after mating. I think it means “wahoo, everyone look at me, I’m awesome”.
I give mine chopped lettuce and meal worms in their water bowl in the coop at bedtime. They run in. Course this won’t work if you don’t give yours food or water in the coop.
She is a Welsh Harlequin. She needs duck food (prefered) or all flock. For right now a small cage 3-4 ft square with a small pool like a bus boy tub or a horse food bowl to float in would be best. If she can float all day that leg will heal more quickly. Please do not release her on a pond...
Silver or splash in the US is referring to the duckling getting two blue alleles (blue only have one). They look really light gray like the picture shown or the females can be so light they look white with a dark bill. Since both parents were blue their would be a 25% chance of a silver...
I had a similar experience. I took mine to a vet and he found a small cut hidden under the feathers on the underside of the wing. So, examine that wing carefully. Mine needed antibiotics.
Could be, but hard to know for sure. Some ducks seem to be less intelligent. Is it the crest, maybe, but I suspect not. I did research into cresting and usually the crest does not cause a problem once they are grown. There are reported cases of bones growing from the crest into the brain but...
Blue, what your adults are, is heterozygous, Bb. So, as mentioned, you have a 25% probability of black, BB. Yours appears to be black with a bib. This is the same color genetics as a black Swedish but there will be a size difference if yours are call ducks.
I have had some come around and I worry I will step on them each night as they come to eat treats out of my hand. Others still wait for me to put the treats on the ground for them. 🤷🏼♀️
Yes and yes. Females are more skittish and whenever I have more ducklings they seem more skittish. Know too that they go through a scaredy cat phase. Just keep being gently and offering treats.
It looks like a silver Swedish (also called Splash) to me. If you cross two blue Swedish probability is 25% chance you get silver, 50% blue, 25% black. Hatcheries cross all silver Swedish if one gender with all black if the other to get the blue Swedish they sell. Usually the girls are so...
Wild type or Mallard (the color Rouens are) drakes and hens start out with very similar patterns at this age. If it quacks, it is a girl. If it sounds like it is loosing its voice, drake.
Assuming the Blue Swedish are pure breds then the Rouen looking duckling is from the Khaki drake and the Rouen hen. He is also a drake as this is a sex-linked cross. Girls would look similar but would show sex-linked brown. These are Dutch Hookbill ducklings of mine with similar genetics and...
Depends how long it takes you to build a coop. Don’t be surprised if the boys are fighting after Christmas. I currently have two drakes with six girls with few issues. But, my boys are Dutch Hookbill’s which are said to be more chill than others. I also only kept the calmest drake originally...
It is perfectly normal for the time of year. Drakes molt in late summer into Eclipse plumage. Their hormone levels drop and they lose their drake feathers, green heads, and revert back to something similar to their juvenile plumage. In the wild this would help them not be as noticeable to...
I have never heard of tricolor so I can't answer that. But, I suspect he is black but carries sex-linked brown (chocolate). Since it is a sex-linked trait carried on the Z chromosome only the boys can be carriers as they have two Z chromosomes ZZ (girls are ZW). If so, if you cross him to...