CrazyCrttr75
Free Ranging
I don't exactly remember why it caught my attention but it did. I was looking around pictures of chickens I think and I ended up looking at ducks for some reason. My littlest duck has been bothering me. The 3 Pekin are big and fluffy and beautiful. No doubt in my mind that they are males. None what-so-ever. Now out of the 3 Rouen, I think the largest of the 3 (he is obviously larger and we named him Noah) is male. Xena, my duck that went thru the seizures, is female. When I first took her to the vet they weighed her and she weighed like 2.9lbs. The 2nd time I had to take her in they weighed her again and she was down to like 1.6lb. She'd lost half of her body weight because she wasn't eating because of all of the seizures. Just watching her now I can tell she has put on weight and has just been thriving! She's growing like a weed. It's a beautiful thing for me to see. That brings me to little bit. Not his/her name, is just what I call it since it's so tiny. I'll post a few pics to give ya'll a reference.
S/he is the brown one in the middle. First Rouen is Noah and the one of the right is Xena
Can really see the size difference in this pic. 2 male Pekin and Male Rouen, then Little bit
Can see the olive green bill on Noah. Little bit to the right of him
At first I thought I got a "runt". But the way it filled out in feathers and stuff, wasn't any slower than the others. Then I thought maybe it was a "bantam" somehow. Turns out that is closer to the truth. Not only is it a "bantam. It's a Mallard. It's not even a Rouen! I know they are similar and Rouen is a kind of Mallard but they're 2 dif breeds. And I've scoured various hatchery sites. Most of them say that domesticately hatched Mallards have to be "registered" with Wild Life something or another and the way they do that is by removing a back toe. So if it happens to fly away wherever and is caught, they can tell it's not a "wild bird" or if spotted on a farm/property, that it wasn't taken from the wild. So I checked its feet today. It's missing a back toe.
It's bill is weird. It is going from the dark brown to olive colored but has the yellow/orange on the sides. So I am hoping that the olive is just the brown lightening up and the yellow/orange is going to take over. That means female. 
So now I get to try and keep her/him from trying to fly away because Mallards are very good fliers and are migratory birds. That is the whole reason of why I wanted to get Large breed ducks that DON'T FLY. I didn't want to worry about that. 
I am so frustrated and disappointed. I don't do well with this surprise it's a girl or boy stuff. Maybe because it's my first time and I haven't learned how to "go with the flow" and take it as it comes. I am thinking that I should have just spent the extra money that it costs in shipping and ordered the exact kind and sex of ducks that I wanted in the first place. Or maybe I should just stick to chickens. These littles crack me up. They are so zippy. And it is neat watching them grow up. And yes, the not knowing who's a boy or girl is driving me insane. I question it multiple times a day, every day. But this time around, I am hoping for a male. Watch me either get 4 females or all males.
S/he is the brown one in the middle. First Rouen is Noah and the one of the right is Xena
Can really see the size difference in this pic. 2 male Pekin and Male Rouen, then Little bit
Can see the olive green bill on Noah. Little bit to the right of him
At first I thought I got a "runt". But the way it filled out in feathers and stuff, wasn't any slower than the others. Then I thought maybe it was a "bantam" somehow. Turns out that is closer to the truth. Not only is it a "bantam. It's a Mallard. It's not even a Rouen! I know they are similar and Rouen is a kind of Mallard but they're 2 dif breeds. And I've scoured various hatchery sites. Most of them say that domesticately hatched Mallards have to be "registered" with Wild Life something or another and the way they do that is by removing a back toe. So if it happens to fly away wherever and is caught, they can tell it's not a "wild bird" or if spotted on a farm/property, that it wasn't taken from the wild. So I checked its feet today. It's missing a back toe.
It's bill is weird. It is going from the dark brown to olive colored but has the yellow/orange on the sides. So I am hoping that the olive is just the brown lightening up and the yellow/orange is going to take over. That means female. So now I get to try and keep her/him from trying to fly away because Mallards are very good fliers and are migratory birds. That is the whole reason of why I wanted to get Large breed ducks that DON'T FLY. I didn't want to worry about that. I am so frustrated and disappointed. I don't do well with this surprise it's a girl or boy stuff. Maybe because it's my first time and I haven't learned how to "go with the flow" and take it as it comes. I am thinking that I should have just spent the extra money that it costs in shipping and ordered the exact kind and sex of ducks that I wanted in the first place. Or maybe I should just stick to chickens. These littles crack me up. They are so zippy. And it is neat watching them grow up. And yes, the not knowing who's a boy or girl is driving me insane. I question it multiple times a day, every day. But this time around, I am hoping for a male. Watch me either get 4 females or all males. 
She will be laying here shortly! I’m so so excited to finally be getting some eggs from them!
