➡I accidentally bought Balut eggs: 2 live ducks! Now a Chat Thread!

[BantyChooks]

Someone come break me out

Sure. Watch for the drunken-looking helicopter, and duck if it smashes through your wall by accident!

 

[Sara L]

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
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Can really see the size difference in this pic. 2 male Pekin and Male Rouen, then Little bit
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Can see the olive green bill on Noah. Little bit to the right of him
View attachment 1535188

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.

When my family had ducks for a year as I was growing up we got a mix including mallards, didn't know they would fly away...and they did. I would recommend trimming one wing now, even if you don't think s/he is ready to fly.

 

[Sara L]

Button update: 4 fluffies as of last night, and had to help 2 stuck chicks out of the egg. One seems fine but the other is still twisted up like it's in the egg. No action on the remaining 8 eggs. Will probably open them this evening if nobody else hatches.

Cinnamon chick was #1, all black chick was #2, and yellow chick and black-with-white-wingtips chick were #3/#4.

This picture below is from last night. This morning the yellow one seems ok but still has some curly toes, hoping that will go away with a little time and moving around. The darker chick is actually cinnamon colored now that it's drier; it's still is keeping it's neck twisted like it's in the egg. I put both of them in the brooder now, hoping that moving around and interacting with the other chicks will help straighten them out. I also put vitamins in the water and some in the food.

 

[CrazyCrttr75]

When my family had ducks for a year as I was growing up we got a mix including mallards, didn't know they would fly away...and they did. I would recommend trimming one wing now, even if you don't think s/he is ready to fly.

I've talked to my hubby about this very thing today already. The ducks are just about 8 weeks old. When we took our dogs outside to their dog pen this morning to go potty, we were standing out there talking and looking over at the chicken and duck area and sure enough, saw the little stinker fly a few feet across their pen. I said to him, "We need to try and youtube how to clip her wing soon or she's gonna end up flying over the fence and be stuck outside of the pen." Not to mention if a hawk or something was around at that time before I got to her.

 

[Kiki]

I just discvovered I posted a random thread totally out coxtexth I’m so embarrassed

Dying oh Shame probablyvtime to leave

I almost peed in my pants. That was great!

 

[littleprairieheartsfarm]

That's wonderful! I'm so glad you found a real home for those beautiful boys.



I hope you are doing better and can go home today.

They sent us pictures of them this morning The EE has three hens all his own and Red claimed the rest. They have two little boys who are so excited to hear them crowing and see them with the hens. They have a giant coop and then the 12 acres to free range on. Those boys got lucky!

 

[littleprairieheartsfarm]

I just discvovered I posted a random thread totally out coxtexth I’m so embarrassed

Dying oh Shame probablyvtime to leave

Oh Tes They gave you the good stuff didn’t they?

 

[Conan]

Haha! That’s so opposite from us! We were hoping for a male and female, thought Cayugas were a quiet breed, and we had no idea that they couldn’t fly (we were going to release them into our pond when they got old enough). Turns out they’re loud, non-flying hens who go broody on a dime and are the bullies of the yard.

I've got a whole mess of Cayugas. They're great layers (laid through their first Winter without any light) but man, are they LOUD. They are also skittish and a little bit like a gang. My quietest duck is a toss up between my Magpie hen or my Welshie.
Only had one of my Cayuga hens go broody in the five years of having them.

 

[room onthebroom]

I've got a whole mess of Cayugas. They're great layers (laid through their first Winter without any light) but man, are they LOUD. They are also skittish and a little bit like a gang. My quietest duck is a toss up between my Magpie hen or my Welshie.
Only had one of my Cayuga hens go broody in the five years of having them.

I just rescued a Cayuga & what turned out to be a Pekin from my local HS about 6wks ago. I think the Cayuga is a drake because hes getting really colorful & really quiet. I was hoping the Pekin would be a Buff, but no such luck. She is big, beautiful & LOUD. Between her, my Swedish Blue & the illegal rooster we're harboring, I'm sure the village will be descending any day with torches & pitchforks.

 

[room onthebroom]

Someone come break me out

I've got some wigs we can use & I know Banty has some big hats...Looks like Nuts is in too. We'll come get ya girl!