A few duck questions about duck behaviours and traits...

[Wokawidget]

Hi, I have a white campbell duck who is 12 weeks old and I have got a few questions if that's ok.

1) She quacks, squeals, cheeps and makes various other noises. When we stroke her neck/breast/crop she makes this low groaning kind of noise. Is that a happy noise, or are we just catching a nerve near her voice box? She only makes this noise when stroking her chest/crop/breast.

2) She wags her tail loads. Does this means she's a happy duck? or do ducks wag their tails for other reasons?

3) Now and again, usually when she's sat in your lap, she'll start shaking then 5 seconds later she'll run her bill up your arm very quickly...almost as if she's playing. It's very amusing to watch and she's very quick...she always wags her tail afterways and looks at you as if she wants acknowledgement for her playful deed. She now and again does it to the 12 week old chickens if they are closer to her than your arm. She doesn't nibble or bite when doing this.

4) Can campbell ducks fly? She started leaping about 2-3 meters forward and about 0.5-1m up and half flying to aid the leap...will this distance get further?

5) When people say campbell ducks are "highly strung" what do they exactly mean? They won't let you stroke them? They run in circles all day? They constantly need attention from you?

6) At what age can I expect a lovely fresh egg for breakfast?

7) She's white...she LOVES the mud!...bad combination...can this stain her white feathers?

8) Does one quak and 2 quaks mean different things? ie..."Quak-quak.....quak-quak" compared to "Quak....Quak"?

I think that's all the questions I have for now.

Cheers,

Woka

 

[Wifezilla]

1) No clue
2) My ducks tend to wag their fluffy butts when they are happy. Muscovy ducks wag their butts like dogs.
3) That shaking thing and flopping her neck over your arm is an attempt to exert dominance. She is trying to tell you she wants to be the boss. When my ducks do this I just tell them "You're not the boss of me!" and put my hand on their necks. That used to seriously annoy my buff/khaki mutt...LOL
4) I doubt it will get much more distance. Campbell's don't fly well at all.
5) Some Campbell's freak out at the slightest sound. Some are not friendly. If raised from a baby and with only a few brooder mates, they seem to be fine.

 

[Wokawidget]

Thanks for the quick reply.
You replied b4 I even editted the original thread...I added 3 more questions

So for the shakey head dominance thing...should I stop her doing this? Or if I let her get away with it will she become bossy? She's still quite young at 12 and I am hoping that makes her open to change.
She has a tendancy to bite my hands, or tug at my arms, a lot more than she bites my girlfriend.

Cheers,

WOka

 

[Wifezilla]

When my buff got obnoxious about trying to show me she was boss, I just grabbed her by the bill until she chilled out. She and I get along great now...LOL I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Now...for the ones I missed...

6) Approx 5-6 months of age. My buff punk should be laying in a couple of weeks...the Welsh Harlequin girls by the end of September

7) Since they molt every year, I wouldn't worry about it. Let her have fun in the mud!

8) I have not yet deciphered much of the duck language. Mine do make a specific "Hey you lazy bum!!! Wake up and let us out of the pen!" quack.

 

[FenDruadin]

I'm going to follow Wifezilla's example and answer in order (as best I can, anyway!):

1. I can't speak for ducks, but I know other types of birds certainly enjoy being scratched in that area--parakeets, cockatoos, etc., will fluff up their feathers and half-close their eyes to show their enjoyment. I would not be at all surprised if she is "talking" to you to say she loves it.

2. I dunno.

3. That's pretty funny.

I'm sure Wifezilla's right about the dominance thing, though I had never heard of it. Now, others may have had different experiences, so I will probably hear lots of corrections on this, but I honestly don't worry about dominance with my ducks. They are, after all, ducks. I'm not sure they could hurt me if they tried, and if they did try, it would be quite simple to frighten them enough to put an end to it. At least, that's been my experience. Geese are another matter entirely--they must know who the boss is and if there's any doubt, they will exert their dominance aggressively and can be quite dangerous, especially to children. But ducks--I can't even think *how* a duck would hurt a person, and mine have all been so mild tempered that it's just never been an issue. At all. But others may have had entirely different experiences, so I'll be interested to hear what others say.

4. Second Wifezilla.

5. The four Campbells I had were the least friendly of my ducks. Very flighty, easily terrified. But every breed has its exceptions, and yours is already WAYY friendlier than mine ever were, and actually probably friendlier than most of my ducks of any breed.

6. 17 to 24 weeks of age.

7. I guess it probably will over time. However, ducks preen themselves endlessly so it probably won't be a big deal unless you want her in show condition. Also, she'll periodically molt and get new feathers. You could try giving her clean water and no dirt to make mud out of, but ducks will pretty much make mud out of nearly anything, so it may be futile to try. Mine, when enclosed in their pen at night and part of the winter, are bedded on a deep layer of straw, and it keeps them *somewhat* clean, but they still burrow under the straw and find the mud beneath.

8. I don't know really, but I think they are quite expressive and I wish someone would write a duck dictionary. I do think I understand what you mean about the double quack and the single quack. I think you just have to listen and watch and see if you can figure out from context what she means each time, and see if you can find a pattern. Then publish it here for the rest of us!!

 

[PekinMama]

I enjoyed reading the replies to this thread. My Pekins are almost 6 weeks old and they chirp excitey when eating, quack loudly to “call” me (and settle down when they see me), and wag their tails when I give them freah food and water. They don’t like being pet, but I think that’s because my human children pick them up too often.

 

[CoriM]

I have a couple of pekins who sometimes do that head-shaking and then run their heads up my arm or leg. I don't really see it as a problem. They're clearly not dominant over me, and the one who did it the most when she was younger is the one who greats me at the door all the time and loves to be pet, and lowers herself into mating position. I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[CoriM]

What is the difference between a white campbell and a pekin, or white layer? How big do they get and where did you find them?

 

[SolarDuck]

I am not sure about size but I know both a white campbell and a white layer will lay wayyyyy more eggs than a Pekin

 

[CoriM]

My Pekins are only a year and a half old, but so far they lay an egg pretty much every day - a few times they've laid two! My Welsh Harlequins on the other hand take several months off at a time.