Again - Mallard or Rouen

[keckels]

The lady I purchased these from at about 1 week old said they were mallards, & while I filled out the necessary paperwork for our state to purchase some ringneck pheasants from her, I didn't have to fill out anything for the ducks. I can't find any pictures of them in the bathtub when they were young, so I don't remember about the one band or 2 on the head. Either I'm feeding them to good, or I'm thinking their too big to be mallards.

 

[Kevin565]

Looks like mallards to me

 

[EmAbTo48]

They look way to small to be rouens.... I would say mallards.

 

[Rosecomb-Ryan]

I would have to say Hatchery Quality Rouens as those are definitly not pure Mallards. Very pretty ducks though! They look very healthy!

 

[duckdad]

Size matters...

The Mallard and Rouen are pretty much identical with the difference being size.

Your drakes in the pic look exactly like my Drake (buddy) that is big, solid as a rock and CAN fly...so he's not exactly Mallard but the flying keeps him out of the Rouen clubhouse too...

As someone else stated in another thread, most that we see are somewhere inbetween. Buddy is the size of a Thanksgiving turkey and quite heavy, so he's mostly Rouen. Now his mate is more rouen also and has the classic rouen/mallard hen markings. I also have a little hen that is definately mallard (90%) because shes adult, tiny (palm size) and flies around like a mosquito.
So, the drakes with the classic markings, green head, white ring, beautiful blue stripe and pure white under the wings...retain the mallard traits but carry the "bred-in" genetics of the rouen thats been watered down slightly over several generations somewhere upstream.

Go by the size...10lbs...more Rouen.
Less that 3 lbs...I'd have to call it a Mallard.

Most are some mix of the breed. Since Rouens started as Mallard, looking at it from the perspective of science and genetics, to stay Rouen the bird would have to be bred only with other Rouen stock otherwise the original gene (mallard) would slowly resurface with each generation.

Whats pocket size and buzzing around the house?....a mosquito with web feet....

I gotta tell ya, as annoying as it can be to have a bird flying randomly around your house and having the constant fear of "bombings" in places that you don;t see right away, its down right exciting as well seeing that bird do laps around the house and come to ME and want to land next to me just to hang out. She could try to escape, she could go directly to something that looks like food, or she could go explore, but she always comes to me. I've got a "house-Mallard".
My 2 "big" ducks walk inside to watch me chop greens and make their dinner...they'd fly except they cannot fit thru the door with wings extended in flight. Big birds when they fly. They'll meet up with the Mallard and walk around a bit and maybe go chat with the baby in the pen, since she cannot fly out..yet. But they'll all come back to where I am and stand around or work at getting some extra attention.

people ask "why ducks".....well, thats why.

 

[desertdarlene]

They are a little bulky, so there might be some Rouen in them. They look like our hybrid Rouen-mallards at the lake. Most of them can fly pretty well, too.

I may be wrong, but I think Rouen females have darker eye stripes than your females.

 

[duckdad]

Quote:
I saw something once about multiple eye stripes...like 2 that ran across the face around the eye...I cannot find that now and can;t remember where it was that I read that...There were a couple other 'details' that helped tell the difference.

 

[keckels]

Ya, maybe more of an in-between. They were flying until a clipped the wings - not real high. I like them .just the same, it's just that I bought them as mallards.

Originally got them to work my dogs, but quickly realized when we bought them a ducklings that that wasn't going to happen.

Thanks for the replies.

 

[desertdarlene]

Quote:
I saw something once about multiple eye stripes...like 2 that ran across the face around the eye...I cannot find that now and can;t remember where it was that I read that...There were a couple other 'details' that helped tell the difference.

Usually the ducklings have two eye stripes. But, hybrids often have only or two.

Keckels, I'm glad you like them.

 

[mrpekinduck]

Mallards