Kaiju
Chirping
Hi all,
I was just wondering if anyone had ever seen their ducks do anything similar to this.
Firstly, a brief background on "Ducky" (original, I know). Ducky is an almost 12 weeks old Cayuga duck (probably a drake, but I'm always second guessing). They are the only one who hatched from a batch of eggs. I eventually managed to get other ducklings, but they are a few weeks younger, and Ducky is pretty scared of them... introductions are going very slowly.
Ducky is a little spoiled. I knew it wasn't natural for a duckling to be on their own, so they have spent pretty much every moment with me. They sleep in a box by my bed, and go with me everywhere. I make sure they spend time outside and splash in water each day.
Onto my actual question...
As we get ready for bed each night, Ducky is plopped in their box and given some fresh food and water. After this, almost every time, they hop out their box and onto the bed and come over to me, or my partner, and start... having a sort of... dry air bath against the blankets or our arms?
They also sometimes do this when I wake up in the morning, and seem to be quite excited when they do it? They hop out their box, chatting away and wagging. They "dunk" their head, shake off, wiggle, ruffle, tap their feet, etc just like they're having a splash in some invisible water. But it's blankets.
Anyway... I do think the invisible baths are cute, But I'm also wondering if this is... "normal"? A lot of what Ducky does isn't exactly normal for a duck (like being scared of other ducks, but not scared of a 40kg German Shepherd...).
I wonder if it's just redirected excitement? When dogs get really excited sometimes they roll around on the grass and I wondered if it was similar.
On the other hand, I'm worried I've unintentionally encouraged some maladjusted behaviours without realising. I never exactly planned to have a singular duck, so I've been second guessing basically everything ever.
Thanks for reading my embarrassing ramble.
I was just wondering if anyone had ever seen their ducks do anything similar to this.
Firstly, a brief background on "Ducky" (original, I know). Ducky is an almost 12 weeks old Cayuga duck (probably a drake, but I'm always second guessing). They are the only one who hatched from a batch of eggs. I eventually managed to get other ducklings, but they are a few weeks younger, and Ducky is pretty scared of them... introductions are going very slowly.
Ducky is a little spoiled. I knew it wasn't natural for a duckling to be on their own, so they have spent pretty much every moment with me. They sleep in a box by my bed, and go with me everywhere. I make sure they spend time outside and splash in water each day.
Onto my actual question...
As we get ready for bed each night, Ducky is plopped in their box and given some fresh food and water. After this, almost every time, they hop out their box and onto the bed and come over to me, or my partner, and start... having a sort of... dry air bath against the blankets or our arms?
They also sometimes do this when I wake up in the morning, and seem to be quite excited when they do it? They hop out their box, chatting away and wagging. They "dunk" their head, shake off, wiggle, ruffle, tap their feet, etc just like they're having a splash in some invisible water. But it's blankets.
Anyway... I do think the invisible baths are cute, But I'm also wondering if this is... "normal"? A lot of what Ducky does isn't exactly normal for a duck (like being scared of other ducks, but not scared of a 40kg German Shepherd...).
I wonder if it's just redirected excitement? When dogs get really excited sometimes they roll around on the grass and I wondered if it was similar.
On the other hand, I'm worried I've unintentionally encouraged some maladjusted behaviours without realising. I never exactly planned to have a singular duck, so I've been second guessing basically everything ever.
Thanks for reading my embarrassing ramble.
