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I agree - I hand raised two Mallards, and they were the sweetest, friendliest ducks in the world until they hit their first molt, and then, all of the sudden, they turned into these wild, skittish things. They used to sit in my lap and eat treats - now, they run and hide when people come into out yard.
Honestly, there's NO breed of duck that makes a good "pet". They're fun to watch and they're beautiful, but they don't like to be held or messed with. They'd rather muck in the mud while all people remain at a comfortable distance.
Sorry, but I beg to differ. Some stick to their people like velcro and DEMAND constant contact, others shun all human contact as much as possible, and then the majority fall somewhere in between these two extremes. For instance, there's a duck (rather famous by now!) that lives in Seattle with his duck buddies and chicken buddies, and his owner / "people" as Flapper calls her (all posts and blogs are written from Flapper's point of view
) has posted many photos and videos of their interaction with each other and with her. Do a search for "Flapper Duck" on Facebook and go through some of his daily blogs -- many are accompanied by videos and pics that DEFINITELY refute the notion that all ducks prefer to be left alone and not have human contact.
Yes, and that's all in how they were raised (unless you manage to get your hands on a rare freak of nature who's naturally the most personable duck in the world - and what are the chances of that?!
). There are people who purposely try to imprint their ducks to humans and make them into pets, and that it works - it produces so-called "velcro" ducks; ducks that HAVE to constantly demand attention because they're confused and they're lost without that human contact. I disagree with the concept - it's not normal, and it's not mentally healthy for them, but that's beside the point. Sometimes imprinting to humans accidentally just happens, sometimes a duckling that's sick and is nursed back to health will form a close bond to a person - but I can't see purposely wanting to raise them that way. I just hate it when people try to take all sorts of animals who aren't suited to be "pets" and mold them into their little people-companions. Why not let ducks be ducks?
Now, if you DID want to get a few ducks for her, awesomefowl, the larger breeds are going to tend to be calmer. Indian Runners are known to be pretty skittish (mine are - they love me when I have food in my hands, and they're not scared to run right up and take treats from my hands, but if there's no food involved, they want nothing to do with me). Nettie has some nice, tame Runners living in her house - but, she's also written someplace here on the forum about the loooong, dedicated process it takes to raise them that way, so that they're not scared all the time! Like lovesduckies showed in those pictures, Muscovies (which are a completely different species from all other domestic ducks...they're more like a goose than a duck, really) can be tamed down really well. My first duck was a Muscovy - a rescue that had been abandoned in an apartment at the end of the summer, so we ended up having to raise her as a solo duck. She got really attached to us and liked to follow us around and nibble at our clothes.
She definately had a much different personality than all the Mallard-derived breeds I have now!
If you want to go with chickens instead, Silkies and Bantam Cochins are the best bet. I have a Cochin cockerel who LOVES to roost on the 10-year-old neighbor girl's arm for hours at a time. He sits up there all puffed up, so proud of himself.
Plus, those bantam chickens are SO much easier to clean up after than ducks!
I agree - I hand raised two Mallards, and they were the sweetest, friendliest ducks in the world until they hit their first molt, and then, all of the sudden, they turned into these wild, skittish things. They used to sit in my lap and eat treats - now, they run and hide when people come into out yard.
Honestly, there's NO breed of duck that makes a good "pet". They're fun to watch and they're beautiful, but they don't like to be held or messed with. They'd rather muck in the mud while all people remain at a comfortable distance.
Sorry, but I beg to differ. Some stick to their people like velcro and DEMAND constant contact, others shun all human contact as much as possible, and then the majority fall somewhere in between these two extremes. For instance, there's a duck (rather famous by now!) that lives in Seattle with his duck buddies and chicken buddies, and his owner / "people" as Flapper calls her (all posts and blogs are written from Flapper's point of view
Yes, and that's all in how they were raised (unless you manage to get your hands on a rare freak of nature who's naturally the most personable duck in the world - and what are the chances of that?!
Now, if you DID want to get a few ducks for her, awesomefowl, the larger breeds are going to tend to be calmer. Indian Runners are known to be pretty skittish (mine are - they love me when I have food in my hands, and they're not scared to run right up and take treats from my hands, but if there's no food involved, they want nothing to do with me). Nettie has some nice, tame Runners living in her house - but, she's also written someplace here on the forum about the loooong, dedicated process it takes to raise them that way, so that they're not scared all the time! Like lovesduckies showed in those pictures, Muscovies (which are a completely different species from all other domestic ducks...they're more like a goose than a duck, really) can be tamed down really well. My first duck was a Muscovy - a rescue that had been abandoned in an apartment at the end of the summer, so we ended up having to raise her as a solo duck. She got really attached to us and liked to follow us around and nibble at our clothes.
If you want to go with chickens instead, Silkies and Bantam Cochins are the best bet. I have a Cochin cockerel who LOVES to roost on the 10-year-old neighbor girl's arm for hours at a time. He sits up there all puffed up, so proud of himself.
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