Curious question about muscovy duckling

[Skye'sDucks]

Very sorry for your losses!

Hopefully you can find out what killed them.

Thank you! I hope so too.

 

[Skye'sDucks]

Well, I wasn't able to get the flock in tonight, except for my 2 starter ducks. They know me well and were hand raised, so I'm grateful that I can at least keep those safe. But I still worry for the others, I care about them just as much.

I didn't think of using broom or board as an 'extension' of our arms when I had my mom go out there to help herd them in, but even when we went slowly and carefully they scattered in all directions. I wish they knew I was just trying to keep them safe. If they'll trust me enough tomorrow, I may try using those tactics I mentioned above to see if that'll work.

And I did talk to my mom a bit about getting a camera, hopefully we'll look into ordering one online tomorrow. I've been procrastinating on schoolwork which has distracted me from ordering one today...

At least I am happy to report all the ducks are safe still, though. I'll try to get updated pictures of the babies tomorrow.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Can you start feeding them inside on the other side of the gate? Maybe if you can get them through the gate that will help with getting them inside.

 

[Skye'sDucks]

Can you start feeding them inside on the other side of the gate? Maybe if you can get them through the gate that will help with getting them inside.

I can, at least for dinner. The rest of my family doesn't want them in our immediate backyard because they poop everywhere lol so I don't think I could feed them for breakfast, but I can try that this evening. My two recent babies I have been documenting on this thread were very friendly this morning so I'm glad they got over the 'scare' last night. Hopefully they'll be willing to cooperate today.

 

[Skye'sDucks]

I haven't posted on this thread forever... But I did kind of want to 'complete' it by showing the ducklings (or now ducks!) that grew up, since the thread was originally made to ask about the gender of my big beautiful boy.

I looked back at the dates on my pictures, and they were born either on December 29th or the 30th of 2019 (can't remember if I took pictures the day they hatched), which roughly makes them around five months old. I think they have a little maturing to do, but otherwise are fully grown and looking gorgeous!

A picture of the boy when he was a baby, versus the other day.

And a picture of the girl as a baby, and then one of her the other day.

(Those were some visiting wild mallards in the back)

I was just thinking this morning of when they were younger...I kept them in our backyard instead of this open space behind our house to protect from the hawks (seeing I lost 2 of their siblings to hawks sadly) so they never really met the rest of my flock or had to eat with them. The first few times, after their mama didn't stick with them anymore, that I let them out back to eat they were so wary of the big adult ducks. They would run over to me and stick next to me until I'd go over and stand by a food bowl to scare the others off to let them eat. They were so stinkin' cute.