Da' Cute and Cuddly Call Duck thread!

[Amykins]

Oh jeez Jade, it's like the Pancake Incident all over again...

 

[Fizzgig]

ok, the blue fawn head tilt is the cutest thing.

She heard the shutter going and the result was the head tilt. Ducklings are the best photographic subjects they do not take a bad picture

 

[JadeComputerGal]

She heard the shutter going and the result was the head tilt. Ducklings are the best photographic subjects they do not take a bad picture

You have a lot better luck than do. Sometimes I'd swear there's a psychic message that goes through my whole flock, "Stand here and do nothing!" every time I think to get my camera out.

 

[Julie Birb]

Linny and her mommy

and one of her 'siblings'.

that's the cutest thing with the three of them at the feed dish together. Sweet birds.

 

[Julie Birb]

Here you go...

Reading your post made my day. It made me think back to my first duckling, one that my grandfather brought home for an Easter present when I was ten. I had no idea how to take care of a duck, and neither did he. He made the duckling a pen, put a water dish in it and some duckling feed, and that was it. From there, I was on my own. I think a lot of people who get their first duck(s) really don't know much about them, and it's a lot of fun to learn and to watch the antics of your very own first duck.

That duck became my best friend. He was a solitary duckling, so he imprinted and followed me everywhere like a puppy. He also followed the two dogs, and chihuahua and a toy poodle, everywhere like a puppy when I wasn't around, which they didn't appreciate. They ran from him and he'd run after them and nip their tails to try to get them to play, and they appreciated that even less. I don't think he ever made any duck noises after the first week. He barked like a dog because the dogs barked at him so much, and he even came to imitate something like a dog growling.

I wouldn't let him walk on rocks because I was afraid they'd hurt his feet, I stopped him from eating weeds because I thought they would poison him, I wouldn't let him walk up and down the steep hill in our backyard because I was afraid he'd go tumbling down and break his neck, on and on, yet I fed him horribly. Much of what I ate, he was welcome to eat as well if he liked it.

I usually ate on our back deck where I'd lie down on my stomach and read a book while I was eating. He ate right along with me, off the same dishes. He'd stick his bill in my cereal bowl and help me eat my coco krispies, froot loops, apple jacks, whatever. He'd eat the creamed peas and creamed corn off my dinner plate, which I appreciated since I hated both and my grandmother was none the wiser. He'd nibble on my cornbread, salmon croquettes, fried fish filets, pick the celery out of the potato salad, snatch the lettuce and tomatos off my cheeseburgers and tacos, and he loved my grandmothers apple pie.

Needless to say, this was all a terrible idea, but I didn't know any better. It's a wonder he even lived. Then it all came to a head one night when I had a big bowl of chili that I wasn't letting him eat, and I went back in the house to get some more milk. I came back out less than a minute later and he was sitting in my bowl of chili eating it as fast as he could get it down. I started screaming because I was afraid chili would kill him (she made chili really hot) and my grandmother ran outside and saw what had happened and scooped him out of my bowl and ran to the kitchen sink with him. He still had a chili bean clenched in his bill when she sat him down in the sink. It took us hours to get most of the chili out of his feathers, and he had an orange tint for two weeks afterward.

Man, those were really the days.

That is such a sweet story, Jade. Made me tear up. Sweet little thing eating chili inside the bowl.

 

[Fizzgig]

You have a lot better luck than do. Sometimes I'd swear there's a psychic message that goes through my whole flock, "Stand here and do nothing!" every time I think to get my camera out.

make sure you handle them every day. These shots were all taken in the palm of my hand.

 

[JadeComputerGal]

make sure you handle them every day. These shots were all taken in the palm of my hand.

We do handle them every day when they're ducklings. We don't have any ducklings right now. It doesn't scare our ducks or anything like that when I get a camera out. They just refuse to do whatever I'm trying to catch on "film." That's what happened with those videos I posted a few days ago in the video thread. The ducks usually shoot out of their brooding pens and into the air like rockets, but not that day when I remembered to capture it on video. They just kind of meandered out like it was no big deal, and most of them didn't even fly. They just walked to the edge of the deck and dropped off. Of course the next day, when I didn't have the camera with me, into the air they went. Sigh.

 

[Amykins]

Hey, I just noticed something on Bean that's pretty weird. I thought her legs were just peeling, but after weeks of having 'em there I was finally able to get a closer look and they're tiny feathers! Growing right out of her knees and shins! Has anyone else encountered a call duck who has that?

 

[Tevyes Dad]

Hey, I just noticed something on Bean that's pretty weird. I thought her legs were just peeling, but after weeks of having 'em there I was finally able to get a closer look and they're tiny feathers! Growing right out of her knees and shins! Has anyone else encountered a call duck who has that?

I know he isn't a call, but he's a drake... Tevye


If it's weird.... Tevye.

 

[Amykins]

These are actual tufts, tiny ones, but still fluffy nonetheless. I've never seen it! Wonder if she just has some genetic mutation or something. Her feathers themselves are kind of odd, she changes color seemingly with each molt, and right now the white patches on her head are longer than the black ones so she looks a bit like Ludvig Van Beethoven!