Dirty Duck Thread - Add your own pics!

[Miss Lydia]

We are getting lots of rain here so all the duckies are very happy with my flooded yard. Swimming in the garden... Check
Non stop drilling... Check
Grass hanging from bills... Check



With as much rain and flooding we get here in TX I'm glad I never went with chickens.

Looks like you have a nice pond started there. it's heading this way so we'll look like that in the next couple of days. I like the grass hanging off the bill looks very impressive.

 

[Tevyes Dad]

We are getting lots of rain here so all the duckies are very happy with my flooded yard. Swimming in the garden... Check
Non stop drilling... Check
Grass hanging from bills... Check



With as much rain and flooding we get here in TX I'm glad I never went with chickens.

Wow! I just really noticed with that last picture, you have as mixed up a flock as we do

. I know lots of people have several of 1 or 2 breeds and maybe they got them for a purpose (eggs, meat, pest control). But as pets, I am really glad we went with a mix. It makes them seem more individual. So I see... Welsh Harlequin, Cayuga, Crested Pekin, Buff, Blue Runner Faun & White Runner. Am I right?

 

[needlessjunk]

Looks like you have a nice pond started there. it's heading this way so we'll look like that in the next couple of days. I like the grass hanging off the bill looks very impressive.

They were loving the "pond". Soon it will have plants in it and be fenced off

Wow! I just really noticed with that last picture, you have as mixed up a flock as we do .  I know lots of people have several of 1 or 2 breeds and maybe they got them for a purpose (eggs, meat, pest control).  But as pets, I am really glad we went with a mix.  It makes them seem more individual.  So I see... Welsh Harlequin, Cayuga, Crested Pekin, Buff, Blue Runner Faun & White Runner. Am I right?

I love my mixed flock and would love to get one of each breed. You almost got it right. I have a Welsh Harlequin, White Layer, Blue Runner, Fawn and White Runner, Cayuga and White Crested. I am dying for a Magpie and Blue or Black Swedish but I have to stop I love your flock though! They all have different personalities and quirks.

 

[Tevyes Dad]

They were loving the "pond". Soon it will have plants in it and be fenced off

I love my mixed flock and would love to get one of each breed. You almost got it right. I have a Welsh Harlequin, White Layer, Blue Runner, Fawn and White Runner, Cayuga and White Crested. I am dying for a Magpie and Blue or Black Swedish but I have to stop

I love your flock though! They all have different personalities and quirks.

Arrg! Our white crested (from Metzer) is longer and leaner and more upright than yours so I thought it might actually be a regular Pekin with the crested gene. I guess there is a lot of variation there. And of course the white layer is a Metzer special (looked more fawny in the picture and I don't have one

).

I absolutely love my Swedish and that was a surprise! They were the bullys of the brooder and didn't like to come out and play with us at all. Now they are two of the more social ducks. As time passes this is becoming less of a distinction (almost all the ducks are reaching one year and it seems every month they are all a little more social.) Today for the first time my Blue Swedish and Cayuga tried to fly/climb (that is climbing with the aid of wing flapping - flimb?) up my leg into my lap when I was sitting in a regular height chair! - The knee was as far as they got.

I don't know anything about Magpies except they are pretty, but we have enough the the actual bird around here

As for the personalities and quirks - tons! It is very hard for me to say who is my favorite because the answer is really the one who is currently behaving in their own special way. But it is easy to point out the loudest, friendliest, sweetest, boldest, shyest, most opinionated, chattiest, dizziest... etc.

Another benefit of having a mixed flock is friends and family can tell who is who and might observe some of the traits so when you comment on them they don't look at you like the crazy duck person.

 

[Jen1979]

Another benefit of having a mixed flock is friends and family can tell who is who and might observe some of the traits so when you comment on them they don't look at you like the crazy duck person.

Haha! My mum looked after our house when we were on holidays for a month and got me to make a sheet for her with pictures of each chicken and duck with their names next to it so she knew who was who. Now when they come over my dad still gets in trouble for not knowing. Mum to dad: "NO, that's Princess not Marshmallow, look at the different shade of orange in their bills! Honestly, will you even be able to tell your grandchildren apart??" Makes me feel a whole lot less crazier

 

[needlessjunk]

Haha! My mum looked after our house when we were on holidays for a month and got me to make a sheet for her with pictures of each chicken and duck with their names next to it so she knew who was who. Now when they come over my dad still gets in trouble for not knowing. Mum to dad: "NO, that's Princess not Marshmallow, look at the different shade of orange in their bills! Honestly, will you even be able to tell your grandchildren apart??" Makes me feel a whole lot less crazier

Lol! See we aren't crazy!

 

[Jen1979]

Lol! See we aren't crazy!

Not one bit

 

[Tevyes Dad]

Haha! My mum looked after our house when we were on holidays for a month and got me to make a sheet for her with pictures of each chicken and duck with their names next to it so she knew who was who. Now when they come over my dad still gets in trouble for not knowing. Mum to dad: "NO, that's Princess not Marshmallow, look at the different shade of orange in their bills! Honestly, will you even be able to tell your grandchildren apart??" Makes me feel a whole lot less crazier

That example must be from your chickens... Your ducks are easy to tell apart

We just have one like that: Tella and Ettie are both Rouen girls. Every 3 months it seems we have to find a new "easy" way to tell them apart. From personality it is easy... if they are interacting with us. The one concrete difference is Tella has a tiny pin-hole in the web of her left foot between the outer and middle toe. You can see it easily from 2 feet away if she isn't laying on it, or facing the other way or moving.

Today, the easy identifiers are Ettie has a small white spot in the middle of her chest and has some orange at the corners of her bill. She also seems a bit lighter overall, but that only helps if they are together in the same light. Don't fix on any of those things though, that can change over time. In fact the lines on their faces are always different... from each other and from yesterday. This weekend we are finally going to put a leg band on Ettie so we can tell the difference on the cameras. What was that about crazy?

 

[Tevyes Dad]

I love my mixed flock and would love to get one of each breed. You almost got it right. I have a Welsh Harlequin, White Layer, Blue Runner, Fawn and White Runner, Cayuga and White Crested. I am dying for a Magpie and Blue or Black Swedish but I have to stop

I love your flock though! They all have different personalities and quirks.

And a great part about your flock: even though you don't have any repeats, you have more than 1 runner. My runners usually break off in 3s (funny because I have 4). Any grouping of 3 of them will zip off from the flock for a bit. Either that or Noir & Mystique (sisters) will break off then Dove and Entie either do their own thing or stay with the flock. Runners with runners is great entertainment. Especially when they get into the high-speed jabbering back and forth.

 

[Jen1979]

That example must be from your chickens... Your ducks are easy to tell apart   We just have one like that: Tella and Ettie are both Rouen girls.  Every 3 months it seems we have to find a new "easy" way to tell them apart.  From personality it is easy... if they are interacting with us.  The one concrete difference is Tella has a tiny pin-hole in the web of her left foot between the outer and middle toe.  You can see it easily from 2 feet away if she isn't laying on it, or facing the other way or moving.   Today, the easy identifiers are Ettie has a small white spot in the middle of her chest and has some orange at the corners of her bill.  She also seems a bit lighter overall, but that only helps if they are together in the same light.  Don't fix on any of those things though, that can change over time.  In fact the lines on their faces are always different... from each other and from yesterday.  This weekend we are finally going to put a leg band on Ettie so we can tell the difference on the cameras.  What was that about crazy?

Ha! Yep, we think it's easy to tell them apart - of the 4 white ducks we have now luckily 2 of them have dark orange bills and there is one boy, one girl - Princess is the smallest of everyone and is the most vague ditzy duck I've ever seen and Duck Norris is tall and has his curly drake feather.
Then we have 2 whites with pinkish bills - one is big bossy Marshmallow and one is our 8 week old male Quackmire - they're going to look similar if he isn't sporting a drake tail, but Marshmallow has just started developing spots on her bill. Phew
Coco is nice and easy because she's the only chocolate! But now we have the 2 new ducks....poor dad will need some flash cards to study at home I think

He can't even get the chickens names right and they are all different! The other day he tried...he said "oh, this one is Henry isn't it?". Henry. We don't have a chicken named Henry. We don't even have a rooster. Henry the female chicken apparently. Lol