Duck Behavior questions...

[Pet Duck Boy]

Hey all, I haven't posted in a few days. So I might as well make a new thread regarding a couple questions about my pet duck Sunny.

First, what does head/neck vibrating mean? Sunny will do it whenever someone she doesn't know touches her. She'll do it on occasion to me. Is it a dominance/pecking order related thing? Sometimes when I start petting her, she'll vibrate her head and almost "hold the anger in". She'll then find the closest person and will attempt to jump on them...? She does it more at places she doesn't go very often, she won't do it in my backyard. But she'll do it in my house or at the park.

Next is wing twitching. Sunny is my first duck, so I don't know if this is normal or not. She'll kind of move or twitch her wings. Sometimes she does it like mad, and other times she doesn't do it for days. Is it something to be concerned about? I've seen Nettie's duck doing it in one of her videos. Is it normal?

 

[Duck_feeder]

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That's normal behavior. I'm not sure why they do it, but all of our ducks do it once in a while.

Next is wing twitching. Sunny is my first duck, so I don't know if this is normal or not. She'll kind of move or twitch her wings. Sometimes she does it like mad, and other times she doesn't do it for days. Is it something to be concerned about? I've seen Nettie's duck doing it in one of her videos. Is it normal?

Again, it's normal behavior. I'm sure they do it for reasons other than being happy but it's a perfectly normal happy duck activity.​

 

[lovesduckies]

me female does both too. she shakes when i hold her or when she is near my dad whom she doesn't like and she twitches usually when she gets out of the bathtub.

 

[duckyfromoz]

I love the head vibrating thing they do. It can be to do with dominance. They are trying to assert some authority in a situation they feel a little nervous about I think. Mine do it alot.
If I am outside doing something in the garden Monty will sneak up to me stand in fromt of me..do the vibrating thing then and next thing I know he has his head up over my shoulder and is rummaging his beak in my hair. Most of my ducks have done this at some stage.

As for the wing twitching I see that often too. Especially after they have had a swim and preened. Its almost like they have a feather out of place and is tickling them..so they do a little wing twich to stop the tickle.

 

[lovesduckies]

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HAHAHA monty is is cute. and i love how you said it's like they have a feather tickling them. that's funny. that's what quackers looks like too. she walks around with her wings twitching. haha it's funny.

 

[Birdcrazy]

mine do it too (usually the wing twitching thing when they are grooming themselves). when my girl scovie is sitting with me sometimes she does the vibrating thing on my arm, its so cute, and my drake starts doing it too when he gets cuddley. has anyone also noticed that ducks seem to really like when they are resting their beak in your closed hand? my ducks go to sleep with their beak in my hand

maybe its the warmth?

 

[lovesduckies]

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my mussies used to fall asleep to my hand over their heads when they were babies. but not so much anymore. my drake likes to lay his head on my hand now or on my bed when i am laying down. my little girl likes me from a distance lol. she's a brat.

 

[xxSonja]

I was wonding about the same thing just yesterday...
My ducks do the head and neck vibrating thing too, and it really does look like they are doing the "so frustrated but trying really hard to hold in the anger shake" but they do it to my little dog and then attept to launch themselves at him and try to climb over him. lol poor lil guy
They also do that 'wing twitch' after grooming aswell, it kinda reminds me of those guys that can flex their pec muscles so that they 'dance' lol

 

[Miss Dottie]

Mine do that too sometimes. I find that they do it most often if they seem to feel threatened. If you approach them from above their head, they may feel an instinct to be afraid because most all of their predators will come from above and over them. I find that if they see my hand in front of them or to their sides, they are more receptive and don't do the head vibrating thing. I think it is instinct and them feeling threatened, but I could be wrong.

 

[priss]

Hi, I know this is an old thread but my little call duck girl Doogie has just started this vibratey head thing. When I first saw her do it I was terrified it was a stroke or something but she is nomming away quite happily. Only problem is that she immediately after attacks the other two calls. Now when they see her head shake they are attacking first. What is going on? Should I let them all sleep in the same hut tonight or are they going to attack each other? They haven't attcked each other before and we have had them a year. They are all girls. Now I'm all worried. Help, guys?