Duck Talk

[DaffytheDuck20]

Yes, she’s a girl! I went with food names for most everyone, because I didn’t know their genders, either. This year’s ducklings were all candy and fruit names, Laffy Taffy being the first Here’s her as a duckling,
View attachment 3982909

So cute!!

 

[DaffytheDuck20]

I don’t have ducks but I’m tagging along for the pictures

All good!

 

[Papaye]

Hi.

Very cute! I also have duclairs and I just love them!

Thank you.

Here are my five 3-months-old Duclair ducks :

I had to get rid of 3 drakelets recently, and I have eventually kept :
• 1 Bibbed Splash Duclair drake,
• 1 Bibbed Blue Duclair drake,
• 3 Bibbed Black Duclair hens.

My Splash coloured drake is my favorite among my Duclair ducks.
I find him so beautiful I actually named him Beau...

I am waiting for him to entirely get in his adult plumage : in my opinion, he just looks like liquid silver; and so, is much too pretty to not keep home...!

(I now hope to be lucky enough to get White coloured Duclair ducks among my next Duclair ducklings...
And if I can : next year, I plan to buy Bibbed Brown Duclair ducks eggs to a breeder I know who has developped them...!!)

 

[CoriM]

I have learned something new! I just assumed Duclairs were all white, since that's what I have. Your black ones look just like my Black Swedish. All your ducks are very beautiful!

 

[Papaye]

I have learned something new!

What I do very often... ah, ah!

I just assumed Duclairs were all white, since that's what I have.

Your Duclair ducks are White because they are a re-created breed.

My Duclair ducks are the real, actual French ones...
(Duclair ducks are originated from Normandie, FRANCE...)
...and they are supposed to be (Bibbed) Black ducks.

"Supposed", because other colours exist :
• (Bibbed) Blue is an approved colour by the standard, but Blue Duclair ducks are rarer than Black ones,
• (Bibbed) Brown is apparently being approved, but still very much rare,
• (Bibbed) Splash exists - because "Blue x Blue" means 25% of the ducklings will be Splash -, but the colour is not approved,
• White is said to represent 17% of the ducklings... but is also not approved.

I know of someone who has developed the Brown version of Duclair ducks...
...but these ducks don't have the green head you could think they do if you know about the pictures of the Chocolate coloured ducks they mistakenly say are Duclair ducks on the Internet (these ducks are NOT Duclair ducks!).

(Don't trust what the English version of Duclair ducks Wikipedia page says about the breed : there is some nonsense written there...)

Your black ones look just like my Black Swedish.

They do!
...Though they are not related...

But still, since they kind of look alike : not long ago, I had been searching pictures of Splash coloured Swedish drake to know what my Splash Duclair boy will look like once his adult plumage has entirely emerged...!!
(Because I had not been able to find any picture of Splash Duclair ducks on the Internet!!)

All your ducks are very beautiful!

Yours are too!!

Your White Duclair ducks are so cute... just woooooow...!!
(Duclair is a beautiful breed, but the ducks wear so well their white plumage...!!)

How old is your Black Swedish?
She has white feathers emerging almost everywhere on her body, so what... is she at her second or third adult molt, maybe?

 

[CoriM]

I see you are from France! I guess that's how you got the originals! I love learning this new information.

My black Swedish in the photo is just over one year and just completed her first full molt and grew back a lot of white feathers!

 

[CoriM]

Will your black Duclairs also grow more white as they age? I have one other black Swedish and she still is mostly black and just gorgeous!

 

[Papaye]

I see you are from France! I guess that's how you got the originals!

Yep!

I have bought the eggs online...
...but only after the seller had assured me he had NOT vaccinated any of his birds against Avian Influenza!

My black Swedish in the photo is just over one year and just completed her first full molt and grew back a lot of white feathers!

That's amazing!!

Among my solid coloured ducks, I own a 2-and-a-half-years-old Black Indian Runner hen I am soooooo waiting to go white, but... she takes her sweet time (to whiten)!

Will your black Duclairs also grow more white as they age?

They will.

From my understanding : all the solid coloured ducks do whiten with age, and more so the girls than the boys...

It is also said "the shinier ducks are the quicker to whiten", but... some people say that is not true, so I actually don't know if we can trust this information or not...?

I have one other black Swedish and she still is mostly black and just gorgeous!

Is she the same age?

(Apparently, some duck can become almost completely white at their first adult molt...!!)

 

[CoriM]

Both my black Swedish were born in May 2023. Here is my other girl, completely black last summer, and then one of her now and you can see she's gotten some white on her sides. It will be interesting to see just how white they get. Ducks are just the best!

 

[CoriM]

Hi.



Thank you.

Here are my five 3-months-old Duclair ducks :

View attachment 3983590

I had to get rid of 3 drakelets recently, and I have eventually kept :
• 1 Bibbed Splash Duclair drake,
• 1 Bibbed Blue Duclair drake,
• 3 Bibbed Black Duclair hens.

View attachment 3983591

My Splash coloured drake is my favorite among my Duclair ducks.
I find him so beautiful I actually named him Beau...

I am waiting for him to entirely get in his adult plumage : in my opinion, he just looks like liquid silver; and so, is much too pretty to not keep home...!

View attachment 3983592

(I now hope to be lucky enough to get White coloured Duclair ducks among my next Duclair ducklings...
And if I can : next year, I plan to buy Bibbed Brown Duclair ducks eggs to a breeder I know who has developped them...!!)

Is the Splash colored on the lighter gray?