Duckling update, and a new addition ...

[acipolone]

Hello there!

The ducklings are just about a month old now and have most of their feathers. I have to say, there's some pretty looking ducks in this bunch. There's 9 in this photo. I think Tiny -- the littlest one that we didn't think was going to make it -- is getting squished behind the others.

They definitely have runner in them, or are at least heavily influenced by the runner mixes in there. They're all a bunch of giant spazzes, even after we've been handling them and staying around them. This is pretty much what they do a lot of:

We've been able to pull a couple out and in pairs they quiet down. They're just starting to discover their quacks, and it's hilarious to hear peep-peep-peep-HONK-HONK-peep-peep.

Today, though, we were driving to lunch and saw a puff ball with legs running around in the middle of the street. We caught the little guy, but there's no ducks anywhere near this. Since we have the brooder still sitting around, we're going to help it out until it gets some feathers and then try and release it again, I guess. It can't be more than a week old, given its size, otherwise we'd just let it stay outside.

I'm guessing mallard. K seems to think it could be a wood duck or a muscovy. There's lots of mallards and muscovies on the bayou not too far from here, but I'm guessing a muscovy would be larger. Wood ducks are common in Louisiana, though ... I suppose we'll just have to wait and see!

Once the 9 have their full set of feathers and a little more heft, we might try and see about mixing them in with the adults. Right now we have them separated. Any tips on making the introduction of young ducks go smoothly?

 

[xke4]

Mallard gets my vote. Wood ducks on left. Eye stripe ends at eye. Mallard on right. Eye stripe passes thru to the other side.

 

[froggie71]

Looks like a mallard to me as well. As far as introductions, we seperated our younger ducks from the adults in the duck house/run by chickwire. This way they could see each other, and get used to each other without anybody getting hurt. Seemed to do the trick as all have integrated well. We did let them free range together with supervision in the beginning, but no need to now. Good luck.

 

[acipolone]

Just a bit of an update!

Definitely a mallard.

Definitely female.

Her leg never really "righted" itself, so we don't think we'll be releasing her in the wild -- after too much running she limps a little, and eventually just plops herself down. And, from being handled so much, she's learned to not fear anything. She enjoys chasing the cats and nibbling on the dogs' feet.

Right after this picture was taken, she gave Barley a good nose nibble. He's still trying to figure out what she is.

Still haven't heard a solid quack out of her yet. She makes this soft little cooing sound almost. Is that typical for mallard females?

We tried to put her in with our other ducklings, but those runner mixes are so jumpy she (about half their size) was chasing all 9 around the pen. We'll see how that goes again in the future.

 

[ejctm]

She has got the beginnings of a green head - you might have a drake there! Mallards all look like females during their first feather, and then again the following year when they moult (I think only in winter), all the drakes look like females again. something about good camouflage during the non-breeding season.

We raised 12 mallards last year and the green head feathers were a bit of a giveaway, even though the rest of the feathers were brown.

 

[AdamD77]

Agree, it sounds like a male. If it's not quacking and is starting to get a green head then it'll be a boy, like ejctm said, they have their fluff, then they get their juvenile feathers which all look female, then the males turn their proper colour (but moult back to the female colours after the mating season). My male runner did this:

Fluffy

Feathers starting to come

Juvenile feathers (bit hard to see him)

Adult feathers

Any updates?

 

[ejctm]

I also remember reading somewhere about the feather ends - if pointy a male, and if rounded a female. Easier to see on the barred or pencilled colours. Have I got it the right way round? Would certainly fit with the green drake head colouring of this mallard as it has pointy feather ends.

Will bow to someone more knowledgeable.

 

[AdamD77]

Hmm, never heard that before but you're right they are pointed, shame there's not another one to compare with and see if you're theory is correct!