Ducks about to fly away??

[ChickenPerson]

Hi I have three ducks mallard and silver swedish. When I came home I saw a duck egg in a chicken nest. Their was no walk board to it. The duck had to fly. Also sometimes they fly 2 feet off the ground. Besides the silver swedish male. He's chubby. They are flapping their wings a lot. Its almost migrating season. Are they gonna fly away?

 

[4-H chicken shower]

Hey, my uncle has free range ducks they fly around all the time but never out of the yard. Yours should be fine but if you have a closed in chicken yard you may want to put them in there for the migration months

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

The Swedish won't be able to fly away. The mallards - it depends highly how »at home« the feel at you. If they feel safe and comfortable, they will stay. Many wild Mallards stay over the winter in public parks (where they're stuffed with bread) if it is not too cold.

 

[MillersFarm]

Can you post pictures of your "mallards" ? A lot of people will confuse a mallard and a rouen and assume they're both the same thing. If they are rouens they wont be able to fly off(Too fat to) and probably wouldn't want to if fed regularly. Mallards Might take off, Although I'd doubt they will if you raised them as ducklings up to adults..

 

[chickens really]

Ducks actually prefer cooler temps so they are just excited and flapping wings to warm up.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Can you post pictures of your "mallards" ? A lot of people will confuse a mallard and a rouen and assume they're both the same thing. If they are rouens they wont be able to fly off(Too fat to) and probably wouldn't want to if fed regularly. Mallards Might take off, Although I'd doubt they will if you raised them as ducklings up to adults..

Good point!

 

[CrazyCrttr75]

I picked up some ducks from my local Tractor Supply. They are almost 4 months old now. I thought I was grabbing 3 Rouen. As they grew one wasn't growing like the others. She was so much smaller. I figured that it must have been a runt. More time goes on and I was concerned about the pretty significant size difference between the 3. It looked like I had a Large (turned out to be a drake), a Medium (turned out to be a female) and the Small. After more research, I discovered that she (yes she is female) turned out to be a Domesticated Mallard. That was the reason for the size difference. They are 1/2 the size and weight of Rouens. Another way to tell the difference is the small Mallards will have a back toe removed on one of their feet which is required for any that are sold domestically. My little Luna loves to take a fly around the yard. I think she just likes to stretch her wings. Sometimes she will just do a circle around, like in the video. Sometimes she likes to visit the chicken side of the yard because, well, sometimes the grass just looks greener I guess LOL. She has gotten better in her landing and she loves to land back on the ducks side of the yard and splash down in to her pool.

 

[sourland]

Hatchery bred/produced mallards are so far from wild that they have no migratory instinct. If something spooks them and they do fly away, they may become lost and unable to find their way back home.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

I picked up some ducks from my local Tractor Supply. They are almost 4 months old now. I thought I was grabbing 3 Rouen. As they grew one wasn't growing like the others. She was so much smaller. I figured that it must have been a runt. More time goes on and I was concerned about the pretty significant size difference between the 3. It looked like I had a Large (turned out to be a drake), a Medium (turned out to be a female) and the Small. After more research, I discovered that she (yes she is female) turned out to be a Domesticated Mallard. That was the reason for the size difference. They are 1/2 the size and weight of Rouens. Another way to tell the difference is the small Mallards will have a back toe removed on one of their feet which is required for any that are sold domestically. My little Luna loves to take a fly around the yard. I think she just likes to stretch her wings. Sometimes she will just do a circle around, like in the video. Sometimes she likes to visit the chicken side of the yard because, well, sometimes the grass just looks greener I guess LOL. She has gotten better in her landing and she loves to land back on the ducks side of the yard and splash down in to her pool.

Yes, that's definitely a mallard female! As @sourland said, the hatchery bred mallards have lost most of their instincts and won't migrate. Three of my four Indian Runners, the females, have recently started to take short flights too. Nothing compared to Luna, but much faster than running down the hill to get the treats. And yes, we're still working on those landing techniques, we have just achieved the belly flop without ground looping…

 

[casportpony]

If I have one I think might fly too far it gets it's wings clipped. Ducks can fly over fences and not figure out how to get home, they can fly into yards with duck eating dogs, or they can fly in front of cars. I clip wings on all Call ducks and Mallards, and on some rouge Muscovy hens.
Watch this video: