Fall Dumped Ducklings. Not a Recipe!

[quackiemama]

That is so awesome @WannaBeHillBilly. I just love Blanca!

 

[johntfs]

Chicken people and ducks are compatible in the right circumstances! I have chickens and ducks. Absolutely love both.

It’s the ones that don’t realize what a mess they can make that have the most issues.

That's why I cheerfully despise the "Easter Duckling" people.

"Hey, let's get the kids a cute little baby duckie like in those adorable You-Tube video!"

"Oops. Why did the two day old duckling die overnight here in our 72 degree temperature home?"

"Right. Heat lamp. OMG! Our house is filled with duck shit!"

"Bye-bye little duckie, make lots of new duck friends here at the par- Oops, the other ducks just murdered it."

For those that can handle it, ducks and chicken are a good mix. Broody chickens can help hatch duck eggs.

 

[johntfs]

I love that you speak to your ducks in German!

They’ll warm up to you. My runners took a while to Get comfortable but they came around.

That reminds me of a quote from somewhere:

"Every day, tell the people around you that they are loved, because life is good."

"But when you do, scream it at them in German because life is also confusing and terrifying."

 

[johntfs]

And here is the first video, the second one is still uploading.

Your first flock looks like they're visiting they're visiting the newbies at some kind of duck zoo.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Second Video, full 10 Minutes long, at ~ 7:45 i was about to step in.
Good that i keep them separate…

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

The fawn and white runners, are they male or female? Do you have pictures of the resulting babies? Sounds like chocolate, which makes sense as fawn and white is a chocolate color. If the fawn and white runners are the moms, then the dad has to be carrying chocolate.

However, I believe for fawn, the color is supposed to be homozygous for the blue dilution gene, so really if they are a true fawn, you shouldn't be able to get just chocolate ducklings from them. The ducklings should be at least lilac.

These are the babies! - They were babies 6 weeks ago at my neighbors house…

One of the Runner Ducknagers is definitely a girl, she quacks-a-lot. The other one might be a drake, very silent and a wider bill and head.
Two of the others are the result of a Black Swedish/Magpie duck with either a F&W Runner or a Buff Orpington Drake.
And the last one, the brown duck with the white bib that looks like a Duclair drake… ?
Mom's could be Fawn & White Runner, Black Swedish/Magpie, Buff Orpington or White Layer. Available Dads are again Fawn&White Runner and Buff Orpington.

I need to write a computer program for Duck Genetics, like an evil scientist…

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

That's actually kind of concerning. How do they behave when they're around you? Do they retreat or otherwise seem afraid of you? The panic thing makes me think they were maybe abused - or just harshly disciplined by their former owners.

I doubt there's anything that can be done about it, especially if the abuse was emotional instead of physical, but it might be something to keep in mind if they decide to try to get duck eggs from you again.

That's exactly what i think too.
They try to get away from me as far away as possible and show all signs of fear, trying to climb on each other like you would expect from days old ducklings.
I just bring them treats, talk calmly to them and sit by there house, handing out treats to the other ducks and they observe. Maybe if they see that the other ducks are trusting me they come around. What else can i do?

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Merry Christma y'all from the HillBilly and the Ducks!

The Ducknager went into the water bowl today with me sitting beside:

The drakenagers are still a bit shy though.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

I scared all my ducks to death today!
Had the only pumpkin i grew this year still in the cold cellar and though i give it to the ducks as a Christmas lunch. Cut it in quarters and laid three of those around the Ducknagers run and one inside.
WOOOSH! - Alls ducks gone as soon as they spotted those bright orange things in my hands. Evil duck eating pumpkin quarters! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE! QUACK!
.
.
.
Fortunately i also brought a container with some cat-kibbles with me, so i sat down at the Ducknagers house and rattled. And rattled. Rattled again. - First duck to came out of hiding was - no not Blanca Duck - Maggie Duck had her brave day and got rewarded big time! She crawled (literally!) towards me, using every single leaf of grass as cover, snatched some cat food and ran away. WHEEW! SURVIVED!
Let's try that again! Sneaking towards that humon with the yummy treats…
What is doing now?! - He's feeding our treats to those evil orange Duck eaters! Oh no! They don't deserve that! That's our's! Give that to me you evil, yummy tasting, orange thing. Yumm!
And she started to devour the soft inside of the pumpkin, seeds included. When Maggie started with the second quarter, Blanca had seen enough and switched to "Kugelblitz" mode. Who duck could have known that those orange things aren't meant to eat ducks, but to be eaten! Finally three pumpkin quarters gone in no time!
Still the Ducknager weren't convinced and pushed their butts through the fence to be as far away from the evil orange as possible - Well until Earthquack and Bazilla decided to test if ducknager butts are tasty too… - Squeek! Squeek! Quax! Squeek! - Number five escaped Bazillas bite in the very last moment and they all ran to the other side of the run. - Oh no! Evil orange thing! - Run! - Humon! - Run again! In the end all five were running around the water bowl until one stumbled, fell and the other four piled up on top…
I swear even the ducks were laughing!

In the end i slowly walked away from the house to give them a chance to calm down, they were panting in panic!
And by the time i locked them up for the night they also had eaten their pumpkin. Other than the grown up's, the ducknagers venture inside their house when it starts to get dark, i only have to serve them their dinner into the house and lock the door.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Did the ducknagers get any snow @WannaBeHillBilly? We ended up with about 2 inches Tuesday...just enough to make a mess and close school

Video from yesterday is uploading…
We got about 10cm (~2½") of snow yesterday and it stuck over night. Today it is snow with a thin crust of ice on top and the Duckies are completely mad about it: No digging at all and the ground is still frozen too. This is what it looked like: