Female call duck lost her mate

[dbrennan]

I adopted a pair of approx. two year old call ducks late summer from a woman who had to give up her country home. The male had deformed feet but got along quite well. He died last month and now his mate is trying to fly off. Before she was content to stay in the yard with the chickens and geese. I now keep her in a good sized out door pen with shelter, fresh water and a couple of chickens for company.

Can I get her a new mate or would it be best for me to rehome to someone who has a flock of domesticated call ducks. She is so sweet, can pick her up, follows us around and talks a blue streak. I am located in East Central MN.

 

[ThePolishPrincess]

Hmm...if you would like to keep her, perhaps instead of just getting her a mate you can also get her a few gal friends? This is why when I get any sort of animal, I prefer to get 3 or more. If ever I lost one, I wouldn't have an issue where someone else feels very lonely. I'd also think that if you only had one male the female may be over-mated and it ends up being stress when there are other girls in the picture.

Your female is probably scared and instinct is telling her that there is safety in numbers-numbers of only her species alone. So she'd prefer to go AWOL. She wants some ducky friends. If you can get your hands on some calls soon, I'd do it. Just make sure you keep the two 'flocks' separated for at least a month or so before putting all of the ducks together. Quarentine is important. I, personally, am very greedy with my animals. I wouldn't give up any without trying everything in my power first.

 

[dbrennan]

I would prefer to keep her. She is adorable and so lovable but because she keeps trying to fly off and crashes into the snow, I have had to keep her penned instead of out with the chickens and geese during the day.. It makes me sad to have to lock her in but I'm afraid she is trying to get to the river which is through the woods and then I would lose her for good. I'll see if I can get some other ducks although it's very cold and snowy now here in MN and seems a hard time to bring more ducks into the fold. Thanks for your ideas. She used to go fishing with her previous owner who would keep the little male in the boat. Daphne would fly around and land and swim until it was time to go home and then she would fly back to the boat.

 

[Chickenaddict]

Awwww she sounds so sweet! I have a pair of call ducks f/s if you are interested. The drake is snowy and the hen looks like she may be a call cross chocolate in color. Neither are very tame but I have taught them to come when I call them. I want to keep them but to be honest they are a bit too messy for me and have been picking on the roosters here. If your interested PM me and I'll send you some pics. I am not far from you and will be driving to cambridge tomorrow morning to pick up some serama hens.

 

[Ducks-R-Us]

I have some extra male call ducks if you need one. However, I must be a couple hundred miles from you. Try putting an add on craigslist that you want a male call, I bet you would get some responses from your area.