Help please?

[kelise]

Hi all

I am new to the forums and am looking for some advice. A month or so ago a lady stopped by our house (we have four large ponds on our property with wild geese, wild ducks and swamp birds- along with shetland ponies, 2 sheep and a goat!) to re-home a duckling she had bought her grandson as a christmas present. Unfortunately the duck was unwated by her grandson, so my partner took it upon himself to say yes to us having the duckling! Needless to say, it has made itself very at home here and has become part of the family.

My main question is- what breed of duck is it? And how do I go about sexing it?

It is 14 weeks old now, and is still making only a 'peeping' noise, which leads me to believe it is a drakeling (this opinion is only based on a little research I have done on here, a more informed decision can be made once I know what breed he/she is!).

It has no desire whatsoever to go into the ponds and interact with the wild birds, I am aware that this is because ducks 'imprint', and it thinks it is people!

If anyone has any advice whatsoever I would very much appreciate it!!

 

[kelise]

I did 'embed' an image on this post, but I cannot see it! I am trying again to upload one

 

[kelise]

 

[needlessjunk]

What does it look like? If it is a mallard derived breed (anything other than a Muscovy) a female will quack and males are raspy. Here is an example http://www.majesticwaterfowl.org/artquacks.htm also does he have curl in the tail feathers? If it is a Muscovy then that will not be the case.

Is the duck a house duck and inside with you? If so that is great since it's a lone duck. If not, you really do need to get him or her a friend. Ducks do not do well by themselves and can get quite depressed. It is great that you took him/her in. That is very sweet of you.

I would be concerned about him going out on a pond with other wild waterfowl. I can see that causing some issues. How will you get him to come back? Also wildlife can carry some diseases.

 

[Amiga]

I agree with needlessjunk, domestics are so different from the wild ones - a domestic duck buddy and protection from predators are so important.

 

[kelise]

Thanks so much for your advice needlessjunk and Amiga

I cannot seem to get an image to work on here, I might have a look around the forum for some instructions!

It has a pale pink bill and feet, and is growing white, black and the iridescent green feathers. Gorgeous colourings!

We had the duck inside with us while it was very small, for four weeks. We then moved it and its bed box into the shed which we leave open for it during the day. We are both at home all day as we work from home and spend a fair amount of the day outside. When we are inside, it spends time wandering around the yard with our three chickens (two black silkies and an isa brown). They get along exceptionally well, and our chickens are very tame and also follow us around when we are outside.

I did not think of diseases and will no longer allow it into the pond areas. It only ever goes over there if one of us do, and we have the areas fenced so this will stop the possibility of this happening.

I have been looking around to find a duck buddy for it, but as the woman who dropped the duck off bought it from interstate and not locally so I am not having much luck finding what seems to be a similar breed of duck in our area! I have made an appointment for the duck at our vets but this is not for another week and a half.

Thank you so much again guys and I will see if I can get a photo up!

 

[needlessjunk]

I'm betting you have a Muscovy with what you described. They are very pretty birds and don't quack like others which can explain why you are having trouble. As for finding a friend, you don't have to get the same breed. They really do much better when there is more than one, but it sounds like your chickens are subbing in at the moment.

I upload pics by clicking the picture looking button at the top of the reply/text area.

 

[kelise]

Thank you again needlessjunk as I thought, I have not posted enough to be allowed to post pictures!

As you seem to think I have a muscovy duck, do all muscovies have the red around the eyes/bill? My duck has no red but do they grow into them so to say lol?

Very helpful to know a duck buddy does not need to be the same breed. We will look into getting another soon but I will do a little research. We just couldn't turn away an abandoned animal! I was unsure if behavioural issues could cause different breeds to 'reject' companionship so to say.

 

[kelise]

Introducing my beautiful pet duck Ash!

 

[needlessjunk]

Introducing my beautiful pet duck Ash!

So very pretty! That is a Muscovy and since you aren't seeing the red bumps, I would venture to say it's a female. I Don't have muscovies so I am not an expert at all but you can ask about her on the Muscovy thread to find out all about that breed.