MelodicCreation
Hatching
- May 6, 2015
- 6
- 1
- 7
Hello,
I have a khaki Campbell duck who has suddenly started nesting, but I'm worried/unsure of whether her partner is male or female - I'll give a little background.
When the pair were ducklings, the white Campbell seemed to have a problem with her breathing, but after trying antibiotics and worming to ensure she had no respiratory infections or worms in her respiratory system, the only answer her vet could give us was that maybe she was born with her lungs slightly too far apart. It's actually quite visible in her now that she's older, her chest puffs out far further than the Khaki who is much more slender, but they're both happy, especially her regardless of being slightly weaker.
With that in mind, I thought it was normal that she might not quack properly. She does try to quack loudly but can't seem to get much power behind it like her sister does.
I'm wondering if maybe I've been mistaken on that and she could actually be a male!
The khaki has laid 16 eggs in a nest box that she had no interest in until recently, we've worked it out that she must be laying 1 - 2 eggs a day and we only noticed her in there in the past two days properly, I guess she must have been sneakily getting in when it was dark and making sure she was out by dawn when we let them out into their run lol
The reason I'm confused about whether the white Campbell is male is also because the eggs were always just dropped in the middle of their house over night, so we've never actually seen her lay one.
That being said we've never seen any signs of mating between them either. They're inseparable, and if anything the khaki was always the more aggressive of the two, and would nip at the other's feathers when she was younger, we were almost convinced she would be the male.
I read some forums and duck advice sites that made it sound as though ducks knew whether or not their eggs were alive, and would leave the nest if they weren't. I've never had ducks before these two, only hens. Have I misunderstood that information? Is it more that after a few weeks if the eggs aren't hatching they will realise that they aren't going to and then leave, the same way that hens do?
I have a khaki Campbell duck who has suddenly started nesting, but I'm worried/unsure of whether her partner is male or female - I'll give a little background.
When the pair were ducklings, the white Campbell seemed to have a problem with her breathing, but after trying antibiotics and worming to ensure she had no respiratory infections or worms in her respiratory system, the only answer her vet could give us was that maybe she was born with her lungs slightly too far apart. It's actually quite visible in her now that she's older, her chest puffs out far further than the Khaki who is much more slender, but they're both happy, especially her regardless of being slightly weaker.
With that in mind, I thought it was normal that she might not quack properly. She does try to quack loudly but can't seem to get much power behind it like her sister does.
I'm wondering if maybe I've been mistaken on that and she could actually be a male!
The khaki has laid 16 eggs in a nest box that she had no interest in until recently, we've worked it out that she must be laying 1 - 2 eggs a day and we only noticed her in there in the past two days properly, I guess she must have been sneakily getting in when it was dark and making sure she was out by dawn when we let them out into their run lol
The reason I'm confused about whether the white Campbell is male is also because the eggs were always just dropped in the middle of their house over night, so we've never actually seen her lay one.
That being said we've never seen any signs of mating between them either. They're inseparable, and if anything the khaki was always the more aggressive of the two, and would nip at the other's feathers when she was younger, we were almost convinced she would be the male.
I read some forums and duck advice sites that made it sound as though ducks knew whether or not their eggs were alive, and would leave the nest if they weren't. I've never had ducks before these two, only hens. Have I misunderstood that information? Is it more that after a few weeks if the eggs aren't hatching they will realise that they aren't going to and then leave, the same way that hens do?