How did you end up with ducks?

[BelovedBirds]

I tried hatching store eggs, started with quail eggs, when I lost my single lockdown chick, I did some research, and decided to jump head first into ducks. Went to the store, got some duck eggs (a year ago today!) one started developing, I confirmed that on my birthday. So I went and got 6 more the day after. Two started developing, one quit. Two eggs left.
Well, they hatched, one on Christmas day (Dougie) and one on the 29th December (Sprightly). And now Im a duck mum. They'll be one year old soon. It was pretty impulsive, but I dont regret a thing.
I cant wait to expand my flock!

Right now they have a pen covered by tarp, they have a duck house inside. Its pretty simple, but they're happy.

 

[Daphne_loves_mealworms]

6 years ago, we moved to a house in a very rural area with a nice barn. Hubby and I weren’t actively looking for a way to fill the barn, but we had our ears open. 5 years ago, we heard through a family member in a different part of the country that someone in our state was looking to rehome “wild” ducks as they were moving.

We were interested enough to check it out, and discovered that the real story was that a man had had multiple Fisher attacks and only had two surviving ducks who he had decided to rehome for their safety. There was a fat gentle Pekin called Margie, and a scrawny nervous Rouen called Daphne.

We brought them home. Daphne flourished and became the leader.

Margie unexpectedly died in early summer, leaving Daphne heartbroken. Hubby went on an emergency search for friends for Daphne, and came home with two Muscovy ducklings.

After initially terrorizing Daphne (and earning their names “Goon 1” and “Goon 2”, the 3 became a happy trio.

2 years ago, the Muscovies became rough with Daphne over the winter. We adopted 2 additional Rouens (Matilda and Puddleduck) to give Daphne backup. Puddles sadly met her end due to a bobcat. However, Matilda bonded closely with Daphne, and there was once again peace within my little flock.

And that’s how we ended up with Daphne, Matilda, and the Goons!

 

[picklestheduck]

It all started with my dad and I going to the feed store and buying chicks on impulse, aaaaand we threw in some ducklings. What started as a simple no big deal thing, quickly turned into a lot of work, but I didn’t mind. I fell in love with them instantly, and although I love my chickens, ducks are just different. Their personalities are incredibly unique with each bird, and they are so amusing to observe. It’s become quite the journey, with ups and downs and bumps along the way. I’ve brought two ducklings who were as good as dead in many peoples eyes back to life, and fought a bumblefoot battle for over a year with my poor pekin Munchkin. I’ve kept a duckling alongside my bed for over a month, because it was lonely and sickly, and he had to know I was near or would endlessly peep. I got up overnight to feed and clean him up, and give him vitamin b. I love being able to help, and I’ve been told several times that the critter I’m trying to help is “too far gone”. I’ve proved them wrong time and time again. I had no idea what journey I had started when I brought home four little duckling from the feed store that day. I now have 12 thriving ducks whom I love dearly. They each have very unique traits and personalities. I’ve even picked a few up off Facebook marketplace because they needed a new home. The poor ducks had never been swimming before, and I was very grateful to be able to give them their first deep water experience. *knock on wood* I have yet to loose one, but I know they won’t live forever. I’m forever grateful to have my babies. I’m obsessed with ducks now. We moved recently, and someone asked me if that meant I would get rid of my birds. I said “no way!”. They are part of the family now. The only time we could move them was in the middle of the night…. So, we had a horse trailer ready, with deep shavings in it and a few crates for special needs birds, and we hauled them to the new house in the middle of the night. They are my kids, what else would I do for them?

 

[Painted Calls]

I was bullied by @Conan. I can't thank her enough.

 

[Luv Ducks]

Beautiful Ducks and they are soooooo lucky to have you!!!!!

 

[AngelinaThePekin8]

I don't know why exactly we got my older ducks I was too young to remember first we had chickens and then eventually we got two cayuga drakes from the feed store we thought they would've been girls but they're weren't we also had two geese at one point when we got the drakes one gander and a goose. One day Crow one of the drakes got one of his eyes injured he lived fine with it for awhile and eventually something happened I don't remember what or if I was even aware of it at the time because wasn't the taking care of them then.
We still have one of those cayuga drakes to this day his is Chiharu, I believe Chiharu and Crow got along and never the chickens I know they tried breeding with Oreo the female goose we had. I think awhile or before Crow passed we got 3 or 4 runner ducklings they drowned when they weren't very old probably just feathering out, we don't know for sure if it was the geese or the drakes. Eventually after that we got three ducklings who were probably a couple weeks old, one cayuga and two pekins. Angel, and Totoro are still here but Baby the other pekin got drop by one of the younger kids I think when she was fully feathered out and something happened to her leg. I don't remember much besides my personal interactions with the ducks. So some of this may not be entirely accurate. Time wise mostly.

About four years later after we got Angel and Totoro, I decided I wanted more ducks because I love ducks and maybe I thought up some other reason to have more. So i knew there were ducklings at murdochs and convinced my parents to let me get two ducklings, I used my own money and we brought them home one pekin (Angelina) and one khaki Campbell(Jem) when we were at the feed store getting Angelina and Jem I saw two blue swedish ducklings who were sick they had wry neck. The next time we went to the store I got the two blues Swedes even though they werent well I wanted them have someone who cared I think I named my but don't remember the name, a hour maybe after we got home my blue swedish passed away in my hands and my brothers died over night peeping the whole time we knew it was wry neck after we got home and looked up what wrong but we didn't have what we needed and couldn't go to the store and get stuff for them. We were able to get replacements for them we brought their bodies to a different store in another city Idk why, and then we had the choice of any breed I choose two more blue Swedes and one of them had a messed up bill, they were good and strong though and they played in their water dish a lot when they got here, we kept them seperate from Angelina and Jem they were at least a week old.

Rosemary or just Rose and Duck had no issues growing and Angelina Jem and the other two got along well with my three older ducks.
A month or two later after we got the four Totoro hatched two cayuga ducklings all on her own in the coop I saw one still hatching when I went to check on her the one night I even tried keeping an egg she was leaving but it didn't hatch. So Haru the one I kind of assisted with hatching and Maria were all Totoro's to deal with basically she took good care of them and both lived to about a year old, I was not home with a few of my siblings we were a few states away and it was just my mom and two younger sisters and one of my older brothers watching the birds. We had a swift fox attack a month maybe less before so there were live traps that I should have put up before leaving and a deep tire pond full of water. I lost two chickens and Maria she drowned probably cause the drakes and a chicken hen drowned and a chicken got caught in a trap and died of heat stress.
I wasn't home for like 4 days. What a terrible time that was.

So I currently have 8 ducks all thriving besides Angel she has a hard time walking and a few other things with the other ducks but those don't stop them from being silly and playing in their muddied water which I just cleaned out.
Rose and Angel is drinking water on the bottom of the picture.

And Chiharu which apparently means a thousand springs in Japanese.

 

[Buttercup725]

I don't know why exactly we got my older ducks I was too young to remember first we had chickens and then eventually we got two cayuga drakes from the feed store we thought they would've been girls but they're weren't we also had two geese at one point when we got the drakes one gander and a goose. One day Crow one of the drakes got one of his eyes injured he lived fine with it for awhile and eventually something happened I don't remember what or if I was even aware of it at the time because wasn't the taking care of them then.
We still have one of those cayuga drakes to this day his is Chiharu, I believe Chiharu and Crow got along and never the chickens I know they tried breeding with Oreo the female goose we had. I think awhile or before Crow passed we got 3 or 4 runner ducklings they drowned when they weren't very old probably just feathering out, we don't know for sure if it was the geese or the drakes. Eventually after that we got three ducklings who were probably a couple weeks old, one cayuga and two pekins. Angel, and Totoro are still here but Baby the other pekin got drop by one of the younger kids I think when she was fully feathered out and something happened to her leg. I don't remember much besides my personal interactions with the ducks. So some of this may not be entirely accurate. Time wise mostly.

About four years later after we got Angel and Totoro, I decided I wanted more ducks because I love ducks and maybe I thought up some other reason to have more. So i knew there were ducklings at murdochs and convinced my parents to let me get two ducklings, I used my own money and we brought them home one pekin (Angelina) and one khaki Campbell(Jem) when we were at the feed store getting Angelina and Jem I saw two blue swedish ducklings who were sick they had wry neck. The next time we went to the store I got the two blues Swedes even though they werent well I wanted them have someone who cared I think I named my but don't remember the name, a hour maybe after we got home my blue swedish passed away in my hands and my brothers died over night peeping the whole time we knew it was wry neck after we got home and looked up what wrong but we didn't have what we needed and couldn't go to the store and get stuff for them. We were able to get replacements for them we brought their bodies to a different store in another city Idk why, and then we had the choice of any breed I choose two more blue Swedes and one of them had a messed up bill, they were good and strong though and they played in their water dish a lot when they got here, we kept them seperate from Angelina and Jem they were at least a week old.

Rosemary or just Rose and Duck had no issues growing and Angelina Jem and the other two got along well with my three older ducks.
A month or two later after we got the four Totoro hatched two cayuga ducklings all on her own in the coop I saw one still hatching when I went to check on her the one night I even tried keeping an egg she was leaving but it didn't hatch. So Haru the one I kind of assisted with hatching and Maria were all Totoro's to deal with basically she took good care of them and both lived to about a year old, I was not home with a few of my siblings we were a few states away and it was just my mom and two younger sisters and one of my older brothers watching the birds. We had a swift fox attack a month maybe less before so there were live traps that I should have put up before leaving and a deep tire pond full of water. I lost two chickens and Maria she drowned probably cause the drakes and a chicken hen drowned and a chicken got caught in a trap and died of heat stress.
I wasn't home for like 4 days. What a terrible time that was.

So I currently have 8 ducks all thriving besides Angel she has a hard time walking and a few other things with the other ducks but those don't stop them from being silly and playing in their muddied water which I just cleaned out.
Rose and Angel is drinking water on the bottom of the picture.
View attachment 3379688
And Chiharu which apparently means a thousand springs in Japanese.
View attachment 3379690

So cute! Fan of Spirited Away and Totoro?!

 

[AngelinaThePekin8]

So cute! Fan of Spirited Away and Totoro?!

Yes, one of my brothers named Totoro shes his duck. Chiharu is one of my older sisters and she named him. I need to watch my neighbor Totoro again its been a few years.

 

[BabyGotQuack]

I wanted chickens for the eggs & to give the kids some daily responsibilities. We went on down to TSC and got them 4 chicks. I saw the ducks and couldn’t resist and picked 2, a pekin & a khaki.

*Fast forward* we have 0 chickens and currently 10 ducks

I love my ducks more than the dang dog

……. aaaaaaand as I was compiling this photo dump for you I caught duckling fever

Curse this thread