is it true or not true... about flying mallards????

[happyhens44]

so I was talking to someone and they said that in fall your pet flying mallards will fly away South and come back next spring? and sometime bring back babies is that true, because I have to flying Mallard a drake and hen. I dont want my mallards to leave though. so if it is true do you think the flying mallards would be able to get through a hawk net im getting saturday?


please respond thanks/

 

[bock]

I had three Mallards I raised from babies 2 years ago. 2 turned out to be males and 1 was a female. They stuck around for a year, but this Spring the dominant male and the female flew away. I think they are at a nearby pond, because I saw the remaining male Mallard fly back to our pond a few times from somewhere else. I think they left to raise some babies, and maybe they will return.

The remaining male fell in love with my 20 week old mallard hen, and I know it is probably just a matter of time before they go off to raise their own young. She is spending less and less time with her flock mates, and more and more time with him. I don't think they will migrate, but if they find someplace they like better they will probably leave. You can trim their flight feathers or put them in a covered cage to keep them home. Good luck!

 

[lishah2000]

I suppose it's possible. My mallards hardly fly at all and they free-range full time. The younger ones will fly from one side of the pond to the other, but that's about it. The older ones I hardly ever see fly. They can fly, but just don't. But I also live in the south.

 

[houndit]

We freeranged all of ours. They flew everywhere, but always came back. We did lock them up for a little while in the fall because they were being troublesome. They ones whose wings were not clipped never left. I think that if you take care of them, and they have a good source of food, they are not very likely to leave.

 

[happyhens44]

well i was hopeing the hawk net would keep them in. I think my two mallards pick each other but idk thanks.

 

[Denninmi]

Personally if they were mine, I would keep them penned. They might make it in the wild, but odds are they'll be eaten by something. They might be shot by hunters in the autumn as well. They're genetically the wild stock but were raised in captivity, so are half way between two worlds, so to speak.

 

[goosedragon]

Quote:
Well if you mistreat your mallards enough they may take off at any time.

 

[bock]

I didn't ''mistreat'' my Mallards.

. They got fed twice a day, they were locked in their own predator-proof cage at night, and they always had a big kiddie pool to swim in. They just wanted to go to a big pond. So if I went on vacation when I was 25, would you tell my parents they ''mistreated'' me? They just wanted to have kids on a nice big pond.

Geeze, they are ducks after all.

 

[happyhens44]

i dont lol.... I would never. I treat them like a baby. pamper them

 

[Red Maple Farms]

Quote:
Same here. I'm at the point now that I kind of wish they would fly away. Can't find their eggs so that I can sell them, and they run/fly away when I try to capture them.