Is she depressed??

[Everose]

Could you give her something else to focus on? Something fun or yummy, like peas in the pool water, or some mealworms in the bottom of little containers to dig around for? Maybe being involved with positive things will also help them integrate.

 

[Thesilkclan]

Ducks don't get depressed. I hope that she is not becoming ill.

That's not true at all. They have complex emotions just like other animals.

 

[Thesilkclan]

I've noticed these past days that our 2yr old Chocolate Indian Runner named Duchess has been acting like she's depressed. For 4 weeks, I've been switching both her and our 1yr old Blue Runner named Kaeda around the yard. One day they're with our 3 youngsters, the next they're with their 2yr drake named Colonel.
The 3 youngsters are going to be 9 weeks old this Saturday.
The only reason I've been doing this, is so that the youngsters can get use to being around the adults and so the adults can show them what to do.

Is she depressed because of this?

After reading all the posts it seems like you answered your own question. She's lonely and wants to be with Colonel.

 

[sourland]

That's not true at all. They have complex emotions just like other animals.

Link to scientific source? Thanks.

 

[TheOddOneOut]

Link to scientific source? Thanks.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6344452/

 

[sourland]

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6344452/

Fear/frustration - absolutely. Depression - I think not. Physical depression caused by a beat down and reduced hormonal levels is a given, but not psychological depression.

 

[LucyLovesDucks]

Fear/frustration - absolutely. Depression - I think not. Physical depression caused by a beat down and reduced hormonal levels is a given, but not psychological depression.

Respectfully, I disagree. I have seen ducks miss one another, or even miss me if I’m gone all day. Longing is very close to sadness/depression on the scale of emotions, so who’s to say what’s in their brain? I think there is much we have to learn about animals.

At the same time, I absolutely agree that if your duck *looks* depressed, the first thing I would check is their health status.