MALLARD THREAD...not rouens, Mallards!

[philipchickymad]

mine one duckling is quite scared as i rescued her from my dog eating him/her any tips on making more freindly and affectionate

 

[philipchickymad]

what age is he/she in the last pic she/he is too cute

 

[philipchickymad]

Hey everyone me and Ducky are new here and I wanted to introduce ourselves. These are pictures from when we first rescued her(him?) which was almost three weeks ago!







Sticking her tongue out at cha






Oh she grows so fast, these pictures were from our trip to the park yesterday (19 days old)

wow wat age is he/she in last photo

 

[rosewolf22002]

I have a question. I have a wild Mallard drake. He was looking great now he is changing his feathers back to female colors. Is that normal! ? I know he's male. I have babies from him.

 

[fowlman01]

I have a question. I have a wild Mallard drake. He was looking great now he is changing his feathers back to female colors. Is that normal! ? I know he's male. I have babies from him.

It is normal during this time of year. The males go from "nuptial" plumage to a plumage that looks like a female. "eclipse" plumage.

Walt

 

[rosewolf22002]

Thank you Walt! I really was concerned. I have had chickens all my life. He was my first duck. I was given him last spring.

 

[Learningstill]

Has anyone had mallard/khaki mixes? We have mixes that just hatched and I was wondering what they may look like as adults? Thanks!

 

[philipchickymad]

how do u make a duckling friendly or do u just have to give him/her a while to get used to u

 

[cheramieandmilo]

Hi everyone, i have 2 baby mallards I think one boy and one girl. They are absolutely adorable and very healthy and happy so far... but I hate that when I put them on the ground together they run from me!! The boy and I really bonded and he freaks out if anyone else bothers him and just tolerates me and my boyfriend is very close with the little girl. They also FREAK if they are separated from eachother. Is there any way to make them calm down and more independent of eachother? I just recently lost a baby duck of about a month old. He was a muscovy and he was so close to my heart. He followed us around and basically thought he was a human. He hung around very close to our feet and one day in the kitchen he got kicked and his neck broke. He was flopping around it was awful he died in my hands. I feel like these babies are different personality wise and maybe that's why I'm so shocked by their difference in behavior. They are about 3 weeks old now. Their momma got hit by a car on the side of the road. I'm just looking for some tips to maybe bond with them more and make them more comfortable with me like Boris, my muscovy may he rest in peace.

As for my babies now, they love to cuddle with me when they are with eachother only. I've read that Muscovy's are just very personable ducks. I just feel like it's somewhat unhealthy how they freak out about eachother gone for just a minute. If they don't need more independence from eachother, that's fine! I just need to find a way to make them more comfortable with me and not cower even when I reach down for them!

 

[RacerWife7]

I have a question. Right now, I'm away on vacation. My hubby is home taking care of my 6 week old ducks. (We have 2 Swedish Blues and 1 mallard) Peepers, the mallard, is acting strange. According to DH, she's getting aggressive with him whenever he goes to put them in at night. Our coop outside has an outdoor run and an enclosed 'house' where we keep them at night. The Swedes he gets in there fairly easily. But, Peepers is a challenge to catch and get in because of her aggressive behavior. She was never like this before. She's our wild duck. Walked into our shop at work at about a day old. She's also the only one I bonded with. The Swedes were much more skittish and hard to bond with. And once the 3 of them were together, Peepers seems disinterested in my picking her up and talking to her and loving on her. Ever since we started putting them outside, Peepers would lay right next to the screen door of the 'house' at night looking out - like she wanted out. And lately she started darting towards the door if you had your hand in there to feed them or give them water. Should we just leave her outside all night??? It seems like that's what she wants. We haven't had any predator issues yet. But, I don't want to give them bait, either, if they're around. ....I'm at a loss as to what would be best for them - not just Peepers. But, for Raspberry & Spot, too. They seem okay with sleeping in at night.

Note: the last couple of nights, the ducks have let themselves out of the 'house' on their own. DH checked on them at around midnight and then 2 AM and they were inside the house. When he got up in the morning, they were out. There's a door on the house that opens to their run. I wonder if Peepers has figured out how to open it and let herself out??