Michigan

[Mr_Jeff]

It's driving me crazy trying to identify a duck that I saw yesterday. So far all websites have been useless. I noticed alot of movement in the brush next to my house yesterday evening near a hedge of roses. I thought it was the dog but I looked over and he was asleep in the yard. I could see brush waving around as something was moving through it so I walked up to the hedge to try and find it. Up jumped a duck followed by eight to ten newly hatched ducklings and they zipped off into the cornfield.

She gathered everyone together and went into some near by tall grass and stayed there. I crept up to get a closer look and she popped out again doing the broken wing thing that mother birds will do. This duck was blue/black almost a gunmetal color. The body was squarish. The neck was very slender and long in proportion to her body. Overall about two thirds the size of a mallard. On her head were curvy tear drop splashed of white over the eyes, with the point of the tear drop pointing back and curving down slightly. A crest the same color as her feathers came off the back of the head and pointed down. Cant remember the color of bill and feet. She flew off a short distance at one point and I think there were some light of white bars under her wings.

Does anyone know what in the world I saw? I haven't seen one around here before and I can't find anything close in a picture.

 

[A2SciTeach]

Mr_Jeff,
That may be a merganser, what did the babies look like? Try going to ducks.org and looking at the merganser pictures, the common merganser has the grey coloring you describe, although the head is reddish. Mergansers do have crests, so that part fits. Let us know what you find !

 

[Huston's Happy Hens]

Hey Everyone!
Welcome to the newbies! The Lansing Poultry group posted info about Chickenstock, Sam (aka Opa) - cute pic by the way...still think you're much more handsome!
I'm OFFFFF WORKKKKK UNTILLLLLL WEDNESDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can you tells I'm one happy chick

!

 

[wyliefarms]

Hi Everyone! We are finally done running for the week

I got all my plants last night and tomorrow the game plan is to plant. That is after the meat birds leave, move the 2 month old bantams into their pen, clean cages, breakfast for everyone (animals and people). then I have to work for an hour, I am a massage therapist. After all that then I can think about planting!

Enjoy your evening! I am kinda glad the rain missed us, even though we can alway use the rain. I love hanging my wash on the line

I am going to make my own laundry soap tonight too. Has anyone ever done that? Any tips?

Sarah

 

[wyliefarms]

Quote:
No idea, she surely sounds pretty though! Good luck and if you figure it out let us know.

 

[A2SciTeach]

Mr_Jeff,
I know how frustrating it is to see a bird and not know what it is. Did you try this site? http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/search

The other day I saw a duck on our creek, didn't recognize it, and found out it was a black duck, something I had never seen before. Females are especially difficult since they are often so drab and camouflaged it's difficult to see them clearly. Your description of the bird you saw is excellent - check out the site (if you haven't already done so) and keep us posted

 

[briana1975]

We got the run all done tonight for our chicks. Most of them came out did all their own thing and all but one went back in when it started to get dark. We got back into the house just in time before the rain came.

 

[Hillbilly Hen]

A first for me today... as I was leaving to go to see the rhuematologist this morning I had to wait for a male and female mallard to get out of the road. I have never seen them around here before and I have been here for 21 years.

 

[YakLady]

Cool! There are a lot of mallards over here. My drake chases them off.

Hey, everyone, I have a silly question. I'm still not so good at knowing breeds, and crosses and so forth. I finally know what most of my hens are because people have identified them for me. Well, today my rooster became a daddy. I put 20 of my hens' eggs in the bator, just as an experiment to see if I can raise some meat birds from my own flock. My roo is a RIR. I have 2 Ameraucanas (sp?) and 2 EE's, and a bunch of other things. I collected a couple of blue eggs and a couple of green eggs and put them in the mix as future replacement egg layers. Sooooo.... my question is... Is it true that an EE is an Ameraucana crossed with something else? If so, would it be safe to assume that the offspring from my blue eggs would be EE's? And what happens when you cross an EE with some random roo? Is it still an EE, or is it just a mutt? I've had three hatch so far, and several more are pipped. The three that have hatched are a very light red color with some gray stripes. They sure are cute little buggers.

 

[briana1975]

Good question Yaklady. I have the same 3 EE girls with my Buff Orp roo. The chicks I hatched look like EE for the most part. But their legs aren't as greyish as their mom's. Only one was a girl and it will be fun to see what color egg she may lay. The mothers lay bluish eggs and of corse the BO lay light brown. I am hoping for a greenish tint but who knows.

Good morning and all I can say is TGIF!!!!