My Love Affair With Ducks...

[Mimi13]

So @Mimi13 you wanted to see pictures of molting ducks, here we go, a group of my girls in different stages of molting:

Blanca Duck at the left is almost done with it, you can see her new flight feathers sticking out of her wings like knitting-needles.
The dirty looking duck in the center is Bazilla, she is about to start. One of the first things you will notice is that your duck's feathers are permanently dirty and look greasy.
Here are two close-ups of Bazilla, right before she noticed that i was taking pictures and attacked my toes - i should have worn rubber boots instead of sandals…

Remember: She is a WHITE Layer, but currently looks more like a Buff Orpington.
Disclaimer: My ducks have enough water, they have a shower with free shampoo, i give them enough to eat and to drink and i don't throw handfuls of mud at them! They just look like that during their molt!!!

Good gracious. She for sure had a color change. That is crazy.

With as many feathers as there are all over the yard and duck lot, it’s almost like they’re in a constant molt.

I am one of the weirdos who likes to collect feathers. So when my Flock was smaller (24 vs. 53), I seemed to be able to collect them all, the clean and decent ones anyway. I think it all started out that I didn’t like to see all the feathers laying around making the coop and run look trashy! It drove me , to say the least! Now? There’s honestly no way I can keep up. I will collect the big ones that are pretty and kick shavings over the others.I guess I’ve gotten lazy. And the ones I’ve collected lately aren’t even sorted out. I’ve just put them in a big tub in my sewing/chicken room. Well, and also all around the den. Sometimes I just lay them down in there instead of putting them up in the first place. I’m sure my DH is tired of seeing feathers. I’m sure he thinks, “Am I living in a barn?!?” (It’s really not that bad! ) My first several years’ worth of feathers are sorted by breed. I told you I was weird! I love my Silver Laced Wyandotte and my Speckled Sussex feathers. They’re gorgeous. Oh, and rooster sickle, saddle and hackle feathers...love, love, love them!

 

[Mimi13]

And by the way, my drakes were in a particular bad mood yesterday, just watch the video below, Amigo Drake defending "his" pool against Brownie and Spot. And at about 35 seconds into the video Nona Duck used her standard maneuver to get rid of a pesky drake: Just bump into another drake so that the pursuing drake will collide with him and you have a drake fight…

No clue why they were all so bad tempered yesterday, maybe it was because of that dang thunderstorm at the horizon that never made it to here…

I just love watching videos. It is funny how the others came over to splash around once Amigo Drake got out, only to start a ruckus themselves.

So, does Nona Duck do that a lot? She seems very smart if so! What kind of duck was the one that was pursuing Nona Duck? He’s very pretty. And also, what kind of ducks are these four in the picture I took of your video?

I especially love the brown and white one on the far left.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Good gracious. She for sure had a color change. That is crazy.

With as many feathers as there are all over the yard and duck lot, it’s almost like they’re in a constant molt.

I am one of the weirdos who likes to collect feathers. So when my Flock was smaller (24 vs. 53), I seemed to be able to collect them all, the clean and decent ones anyway. I think it all started out that I didn’t like to see all the feathers laying around making the coop and run look trashy! It drove me , to say the least! Now? There’s honestly no way I can keep up. I will collect the big ones that are pretty and kick shavings over the others.I guess I’ve gotten lazy. And the ones I’ve collected lately aren’t even sorted out. I’ve just put them in a big tub in my sewing/chicken room. Well, and also all around the den. Sometimes I just lay them down in there instead of putting them up in the first place. I’m sure my DH is tired of seeing feathers. I’m sure he thinks, “Am I living in a barn?!?” (It’s really not that bad! ) My first several years’ worth of feathers are sorted by breed. I told you I was weird! I love my Silver Laced Wyandotte and my Speckled Sussex feathers. They’re gorgeous. Oh, and rooster sickle, saddle and hackle feathers...love, love, love them!

I can barely content myself, not to collect all the feathers from my flock. How cool would it be to have a pillow stuffed with feathers from your own flock?

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

I just love watching videos. It is funny how the others came over to splash around once Amigo Drake got out, only to start a ruckus themselves.

So, does Nona Duck do that a lot? She seems very smart if so! What kind of duck was the one that was pursuing Nona Duck? He’s very pretty. And also, what kind of ducks are these four in the picture I took of your video? View attachment 2305154
I especially love the brown and white one on the far left.

Nona Duck is the smartest duck of the flock! - I was attaching chicken wire to the duck-house last year, using nails and bright orange plastic disks, every one inch there was an orange spot on the beam, except for the one i somehow missed. Nona was watching me all the time, then standing in front of the duck-house while i took a short break and started to nag louder and louder, right in front of the spot where that orange disk was missing. She only stopped after i drove a nail with an orange plastic disk into the beam…
I don't think she knew that a missing nail was a increasing the potential for a predator to successfully break into the house, i assume she just didn't like the interruption of the pattern of orange dots, but i was baffled!
And yes, causing a drake-collision is her standard maneuver to get rid of a pesky drake. And they fall for it over and over again. Smart Nona!
The ducks in the picture from left to right are Spot and Brownie Drake, i got these two with the Fall Dumped Ducklings last year.
The other two drakes are the the members of the Three Thugs, that are not Amigo Drake, so far they have no names. They are three brothers, the offspring of Katharina Duck and i call them the three amigos or the three thugs, depending on their behavior. Amigo Drake is the only one of them wearing a red leg ring, because he trapped himself under the fence last year and i had to free him and used the opportunity to mark him with a cable tie.
Whenever Katharina Duck squeaks all three come running to defend their momma!
And they hate Brownie, Spot and Pomponel, the three drakes from the dumped ducklings, causing daily fights.

 

[HalfWayUpAMountain]

I do love our duck TV

 

[Mimi13]

@WannaBeHillBilly, you said Nona Duck is the smartest duck in your flock. I don’t think I’ve got any duck that is smart. They all just seem so ho-hum and duh-ta-duh! And yesterday, dingbat Ralphie Duck (I feel the need to put “Duck” following Ralphie when I’m talking about how dumb or dingy my duck is. I don’t want @duluthralphie to think I’m speaking of him. ) felt the need to mate while on my deck. All other times, that I’ve seen, he has mated in water. He proceeded with his business and then fell to the side of Quinny and, ker-plunk, hit the deck. It had to have hurt, but he jumped up and ran around shaking things back into place. I don’t see how a drake can keep his little corkscrew from being injured. My deck is old and a splinter could be dangerous.

 

[Mimi13]

I use to raise wild ducks, In our state I had to get a permit . Each pair had their own building with a small run and pool to swim in . A girl from the wildlife protection came out to inspect once , and was happy with the pens . I also had a 1.5 acre pond . I had Wood ducks , Pintails , Ruddy ducks , Ringed Teal, Redheads , Mandarin , Mallards . I was in Heaven . There is nothing like the day when wood ducks hatch they are so cute I would start them out eating on small live mealworms and tiny red worms that I collected after a rain. People from around the area would often stop in and visit just to see the ducks . Duck raising is often addicting . You get hooked !!

How neat. You need to post some pictures!

 

[Mimi13]

Ralphie was actually perched on the edge of that pool. I guess he was deciding which girl he’d sweet talk!

 

[HalfWayUpAMountain]

Ralphie was actually perched on the edge of that pool. I guess he was deciding which girl he’d sweet talk! View attachment 2309537

I have to say, Ralphie may be a bit 'special' but he is rather handsome

 

[shawluvsbirds]

Ralphie was actually perched on the edge of that pool. I guess he was deciding which girl he’d sweet talk! View attachment 2309537

yep that's a Ralphie dux alright. He thinks he owns the place.