my mallard is growing up :(

[mickeymousears]

Hi all,
My baby mallard has started flying all over the yard; shes about 2 months old. I'm so scared she is going to fly off and get into trouble. I dont want to clip her wings in case she really does want to fly off and start a family. Im just terrified one day she is going to fly out of the yard - we live in the city so that means cars, dogs, jerky humans, etc. AND she's been petted and loved on since she was a baby, so she really has no fear - I occasionally find her in the kitchen hanging out with my rabbits (i dont think another family would find a duck in their kitchen as cute as i do).
She has 2 friends that wont fly (a pekin and rouen) that she has been with since birth - I was hoping she would be happy to live with us forever, but now that she is flying longer and longer distances (shes probably up to 6 to 10 feet at a time) im not so sure that's realistic.

any thoughts?

 

[DuckLover2399]

I feel bad to say this but you NEED to clip her wings

 

[dumb_cluck]

The only thing I did (except clip wings) was to provide a pen with a cargo net on to to prevent "escapes".
See my blog.

Conrgrats on NOT clipping wings!

 

[mickeymousears]

haha a cargo net over my backyard would solve the crow infestation LOL... but not realistic. I have a flightless 10 year old cockatiel (clipped wings since birth) (well since he grew feathers anyways)... so Im no stranger to wing clipping and I see it's benefits... I was just thinking, someone that lives outdoors and comes from feral? lines (even though she came from the feed store with the other 2 ducks, and some chickens) should be able to fly. IDK I guess i have some soul searching to do!

 

[DuckLover2399]

could you post pics may be a rouen unless you know they are mallards

 

[Luciesbuddys]

I had 4 mallards (that are 3 months old) the only one that i have lost couldn't fly. My other 3 fly all the time. One is a show off and just no longer walks he flies every where. I did have my 2 females take off together one came back in 8 hours (over night) and the other showed up 3 days later. I'm not planing on clipping there wings because they don't really go very far most the time

 

[cbohn80]

definately clipp the wings, since it wasn't raised in the wild i didnt have a chance to learn any survival skills from the mother. also, domestic mallards are heavier and cant fly as good as wild mallard. if it does manage to breed on the outside it would poison the already fragile wild duck population. best of luck..