Need help identifying 6 week old! Different duck!

[Denninmi]

Just remember, if it really is a true mallard (as in wild strain mallard), its going to SEEM like skin and bones next to a domestic breed of the same age, especially one of the meat breeds like Rouen or Pekin. Wild strain mallards only mature at around 3 lbs average, less for hens, a little more than 3 lbs for drakes, and they are a much more sleek and trim bird. It doesn't necessarily mean its unhealthy. It certainly could be, hard to know for sure, but it also could just be a normal wild strain mallard for its age.

They have to fly, after all.

 

[desertdarlene]

Here is a photo of the duckling that I was talking about. In this case, he is a boy. I think he was about 8 weeks old in this photo:

 

[ChickenfootDuckbutt]

not a mallard, I had a duck that looked just like that, I'm not EXACTLY sure what she was, but I hatched her myself, she hatched out solid chocolate (getting my hopes up!), and then feathered out to look like yours, I do not have mallards, but i do have a rouen, so i'm guessing rouen mix of some sort.

 

[Halion]

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I don't think having the ability to feel every single crevice in the ribcage and the spaces in the spine is normal for any animal, at least not to me. I may be wrong, but I don't think so.

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That's a pretty duck! Hopefully she (or he) feathers out like that one in adulthood! We'll see what exactly happens with it though.

 

[desertdarlene]

Thanks! He's a sweetheart. Since he's a male, his colors will be changing in a couple of months. I can't wait to see what's more dominant in his adulthood, the mallard colors or the cayuga colors. He was all black until he started getting feathers. I think his dad had a little mallard in him, too.

 

[LemonDoodles]

What a great tail!!!