New Ducks, Questions And A Problem

[Captain Cluck]

I have been wanting ducks for quite a while now and I got my first ducks yesterday!

I have some questions that I hope someone can help me with, please.

The white and black & white ducklings are about 4 weeks old and the other one is an adult drake.


This is the drake. We named him Reginald. I was told he is a Mallard. I don't know how old he is.

These are the ducklings. The black and white one honks sometimes. Is he a she? (I hope so. Lexi named them Tinkerbell and Bella). The white one still peeps.

They have not got their adult feathers yet.

Also, this afternoon Reginald the drake grabbed the white duckling by its head feathers and tried to mate it while it was peeping loudly.

My 5 year old granddaughter got mad and yelled at him for "pulling hair and jumping on your kids!!! That's Not Nice!!!"

(she is convinced he is the daddy, but there were 2 drakes in the flock, so who knows?)
He was done by the time I crossed the yard to their pen. (2 minutes tops) Tonight, Reginald is spending the night in a dog crate in the duck pen. He is in time out and he is not happy about it.

Is this a normal duck thing? The ducklings are not fledged yet, and have not laid eggs either. I know when we had chickens if a roo raped hens, we had fried chicken the next day.

Do I have to cull Reginald, or can I keep them separated until I find him a suitable hen or 2?

Thanks for any help.

Edited to note: My mistake, the ducklings are Tinkerbell and Cinderella.

 

[Amiga]

I would keep Reginald in major timeout, allow him to see everybody, but not get near. Yes, he needs his own harem (some ducks are just, well, just need many girlfriends).

As far as his behavior with the duckling, it could be dominance, it could be attraction. You say that duckling is still peeping? It may be a drake. Too early to tell, though.

My Indian runners honk quite a bit - I think they are all females. They quack, too. Actually, I am impressed at the range of vocalizations.

Back to your situation.

Reginald may be okay, eventually, but as I mentioned, if he were mine I would need to decide if I wanted to get another four females and give him a chance to behave better. He also may be just fine once the ducklings are a little bigger.

(I like to give animals, especially new ones, the benefit of the doubt while protecting the others.)

 

[Wifezilla]

Reginald is a silver Welsh Harlequin, not a mallard.

The honking duck is most likely a girl

 

[keeperofthehearth]

I'd give Reggie a chance, separate him fm the young'ns till they are older or get him some older girls. I agree, girl ducks "honk."

 

[aduckstolemyheart]

How handsome is Reginald and what cuties the babies are!!

Yeah, I would agree, he needs more chicks.

And I don't mean chickens...

 

[Captain Cluck]

Thank you!

Wow! A Silver Welsh Harlequin?!!!

I didn't know they came in silver. Do they come in gold, too? I was beginning to think he might have been an Appleyard from the pictures I've seen. He has a blue bar on his wings - does that make a difference?

This definitely gets Reginald a reprieve from the dreaded cull - until he shows what he is like with some 'wimmin' of his own.

I have been looking for WH, but couldn't justify spending $50+ on ducklings. My husband wouldn't go for that many or spending that much! I could only be happier if I can get some WH hens!

I am still looking for some. I hope to find some priced affordably at a farm swap this weekend.

Does anyone have a guess on what the ducklings might be?

I'll even forgive them for trashing the bathroom last night before I put them in the dog crate to sleep.

 

[aduckstolemyheart]

White one looks like a Pekin, but it's hard to tell because I know there are white runners too, but he looks like my Pekin duckling.

Black and white one could be either Magpie or Ancona, that's just my guess though. I would wait until the experts come comment!

 

[Wifezilla]

Do they come in gold, too? I was beginning to think he might have been an Appleyard from the pictures I've seen. He has a blue bar on his wings - does that make a difference?

A gold welsh harlequin has bronze bars on his wings instead of blue.

Your drake looks a lot like my Tweak

He is from Holderread's waterfowl

Just guessing but your guy looks kind of young.He has his full adult plumage, but I doubt he has had it for long. They get a little more filled out when they get older. Tweak is almost a year old.​

 

[duckyfromoz]

I was just outside cleaning out pools and generally just looking over my duckies... ...gee Wifezilla - One of my Runners is almost that exact colouring of Tweak... Only thing to tell them apart is the beak colour and the stance. Tweak is gorgeous.

 

[Captain Cluck]

Tweek is gorgeous! Thank you for sharing his picture. And thanks everyone very much for the information.

Maybe Reggie's bad behavior is due to his age and lack of experience? The family that gave me these ducks told me that he was a daddy to some of the ducklings they hatched out. I received the last 2 ducklings offered (they kept a few) and they gave me Reggie. I'm wondering if I got him because of his, uh... overly friendliness with the ducklings?

There were some other adult looking ducks in their pen, but I didn't get a close look at them as I was holding the ducklings and avoiding a rather angry goose while they were catching Reggie.

The family's kids picked the ducks I got as they were the kids' project. They wouldn't accept payment, so I will email pictures to the kids as the ducks grow. They got their first set of pics this evening.