New member/question about khaki campbells/slipped tendons/etc

[LLM]

Hi, I'm Laura, I live in Dawsonville,GA, and am familiar with a few members here already.

I hope I'm not posting in the wrong place...am still confused about how this all works.

I have 8 Pekins (that have a safe pen that get to go to the lake and back home), and 12 mallards at this time (unfortunately the number changes when predators win)...the mallards are mostly free range on the lake that's about 10-12 acres, depending on the water level).

My question now is ...does anybody have any pics of khaki campbell and mallard mixes?

I had a female khaki that disappeared last spring during mating season

, and I have seen one female that would have been the right age to have been one of her ducklings, and possibly a drake or two that could be hers. She had four mallard mates, one in particular, so any ducklings would have been a mix. I think what happened was that she laid some eggs, possibly started to set, altho she wasn't one to be still terribly long, and was still in her first nesting season....and I think another duck, a wild mallard female took over the nest and incubated the eggs my khaki lef

t. I am positive the one female I saw was hers, but don't know what to look for in a drake mix, the khaki drakes being so similar to mallards anyway. What I've seen is a drake that has the tan coloring on his head, in the process of getting his adult plumage, so that the parts of his face that are normally mostly grey when a mallard drake is molting, and his brown/red on his chest seems more solid than the true mallards. He also has a little bit of light feathers on the upper part of his wings, and some of his coverlets over his primaries are a different shape and are tinged in a light line. I'm thrilled that my khaki's bloodline lives on, and still miss her terribly. The only khaki I've ever had, she escaped from the upper lake where my neighbors raised her and her brother, who got killed early on by probably a fox, and my khaki was left with a Pekin drake, who apparently was a little too much for her, so she flew over the dam and stayed here

. I had duck sat her and her brother when they were only a couple of weeks old, for about two weeks, and I really think she remembered when she returned for good. I've still never seen a picture of a female khaki as beautiful as she was.

I'm curious about a lot of things, and am glad to be here, altho it would take a loooonnng time to read all the info here!

I'm also interested in info about inbreeding, about reproducktive problems, and particularly about SLIPPED TENDONS, because I rescued a female Pekin last June that was one of this year's Easter ducklings that was kept and fed wrong, that has slipped tendons. She has been a wonder duck in the progress she's made, but of course it's too late at 4-6 months old to do anything to correct it

.
Laura

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Hello from Tucson and

Post your questions about the slipped tendons here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewforum.php?id=10 Good luck.

 

[CMV]

from NH. There's a whole section dedicated to Ducks here, and there lots of info available if you use the search feature at the top of your page.

 

[Baralak]

From Louisiana!!!

 

[dawg53]

Welcome to BYC. I dont know much about ducks. A slipped tendon in a chicken takes a long time to heal or it may never heal. Crushed vitamin B complex tablets, with the powder sprinkled in their feed for a week seems to help if done when they are young with tendons, muscles etc..still growing (repeat after a few days off the vitamin.) The older they get, vitamin B complex might help some, but they still might hobble on one leg. If both tendons in both legs are pulled...I would question the quality of life the chicken would have and most likely cull (sadly, I have.) Good luck.

 

[duckyfromoz]

Hi there LLM..Welcome to BYC....

I have a one year old duck that hatched with a slipped tendon - and have been researching the issue after having another hatch this year as well. I first became aware of it being a deformity when I went to a hatchery 12 years ago to buy some ducklings and came home with an extra. Forrest was a pekin who hatched with the tendon already slipped- which could be caused by a number of reasons.. Deficiency in the parents can be an issue as the resulting egg laid may not have sufficient nutrients for the growing duckling- making them susceptible to deformities. Insufficient turning of eggs can also play its part. As for what can be done for your girl - exercising the leg and foot whenever possible will help to stop the foot and muscles from atrophy.

 

[justbugged]

From Western Washington State.