Please Help!! 😥 BEI Duckling not eating and losing weight

[DuckyDonna]

Yes @OliveGreen someone is almost always available to help, and most of us actually have ducks and have had them for years!

 

[OliveGreen]

I've seen pictures of Elizabeth ducks and they are so beautiful! I'm so sorry the little one didn't make it.

Thank you DuckyDonna ❤
That tiny baby was such a precious little thing. I just expected it would all go fairly smoothly like they did with my last ducklings many years ago, but this has definitely given me a lesson on being prepared with a plan B.

Elizabeths certainly are gorgeous! I’d been admiring them for years so I felt very lucky to find Hazel. 5 months later I found her a beautiful little prize winning drake, Herbie... Unfortunately she can’t stand the sight of him though and screams at the top of her lungs whenever she sees him, even just out of the corner of her eye.
He’s such a little gentleman too. Poor boy was a bit shocked by her reaction I think.
He’s off in a seperate part of the garden now with a little Appleyard girl I bought to keep him company but I‘m still hoping Hazel will warm to him............ eventually!
It might be a long process because she’s decided she’s only got eyes for my 11 year old Campbell drake Walter.
Oh well, that’s ducky social dynamics for you - I swear it’s like a soap opera sometimes!

 

[DuckyDonna]

thanks so much for the pictures. We don't hear all that much about Elizabeth ducks on here. I was just reading about them and see that they are meat birds. I hope you don't eat them!

 

[OliveGreen]

thanks so much for the pictures. We don't hear all that much about Elizabeth ducks on here. I was just reading about them and see that they are meat birds. I hope you don't eat them!

Nope most definitely not!!!
My duckies are my family
...and besides Hazel lays the most beautiful green eggs, and plenty of them when she’s not in a broody trance. I’m really not sure why you’d breed a beautiful little nugget like her for meat!

 

[DuckyDonna]

Nope most definitely not!!!
My duckies are my family ❤
...and besides Hazel lays the most beautiful green eggs, and plenty of them when she’s not in a broody trance. I’m really not sure why you’d breed a beautiful little nugget like her for meat!

I knew they were from Australia but I thought they were called Elizabeth ducks for the queen, which they are not. "They were developed as a small, fast growing meat breed in 1972". That's according to Wikipedia. Broad chest and round breast maybe were good traits for eating? I think all ducks are beautiful and I just can't imagine eating any of mine.

That's really too bad that Hazel and Herbie don't get along. Maybe in the spring, you could segregate them together and they'd be forced to mate so you could have a nice hatch of Elizabeths! Oh, you probably already had spring right? You're in summer now so your spring must have happened in Sept? Is that when y'alls ducks do most mating? My ducks mate year-round but spring time (March-May) is the craziest time.