Poof more ducklings hatched

[katharinad]

I've noticed it with my 9 ducks. One boy and one girl are 4 weeks older then the rest. The flock is 3 and 4 months old. The 2 older ones seem to be in charge of the whole flock. First there is the usual discussion of quacking around. Then the boy starts to walk and all the younger girls usually follow him almost blindly. Last is the older girl making sure they follow him. Non obedience will be followed by her bobbing her head and nipping feathers and tails. This will go as far as wing biting if there is one that still doesn't want to listen (does not happen very often at all). The older girl has a real grip on the situation and the rest knows not to mess with her. Its really funny to watch, but big boy is not always that helpful. Usually he know what we want him to do, but occasionally he gets hard headed and tries it his way. Telling him that he will get peas usually sets him right. He is a beggar and know the word really well.

 

[Buttercup Chillin]

Interesting, mine are Muscovies so there is no quacking and no wing biting at that age.

Once they were all old enough to be out and about, a little male would just start heading out and all would follow including the adults. First thing I noticed it was one or the other, of two ducklings leading the way. They turned out to both be males. I kept the one that lead the flock (dominant at a very early age). But remember, I lost my Drake back in March so maybe, the whole flock was choosing its new drake even then. That's why I was curious if others have observed this behavior.

Ok, so Steve can you watch those 4 white ducklings and see if the first 2 turn out to be drakes in that 1st picture? Of course we want regular updates, especially those of use without Ducklings at this time,

We need a constant feed of eye candy, while we are waiting ever so impatiently, for our flock to grow up, again.

The others could be following because of coloring. The colors staying together thing. I am so curious about this. This could be a way to sex them earlier, or at least give a better guess. Guessing is fun when it really isn't that important to get it right. I just like watching them interact. And I want baby Duckies before next year. My drake is mature now, soon I hope, just waiting on the girls.

So, more duckie pix while they grow and you have to keep those 4 white duckies until you know what's what or who is who. Right?
Weekly updates should do it, I'll be watching for the Poof Pix. Its only for 6 or 7 weeks for Muscovies, usually.