Show off your house ducks!

[Julie Birb]

She can be! Lil' Bean, hehe. She actually can be very, very sweet. But she's like her mama - she gets grumpy when she hasn't eaten or if you wake her up too early, LOL! She's also been biting Wobbles right in the butt lately. He takes over her food bowl? Butt nip! Tries to get behind her to mount? Oh, you better believe that's a butt nip!

And I agree, Dandy has an absolutely angelic face. Sweet baby girl. <3

So it sounds as though she is shedding some of her earlier fears then? I hope so. She is so assertive towards Wobbles. Good for her. Would not want her to hurt him but he needs to respect her boundaries and give her space at the right times. When do you estimate though that she will be sexually ready to receive his mountings? And if so, will a successful mating culminate in a fertilization and hatchlings? Or is that a spring time thing?

 

[Julie Birb]

She is a silly girl, she likes to sip the water while gets squirted in the face

Heehee. Sweet little opportunist. I'll get a bath and a drink. Before I saw your post about her extra eyelids the thought going thru my head was that it is a good thing she has them because her eyes were open the entire time and she never flinched. Does she interact with Dandy at all? Do they get along?

 

[Julie Birb]

The love of my life. His name is Trudy. We thought he was a girl at first LOL.

Most of his brothers and sisters passed away from a fatal infant disease in which their mother abandoned them to avoid affecting her other babies. :-(
He managed to survive and live through it and we're grateful to have him in our lives. <3

Awe, I love Trudy. He is absolutely adorable. I am glad he survived and thrived into the beautiful adult he is today. looks so soft and kissable on the tile floor. Round cutie.

 

[Debs Flock]

Hopefully Trudy likes chicks with cute big noses

Now that's just plain funny!

 

[Amykins]

So it sounds as though she is shedding some of her earlier fears then? I hope so. She is so assertive towards Wobbles. Good for her. Would not want her to hurt him but he needs to respect her boundaries and give her space at the right times. When do you estimate though that she will be sexually ready to receive his mountings? And if so, will a successful mating culminate in a fertilization and hatchlings? Or is that a spring time thing?

I honestly have no idea. Since she's an indoor duck, things like temperature and shorter Winter sunlight hours aren't really going to affect her laying cycle. So she could either begin laying as early as next month, or it could be a long time until she does naturally in the Spring. I hope it's the former, though! As for the fear thing, I'm glad too. She's still a nervous Nelly, but at least she's not quite as bite-happy or as much of a doormat to Wobbles. Wobs isn't a bad guy, he's just your stereotypical drake.

 

[CountQuackula22]

LOL. Welcome to BYC!

That is certainly enough for one duckling/grown duck. Did you buy only the one?

I caution you about overbuilding your coop/pen/run. Realizing that it's way to much for one duck will cause you to get more ducks.

I caution you about underbuilding your coop/pen/run. Realizing it's not big enough for all the other ducks you're going to get will cause you to spend more replacing or expanding it.

Yes, you will get more ducks. Accept the reality from the beginning, and it will be much easier the day you walk out into your yard and wonder how you came to have so many ducks. They are so lovable that it can be very difficult to stop adding, and each one has its own little personality. They can be very habit-forming.

I only have the one duck and the one coop for now. Actually I lied the coop has not been delivered yet but hopefully will be by Friday. It took a long time to convince by Hubby that we should get a duck. We have two kids, a dog and a turtle already! As I suspected he now is the number 1 fan of the duckling! But he has banned me from holding other babies and any and all pet stores/anywhere else you can get a pet!

We have a very small house and yard right now but hope to move to another state and have a very big and partially wooded property. I would love to have more than one duck. I hope Vee doesn't get too lonely. She will be an outside duck for now at least. How do you have inside ducks with all of the poop? I change enough diapers now with my youngest daughter so I don't think I want to deal with any more poop at the moment! lol

 

[Amykins]

I only have the one duck and the one coop for now. Actually I lied the coop has not been delivered yet but hopefully will be by Friday. It took a long time to convince by Hubby that we should get a duck. We have two kids, a dog and a turtle already! As I suspected he now is the number 1 fan of the duckling! But he has banned me from holding other babies and any and all pet stores/anywhere else you can get a pet!

We have a very small house and yard right now but hope to move to another state and have a very big and partially wooded property. I would love to have more than one duck. I hope Vee doesn't get too lonely. She will be an outside duck for now at least. How do you have inside ducks with all of the poop? I change enough diapers now with my youngest daughter so I don't think I want to deal with any more poop at the moment! lol

If lil' Vee is going to be kept outside and all by her lonesome, you WILL need to get a second duck. This is non-negotiable. Ducks are highly social and keeping just one without having her indoors where she has constant human companionship is akin to placing a human being in solitary confinement.

 

[CountQuackula22]

If lil' Vee is going to be kept outside and all by her lonesome, you WILL need to get a second duck. This is non-negotiable. Ducks are highly social and keeping just one without having her indoors where she has constant human companionship is akin to placing a human being in solitary confinement.

Even if we are out there with her all the time when we are home? How do you know if she is building a good relationship with you? She will follow me around and sit by my feet but will not just come over to me and will try and run if I try to pet her or pick her up.

 

[Amykins]

Even if we are out there with her all the time when we are home? How do you know if she is building a good relationship with you? She will follow me around and sit by my feet but will not just come over to me and will try and run if I try to pet her or pick her up.

Is she imprinted on people or on other ducks? It really is quite cruel to keep her locked away outside all by herself. :/ Please, please consider getting a second duck or rehoming her. It's just not right to force her to live all alone. Even Wobbles, who I stayed with 24/7 for over a year, eventually let me know he needed duck company.

As for the running away thing, that's kinda normal. If you're very patient and offer her lotsa treats, she may come around. Even my neurotic Bean stopped running away from me (for the most part) when I try to lift her. But she lives indoors with me, so I've spent a lot of time with her working on forming a bond.

 

[veggiegirl]

So I have Indian Runners and Black East Indies going in the incubator. I wasn't planning on having a house duck until I started reading this thread. Now I want to have one or two inside. Haven't read all the posts YET so sorry if this has been asked. Would either of these make good house ducks? If not, what would be better options? Is it better to have two?