Stowaway Mallard duckling? Pics

[Summersam87]

So my ducklings and chicks arrived about a week and a half ago.. they are about 2 weeks old now.

Anyways, after reading more in this forum, it came to my attention that I may have a mallard in my flock.

I had originally ordered 6 Peking ducklings and 6 Rouen ducklings. When I picked them up and opened the box, I was surprised to find that I had 6 Pekings and 7 Rouen ducklings. I didnt complain, but wasnt entirely pleased that they got my order wrong lol.

I had also ordered 12 black sex-link hens and unfortunately THAT was messed up because I got 9 black sex-link chicks and 3 completely random brown and yellow colored chicks that were obviously older (already had pin feathers starting in whereas everything else was black fluff)

Anyways.. here are some pictures of the extra duckling. The other 5 Rouens look nearly identical to the duckling with the 2 bold stripes with some slight differences (some have thinner stripes, some have super thick stripes, some have one stripe through the eye and the other below or above it.. etc)... but the point is that 5 of the ducklings have 2 eye stripes... and one does not.

She is also markedly smaller than the others and WAAAAAAAAAY friendlier.

Attached are pics of one that has 2 stripes, and the one that only has 1 stripe.

 

[duckncover]

Where did you order from?

 

[Summersam87]

I just weighed them on an egg scale (lol) and found that the one with a single stripe weighs 104g (3.8oz) whereas the rest of them weigh between 130g and 140g (4.6oz - 4.9oz) in other words, a big weight difference

 

[Summersam87]

Where did you order from?

I ordered them from TSC

 

[Miss Lydia]

Looks like you have a cute lil Mallard amongst the group. Congrats!!

 

[desertdarlene]

Yeah, you got a mallard. Just be aware that he won't be as big as your other ducks and may need special attention if the others bully him.

But, he is cute!

 

[Summersam87]

Thank you!

I actually vent-sexed them and this little one is a female. There are 2 Rouen drakes and 1 Peking drake in my flock of 11 birds... is this going to be a problem?

I am going to keep the little Mallard as my personal pet instead of with the flock as she is already being subjected to bullying.. she's got a small patch of down missing from the back of her head, likely because whenever she tries to eat or drink, the others pick on her.


Is is odd that my Pekings are HUGE compared to the Rouens (and MASSIVE compared to the Mallard?) They're the same age as the Rouens.. I just thought that the Rouens would be bigger.
*shrugs*

 

[desertdarlene]

They might have given you jumbo Pekins which grow very large very fast.

I think you're going to almost have the correct ratio of males to females. It's recommended at least 3 females to each male and if you have three males, then you would need at least 9 females, so you're almost there. Sometimes, they can be OK with a little less than that ratio, but you have to keep an eye on them. If you can get a couple more girls, that would be better.

Your little mallard girl will not do well with those big males, though. So, it's good you're keeping her separate. You can maybe put a divider in their brooder or pen so that she can see the other ducks and not get lonely, though, at least until she gets bigger and more adjusted.

 

[Tongiechick]

very cute