Strange duck behaviour..

[quackiemama]

This has been quite a fun thread to read. Wish I wasn't so far behind but that is the story of my life on here. I get busy and miss all of the good stuff.

 

[Royaly Ducked]

I also have to add.... "Royaly Ducked" is one of the cutest screen names I've seen in a long time!

It's great ... my real name is actually Royale - I hated it for the first 30 odd years of my life.. but once in a while it works as a good punny screen name.

 

[Royaly Ducked]

it’s all fun and games till someone gets a finger hickey.

I’m sorry.
Drakes do get curly tail feathers, unless they are molting or in eclipse plumage. That age, they could be going thru juvenile molt, so voice is much more accurate than tail feathers. Girls QUACK, so they hyena is likely female. Drakes have a raspy sound, not really a full quack.

This website has sound bites of both genders, may help you
http://www.majesticwaterfowl.org/artquacks.htm

Some varieties we can also tell gender by looks/color pattern, so if you can post some pics (or embed a YouTube video of their sounds) it might help.


And yes, 3 drakes will be too hard on one hen. Selling the hen is an option, or adding more hens, or selling a couple drakes. Or separate 2 drakes from the pair.

As far as your daughter, she should probably just stop trying to hold him for a while.

The two pairs (Fish and Chips, and Cheese and Quackers) are fully bonded to each other Fish and Chips are inseparable and You'll not see Cheese without Quackers. So I don't think getting rid of one would be emotionally beneficial to the other duck.

I also never thought I would say the words "emotionally beneficial to the other duck" so there's that.

Indoor ducks aren't possible unless A: you have no sense of smell or B: you're actually Tarzan.

UGH! my heart! If only I could figure out how to actually use duck diapers.

 

[Royaly Ducked]

Well. .seriously. .
Ducks will hump just about anything. It's not uncommon.
Hormones are especially high at that young age and they are just figuring things out. Kind of like teenagers.

LOL ironic he's humping my teenager.

 

[chickens really]

Oh. I can see how that's true . I'm wondering if one of my ducks has no gender, sometimes she will lay an egg, other times she will hump her husband not sure if she is right in the mind, y'know.

All Ducks are very sexual and Hens breed hens and Drakes breed Hens. It's normal.

 

[Miss Lydia]

This is so funny I appreciate your humor @Royaly Ducked .

 

[perchie.girl]

I have absolutely no knowledge of ducks except for what I've learned on this thread:
Ducks apparently quack when they're horny.
When ducks say nothing, they are horny, too.
Ducks are horn dogs all of the time, except when their eyes are closed...and then they're likely dreaming horn dog duck dreams.
Ducks like to keep you guessing about their gender. Apparently they like to mix up their gender identity depending on the day, the time, who's around & if their eyes are open or closed.
Ducks have quite a sense of humor, mocking and mimicking everyone within earshot. And they will constantly hide from and make frantic their mates (which really could be anyone & everyone), flock mates & caretakers, only to pop out of hiding unexpectedly and punk them in spectacularly heart stopping fashion. Each evening, they re-live the days' adventures & moments of glory, plot the next days events and close their eyes...and probably have more horn dog duck dreams about finger hickeys and the like.

Ducks are hilarious!

OMG.... I have to go to the first post now... Love your writing...

deb

 

[caymusjordan]

@Royaly Ducked - I'm sorry that you may need to re-home some of your ducks...We are looking to add a female since one of ours is sick and we should have started with three instead of just two...ugh, not many people willing to sell a single female.

And, I've never noticed either of our girls humping anything - weird, maybe they are asexual...

BTW, our girls are also named Fish & Chips (Fish is the Pekin and Chips is the Cayuga). Thinking if we find a third she might be Tarter or Ann...My daughter was sobbing in their pen tonight when Chips was refusing her medication.

 

[WVduckchick]

The two pairs (Fish and Chips, and Cheese and Quackers) are fully bonded to each other Fish and Chips are inseparable and You'll not see Cheese without Quackers. So I don't think getting rid of one would be emotionally beneficial to the other duck.

I also never thought I would say the words "emotionally beneficial to the other duck" so there's that.

Indoor ducks aren't possible unless A: you have no sense of smell or B: you're actually Tarzan.

UGH! my heart! If only I could figure out how to actually use duck diapers.

Im definitely not Tarzan. I hatched 6 ducklings this week for a friend, and have a pair of call ducklings of my own inside, a week old, and I’m already ready to throw them outside. Thank goodness she is picking up the 6 big ones today.


And although we feel like they miss each other, I think they may recognize when some are gone, but they get over it pretty quickly. I’ve sold many ducks, separated pairs or trios, lost ones to predators, etc and I always hate it. But the ones that remain seem to recover easier than I always expect. We have to do what’s best for the flock.

Another consideration... most ducks have times when... we’ll, when they are hornier than usual. As long as they get along and aren’t too sex crazed, you could keep them together. But separate them at the times when they go nutty.

 

[Miss Lydia]