The Duck Thread

[NathanZee]

Here is what I could come up with quickly. It is a screen shot from a video. This looks like maybe the beginning of that molt since her feathers look pretty shabby here. But she is proportionate which means those wings are fairly big (the duck behind her is a Cayuga, the same age).



She might also look shabby because this picture is from the same video about 10 seconds earlier

And for size, that is a Black Swedish duck and a Rouen drake on top of her.

Those wings are big, but I don't see how in the world she flew 15 feet. Are you sure she was 11 pounds then? That is quite a pile up in that picture!

 

[Tevyes Dad]

Those wings are big, but I don't see how in the world she flew 15 feet. Are you sure she was 11 pounds then? That is quite a pile up in that picture!

I caught it on one of my security cams (sorry they overwrite after about 3 days and I didn't think to save it at the time.) I am basing the distance on the fact that I have two 7 foot gazebos with a patch between them and at least from the camera view it looked like she took off on one side and landed on the other and peaked about halfway up (gazebos are 5-7 feet on the roof so halfway up would be 2-1/2 to 3-12 feet. Those cameras take about 7 frames/second, so I suppose the take off and landing could have had some ground travel on either side. At the time, I was out in the yard and I heard something turned and saw her land (quite clumsily), then went back and reviewed it on the cameras (I didn't see the flight itself first hand). Her weight in that time frame was definitely between 9 and 11 lbs (gradual weight gain over about 6 months then she stabilized around 11 lbs.) I have no idea why either, it seemed very random (no one was chasing her or anything). The only time I ever saw her fly first hand was sometimes she would be in a hurry and fly out of the pool instead of taking the ramp. Those were more like parachuting - it was about 3 to 3-1/2 ft down and she would go forward about 6 ft (same as the length of the ramp).

 

[Gone-Quackers]

Perhaps you need to get some girl ducks? Or maybe just have other people feed them until they are less hormonal.

 

[DuckLadyRo]

Perhaps you need to get some girl ducks? Or maybe just have other people feed them until they are less hormonal.

Unfortunately our current living situation/space doesn't allow us to have more ducks.. I wish it did. I think I'm going to let others do the feeding til Spring is over.. hopefully they won't be too sad!

 

[Tevyes Dad]

Couple things - Mr drake that was quivering is Max, the one that was being attacked by Shadow, so maybe he was warning him... even though I still have only seen Shadow attacking Max and not vice versa. Since we've only had them about a month, we can't hand feed them yet.. I'm not sure how their previous owners were, but they are a little wary. We just got to the point where we can grab them easier.. and now, with this new found attraction, they come up much closer and follow me back and forth in their pen when I come out or have any kind of food - scratch or meal worms. I'm hoping they are just being rowdy, semi-feisty, teenage ducks.. Since they don't get aggressive towards each other around anyone else I'm wondering if I should stay away for awhile? Or keep the normal routine and see if they get over it? Thanks for all your help and advice!

Got it! I thought the quivering duck was the attacking duck since that is what I have seen most of the time. In your case the quivering (assuming it is still "I am going to do something crazy!") might be Max thinking about attacking Shadow (and Shadow responding with "I don't think so"), or Max just knowing that he is getting in Shadow's space but doing it anyway even though he knows he will probably get attacked. Again if the attack is just a peck or a chest bump (dominance), I would just let them figure it out. If it is more violent (pulling feathers out of Max's chest or back, grabbing his wings or anything drawing blood), then avoiding the conflict may be better.

 

[NathanZee]

I caught it on one of my security cams (sorry they overwrite after about 3 days and I didn't think to save it at the time.) I am basing the distance on the fact that I have two 7 foot gazebos with a patch between them and at least from the camera view it looked like she took off on one side and landed on the other and peaked about halfway up (gazebos are 5-7 feet on the roof so halfway up would be 2-1/2 to 3-12 feet. Those cameras take about 7 frames/second, so I suppose the take off and landing could have had some ground travel on either side. At the time, I was out in the yard and I heard something turned and saw her land (quite clumsily), then went back and reviewed it on the cameras (I didn't see the flight itself first hand). Her weight in that time frame was definitely between 9 and 11 lbs (gradual weight gain over about 6 months then she stabilized around 11 lbs.) I have no idea why either, it seemed very random (no one was chasing her or anything). The only time I ever saw her fly first hand was sometimes she would be in a hurry and fly out of the pool instead of taking the ramp. Those were more like parachuting - it was about 3 to 3-1/2 ft down and she would go forward about 6 ft (same as the length of the ramp).

Oh a cam like that must be nice! I suppose with strong legs and flapping like crazy it is possible, but I would love to see it happen! Apparently she was really excited!

Unfortunately our current living situation/space doesn't allow us to have more ducks.. I wish it did. I think I'm going to let others do the feeding til Spring is over.. hopefully they won't be too sad!

Unless your drakes are hurting each other, I think it will be fine for you to feed them.

 

[Tevyes Dad]

Oh a cam like that must be nice! I suppose with strong legs and flapping like crazy it is possible, but I would love to see it happen! Apparently she was really excited!

Unless your drakes are hurting each other, I think it will be fine for you to feed them.

The cams are a must! Whenever we find something amiss, we can travel back in time and see what happened to determine if it needs to be a concern or not. For instance broken eggs: magpie, skunk, stupid duck kicking the egg, something else... Once we saw Entie with a really bad limp. Looked her over - no sign of trauma. We went back in the camera until we figured out when the limp started. Watched that section close and saw Kaine running after Tevye. Tevye fled at high speed. Entie got spooked and stepped right in front of Tevye and got plowed over... Bad move Entie. We reexamined her with that knowledge and still found nothing so decided to wait. The next day she was fine. Must of just gotten a good bruise. But we knew it was an accident and nobody/nothing attacked her.

 

[NathanZee]

The cams are a must! Whenever we find something amiss, we can travel back in time and see what happened to determine if it needs to be a concern or not. For instance broken eggs: magpie, skunk, stupid duck kicking the egg, something else... Once we saw Entie with a really bad limp. Looked her over - no sign of trauma. We went back in the camera until we figured out when the limp started. Watched that section close and saw Kaine running after Tevye. Tevye fled at high speed. Entie got spooked and stepped right in front of Tevye and got plowed over... Bad move Entie. We reexamined her with that knowledge and still found nothing so decided to wait. The next day she was fine. Must of just gotten a good bruise. But we knew it was an accident and nobody/nothing attacked her.

Wow, that must help! Sometimes I just have to wonder what happened to them, but limping doesn't seem to take long to heal.

 

[Julie Birb]

The cams are a must!  Whenever we find something amiss, we can travel back in time and see what happened to determine if it needs to be a concern or not.  For instance broken eggs: magpie, skunk, stupid duck kicking the egg, something else...  Once we saw Entie with a really bad limp.  Looked her over - no sign of trauma.  We went back in the camera until we figured out when the limp started.  Watched that section close and saw Kaine running after Tevye. Tevye fled at high speed. Entie got spooked and stepped right in front of Tevye and got plowed over... Bad move Entie.  We reexamined her with that knowledge and still found nothing so decided to wait.  The next day she was fine.  Must of just gotten a good bruise.  But we knew it was an accident and nobody/nothing attacked her.

Why would have Kaine been chasing Tevye like that? Makes me feel bad. Glad Entie was an accident and not on purpose.

 

[Tevyes Dad]

Why would have Kaine been chasing Tevye like that? Makes me feel bad. Glad Entie was an accident and not on purpose.

Hormones. Kaine and Tevye are best of friends for about 3-4 months and the rest of the year Kaine wants Tevye to go find a new flock

For what it's worth Kaine is on day 15 of jail. Saturday we let him out. He got mobbed by about half of the girls for 5-10 minutes, then he decided to attack Greta. Fwoop, back in jail. We will give him another chance this weekend.

He does fine in jail. At least half the day one or more of his fans is near him keeping him company. Funny thing is Greta is actually one of his fans.

But if he gets a chance he attacks her. He got thrown in jail because he bloodied (not actually that bad, but blood none the less) both of her elbows. Tevye doesn't get hurt but he gets chased all over. Last year Kaine pulled all the feathers off the top of Greta's butt. He is so nice with us and the girls really love him so we don't want to get rid of him and from October to the beginning of February, he was a sweet heart. We will build him a semi-permanent jail in the secure area when it is done. It will be like a ducky efficiency apartment.