The Duck Thread

[WVduckchick]

Happy Tuesday everyone! Hope y'all had a good weekend and Mother's day! I've been busy tending to my flock.
I decided it was terrible that lil evil Lamont can't get into the pool with his friends. He tries to jump in but can't make it over the side. He sadly runs around the pool dipping his head in the water looking quite pathetic. There are ramps an rocks to aid them all, but poor evil Lamont can't figure it out. We had a small litter box outside for them when they were wittle but it's not deep enough to do alot of diving and splashing. The only other thing I has around was a tub for under the bed. Wouldn't ya know.. it's as tall as the pool. Pooo! I get the brilliant idea make an "inground" pool, with the smaller tub. -many many flaws- the worst... totally not big enough to fit 8 ducks. In my simple quick fix thinking... I intended the inground to be for the babies, and the big one to be for Frank and bean... ducks however did not get the memmo....I'll have yo show you the outcome.

Lol the inground one is easier to get into! I thought about digging mine down into the ground, but figured it would be more difficult to empty and refill. Probably will do it anyway, and figure something out.

 

[LadyIsadora]

just got 8 baby ducks - they are awful scared of me, which you would expect but I'm hoping to let them free range when they get older and am wondering how they will come to me if they are scared - is there something they like to eat better than grain that will make them come?

I agree PEAS are the cement in the bonds of friendship with ducks, but dont forget to use audio cues when giving them the peas if you want to make it a "come here" thing. I can hold snails, worms, meal worms (really anything) in my hand and the ducks will just look at me suspiciously untill I say "bugs babies, I got your bugs" then I am tackled and nibbled to within an inch of my life ;-)
use audio and visual cues to get them to preform the same action repetitively.

My ducks know the words, " Peas, bugs, garden, pen, yum-yums" and about 10 more for sure. Repetitiveness is the key!
really like any animal.
Good luck.

 

[Chrysolinsbirds]

I agree PEAS are the cement in the bonds of friendship with ducks, but dont forget to use audio cues when giving them the peas if you want to make it a "come here" thing.     I can hold snails, worms, meal worms (really anything) in my hand and the ducks will just look at me suspiciously untill I say "bugs babies, I got your bugs"  then I am tackled and nibbled to within an inch of my life ;-)  
     use audio and visual cues to get them to preform the same action repetitively. 

     My ducks know the words, " Peas, bugs, garden, pen, yum-yums" and about 10 more for sure.  Repetitiveness is the key! 
really like any animal. 
     Good luck. 

I usually just start quacking on my way out and they meet me like halfway whichever group is free ranging that day =)

 

[Lynn Manes]

[/IMG]

@lynnhill

They're yellow and brown mallards?? Beautiful. I've never seen mallards that color before.

I just thought all baby ducks were fuzzy yellow little ones and they will grow into their adult colors.As you see by the pix, moms and dad (we only have 3 adult ducks) are normal mallard colors.

 

[Lynn Manes]

Here's the pic of my 2 mamas with the babies. See normal adult mallard female colors. This is our first duck hatch. I do have a question. Seems the girls are not interested in sitting on the rest of the eggs since these 2 ducklings are now in the world. They just want to protect them and keep kicking eggs out. What if we pick up the remaining eggs, candle them and put them in the incubator? Do you think we'd have any luck getting them to hatch?

 

[Reese7383]

Morning ma... wake up I want to go see my friends.

 

[duckies1230]

Quick question... Its 50 degrees right now and only going up to the low 60s at the most today. When do ducks produce their own oil? They are about a month and a half old, have half adult feathers and still some baby yellow fur. Is it ok to let them swim or is it too cold? I leave for work at ten and won't be home till 6:30. So i need to know asap so I can get them set up before I get ready. Thanks!

 

[Kaessa]

Here's the pic of my 2 mamas with the babies. See normal adult mallard female colors. This is our first duck hatch. I do have a question. Seems the girls are not interested in sitting on the rest of the eggs since these 2 ducklings are now in the world. They just want to protect them and keep kicking eggs out. What if we pick up the remaining eggs, candle them and put them in the incubator? Do you think we'd have any luck getting them to hatch?

Those are actually Welsh Harlequins, it looks like you have a silver drake and silver and gold hens (the one with bronze speculum is a gold). They are very pretty! Welsh Harlequin are my favorite.

 

[needlessjunk]

[/IMG]
I just thought all baby ducks were fuzzy yellow little ones and they will grow into their adult colors.As you see by the pix, moms and dad (we only have 3 adult ducks) are normal mallard colors.

That is a male welsh Harlequin and your girls are also welsh harlequin. Kaessa said it looks like you have a gold phase and silver phase hens. They are all very pretty but they are not mallards at all.

 

[Lizzy456]

The ducklings have arrived!The post office called at 6:10 this morning and said:Your chicks or ducklings or whatever they are are here

I thought they'd be tired out since they just traveled across the country , but they were up , jumping around and OUT of the box...they weren't drinking even though I dipped their bills in the water , so I put some lettuce in and it turned into a free-for-all!I'll try to get some pics up later but my camera isn't cooperating...they are so adorable!
All six are Khaki Campbells , healthy , happy and currently sleeping like babies