The Migratory/Ornamental Waterfowl INFO Thread

[sgt_dane]

I have a 2 and a half week old mallard duckling with a white ring starting around its neck.. has a low raspy quack and this white ring popped up over the last couple days. Like that of the adult male mallard... isnt it that the low raspy quack is a female and the ring doesnt get there on a male until sexual maturity?? Heres a picture to better show what im talking about..

any ideas?

 

[KansasKid]

I found this on a site "You can determine the sex of a duck by listening to the sound of its quack.

At about 10 weeks of age, the voices of all domestic ducks (except Muscovy ducks) take on easily distinguishable male and female characteristics.

The voice of a female (hen) is a loud "Quack-Quack!" or "Uht-Uht!"

The voice of a male (drake) is soft and whispery. They sometimes even have a slight whistle until they reach full maturity." hope that helps.

 

[1lpoock]

If you here a soft whispery quack its a male...not sure on the white ring, maybe just something that will go away when he grows in his feathers.

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

yep, he's a male, they other two from bill color look to be hens, what his, it'll start changing to green before long. Yes the hens are the loud quacky buggers, soft and raspy is always a male. Is kind of early for the ring to be coming in, but a hen definately would never have one, so he's a boy for sure.
You can also vent sex mallards at this age with ease, very obvious on them

 

[1lpoock]

The thing is...they are still in their downy stage and have no feathers. No matter what sex they are they all feather in with female patterns and colors...so I feel like that ring will Molt out.

 

[sgt_dane]

Thank you, and the one i have been thinking was a female is the male, LOL! oh well.. they were all laid on the same day so i know theyre not related, that helps

Hes the sweetest one of the three of them.. The other two are all crazy birds, run from everybody.. Their bills are all the same color though.. hes just the only one with the white ring, and theyre down feathers that have come out.. sure is cute though

They do have feathers, just not noticeable in the picture. Farfig has feathers down his sides and on his back, Nugen has them as well but not as many. Nubbin has the downy feathers on his neck that just came out that are SNOW WHITE. Took him out and looked at them.. They act completely different too, two act about the same but nubbin is so laid back and calm, will sit in my hand while i play with his little white stripe on the neck until i am ready to put him down.

 

[HottentotTeal]

Quote:
How many crickets are too much for them to eat a day?

I am still having a problem getting mine to eat.

They will eat goldfish pellets and I believe crickets. I put in 10 tiny ones yesterday and 6 large ones today.


I don't know if they ate any of the small ones last night, but i am pretty sure they got the large ones today. They wouldn't eat them until i went back inside, though.


I have 6 more left for tomorrow.

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

just a couple each is good for hottentots.
I have noticed on your thread you are worried about them eating, dont be. they are fine, keep in mind their little stomach is no bigger than a quarter. So a spoon full of something will fill them up. a few crickets and goldfish pellets will be about all they can eat, so they are doing good, might want to switch to mealworms that way you'll know for sure if they ate them, they cant crawl away or hop out like crickets do.
Once they settle in , usually take 1-4 days they do just fine

 

[KansasKid]

I got to investigating the N.P.I.P thing just out of curiosity and stumbled across the kansas animal health department. after reading this i was just curious if it means that i don't have to get N.P.I.P certified to ship waterfowl across state lines. (which probably isn't gonna happen, but hey doesn't hurt to ask)

Import Requirements

"All poultry, except waterfowl, must show proof that they are pullorum – typhoid clean by one of the following methods.

Originate from a NPIP certified U.S. Pullorum – Typhoid clean flock as evidenced by an official VS Form 9-3, certifying all adult poultry in the flock have had a negative test for pullorum – typhoid within the past year. (Adult poultry are any turkeys over 12 weeks of age and any other poultry over 16 weeks of age)

Be accompanied by an official VS Form 9-3 signed by the official NPIP representative in the state of origin or by a health certificate that has been issued within the previous 90 days.

In addition to the VS9-3 or health certificate, out of state poultry must have a "Permit to Ship Poultry or Hatching Eggs" that has been issued by the KAHD within the previous year, or a permit number that has been issued by the KAHD office within the previous 15 days."

http://www.kansas.gov/kahd/laws/import_requirements.shtml#birds

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

Nope that is what is required for me to send to you (import)
most states require all poultry to be tested, here in GA the only ones not on the list are pigeons, also as you can see, in addition to the NPIP permit, your state also requires all outside sellers to have one of their import permits, I am finding more and more are getting this way, and it's impossible to find out til you send some in and get their nasty little letters about it, kind of ridiculous really, because their permits for importing are the same thing as what the NPIP test for, if you have that, you have what they want in most cases, so it's kind of ridiculous.
But yes you will have to have one to sell out of the state, but your sellers to you dont apparently