Adopted ducks!

[photographress]

On April 1, these three were waddling down the road, scooping water out of puddles and looking generally distressed. I gently herded them into my chicken coop, hoping to at least contain them so they didnt get smooshed on the road while I tried to find their owners. A pan of crumbles was out in the coop and the three ran over and started scarfing down the food - clearly they hadnt eaten in some time.

Kicker was that they were really rather young - they were still fuzzy, no real feathers except just a few on the tips of their wings. They were very nervous, but so hungry. I made sure they had water, and they seemed relieved to no longer be #hoboducks.

I was never able to find any owners so now months, they are just happily living with the chickens, have a little pond, and everything seems fine. they have filled in with all their feathers, have quadrupled in size and seem very happy, even getting braver for human contact.

However, I know NOTHING ABOUT THEM. I am most curious about the breed of the grey one - it had a very blue colored bill when it was little, its now greying out some, and some random white feathers have started to pop into its coat as well. some on the chest, but kind of up the neck too. the others look the same, i assume they're peking ducks? how can you tell if they are male or female? they seem to be happy eating laying crumbles and the assortment of produce scraps they also receive daily.

They are quite comical and are a great addition to the farm, just want to make sure I can know a little more about them and duck raising!

Below photo was when they first arrived - all three could fit in one of those pans. now - its hard pressed for one to fit in there alone!

 

[webwad]

the farm I volunteer at has two Peking ducks and they love the water, my two welsh harlequins at home do too. if I were you I would get a kitty pool or something because they will definitely love the water.

 

[ZoeS95423]

I would say the gray one is a blue Swedish.
And yes the white ones are Pekins . no G at the end heheh. Sorry huge pet peeve of mine!

As for sexing them, male ducks have a raspy quack while females are loud! You can easily YouTube voice sexing ducks.
If you have 2 males you should get a few more females. Where is you have 2 females 1 male you'll be just right and have happy ducks

 

[webwad]

I have a male and female, both welsh harlequins at home and they can not stand being without each other, if it were up to me I would have more but I live in a close house proximity neighborhood and the HOA doesn't allow many!

At the farm though we have two Pekins like I said and they also have three Cayugas not sure what sex any of them are though. we don't have baby ducks running around so I guess most of them are females because you can find eggs all over the property!

 

[photographress]

Someone told me that male ducks have curly tails?! bahah i have no idea, but grey duck is CERTAINLY curly. here's two pix of them today - WAY bigger than they were in April. There's a five-gallon yellow bucket there too - it has two little nipples on the bottom that the ducks totally figured out how to use (hamster-style) the chickens are still mystified. ... even though they watch the ducks do it.

 

[tdd2]

The grey one, and the larger Pekin (on the right) both look to have drake feathers - the curled up feathers in the center of their tails.

The Pekin on the left doesn't appear to have drake feathers, and looks smaller than the other Pekin - likely a female, IMHO.

If this turns out to be the case, and you have 2 drakes and 1 duck, you'll likely run into some issues during mating season....

In any case, good for you taking them in!

Cheers'

Dan

 

[photographress]

right, that's kind of what I was thinking -- when is mating season!? i dont need #duckissues.

 

[tdd2]

We're in it

They might be a bit young yet to have the hormone effect of adult ducks. And until you know it's 2-1, it's a guessing game.

If the smaller one - or any of them for that matter - start quacking (only the females actually 'quack') then you'll have a better idea.

If you end up with 2 drakes and a duck, it could potentially be an issue at any time.

Options could be to rehome the female, leaving you a pair of male buddies or get more females...typically a good ratio is 1 male to 3-4 females.

I wouldn't rehome the males and keep the female without getting her a female friend though, ducks typically need to be with other ducks as they are flock animals.

If you end up with 3 males, or 2 females and 1 male - no problems.

Cheers'

Dan

 

[photographress]

Ah man! Well the last thing i need is more animals. And were in a water shortage area so having more ducks and more duck pools and more duck shenanagins are not really on my radar. Rehoming the female is probably best bet. I have some friends with ducks, perhaps a lady duck would be a nice adition to their flock.

What kind of issues? Man duck fights? ..."over burdened" females?

There is certainly noise coming from them. Especially when theyre all ready to be let out in the am. One is looooooud and angry like honking sounding. The other noises are ... gruff?er...ill see if i can get a quick video in the am and try for a sound bite.

 

[ellieuki]

Ah, IMO that's the only downside of ducks is the drake to hen ratio. Too many drakes can mean too many dead hens. Drakes are far to aggressive with their mating and can kill the hens, especially when there is only one hen and two drakes competing for her. I'm sorry
It's awful to spilt em up but unless you add two to three more hens, it's cruel to let them beat her up.