Duck!!!

[lute]

i have now descoverd the DUCK! they are cute,friendly and i fell in love with them in the petstore the other day......does anyone here have any ducks???

i want one,but i am researching on them for the next few days/weeks to see ifi can even handle them...pics are welcome!!!

[tomkatzid]

It is funny you bring this up, I was at work the other day and one of the teachers had a duck with her. His name was hughie and he was the best. She raised him from the time he hatched and he followed her around like a dog would. We took him outside and he ran around chasing her!
He would come up to me when I crouched down and he wanted you to scratch his head, so he puts his beak under my leg and would peek out at me to see if I was going to pet him.
A while later I came through her room and asked where hughie was as I didn't see him, he was curled up at her feet under her desk sound asleep, just like a little puppy.
She said he was getting to be pretty well house trained too.
I brought the camera the next day but they were gone when I got there, and now the teachers are gone for the summer. I really wanted to post his picture here:(
She said get them when they are really young and they think they are humans!
I will never forget little hughie!.......tom:cool:

[lute]

cute! my cousin had two ducklings. his mom got them for him for his birthday. they were pekin ducks.

i heard it is better to have two ducklings then one.....because they keep each other company. is this true?

[tomkatzid]

Hughies mom said she thought he was getting so attached to her because he was an only duck, but I think in general animals are happier if they have a friend, especially if they are left alone alot.
But I also think they get into more mischief when influenced by their buddies;) ....tom

[Desert Arabian]

A family friend of ours breeds wild ducks, turkeys, phesants, and quail.

If I were you, I would not buy a duck through a pet store. Look around your area and see if their are any breeders. Most likely there is. They don't charge much at all, and they are in a better situation than pet store ducks, and their health most likely will be better.


i heard it is better to have two ducklings then one.....because they keep each other company. is this true?
Yes. It's true. Since ducks are so cheap to buy, you could even get like a mini flock of four or so. :D That's what I personally would do.

[lute]

oh,well i don't know if i can have 4 ducks...i think i may be able to have just one and then work up to maybe two.

[tomkatzid]

Here are a couple of sites I ran across:)
Katz


http://www.mis.coventry.ac.uk/~nhunt/180sor/agarlick/mallardducks.htm

http://www.geocities.com/petduckassociation/

http://www.t-n-t.org/KBD/text/duckie.html

[lute]

cool!thanks soo much.

[Mich]

Well, now we are on a subject close to my heart. I am not young, and had them as a child. I loved them, hand feeding them the bread, grain and milk mu Mother gave me to do so. These were a merry mixture. all shapes and sizes and colours.

When I had my own family, I thought, what better way to introduce a child to the love of them - have them.

So, I had Muscovy Ducks, white and the black and white. The Drakes can sometimes be cranky, so did not have one. Then was asked to take some dwarf ducks off a friends hands. These were Appleyard.......well the tiny Drake made babies with one of the huge Muscovy ducks! I was shocked! We kept the babes, and all were ducks - there was only 4. They laid eggs which we ate, of course. I gave away the Muscovy then.

My Children were there to see the little ducks mating, laying eggs and there to see them hatch....Nature is beautiful. I am so glad I had them, as they were such great pets.

[Fox-Gal]

I have 4 ducks right now. I love them and their are good pets. I don't know about house pets though. A lot of time goes into training them to be house pets. Keep that in mind if you get some. Ducks are trainable though.
I trained mine to stay out of my pool, nothing like swimming with ducks they seem to want to poop ever time they get in water. :eek: But now they know what part of the yard they can go into, not to get in the flower beds etc ect.

If you keep them out side, like mine, get a kiddy pool for them. Know that the water will have to be changed offen. The poop thing again. ;) Here's a pic of Waddles, my male. Oh yeah if you get a male and female don't freak if you see what looks like the male drowning the female......just making babies. :D
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid66/p1ba461d4a4ca3aa7e52693c98275d667/fbe29fc1.jpg

[CamCamPup33]

my mother had a duck before.. she raised it and everything.. then it had a little duckie! they dont sell them at the pet stores here! :( i wish!! me and my friend caught one by the lake at her house and named it butterfinger! it was so cute! i will be getting one soon though! it will be friends with cami! hehe..!!

Amber

[Mich]

Please tell me what type of Duck that is in the photo? Is it a young Muscovy ? The ones I had grew red flesh above their beak.

[lute]

wow i didn't know you could train a duck.

the duck in the picture is a beautiful duck!

another question...if i get a duck from the wild.will it fly south for the winter???

[Desert Arabian]

Originally posted by lute
if i get a duck from the wild.will it fly south for the winter???

Depends on what wild duck breed it is. Not all wild ducks migrate south for the winter.

It most likely will fly away at some point, unless you clipped the wings. My friend, Laura S., raises Mallard ducklings every spring, and they eventually fly away.

And if you capture a duckling or take a duck egg from the wild, that is illegal, and you can get in big trouble. Just thought I'd mention that.

[lute]

oh i didn't know that!!!:eek:
my fav. breed of duck is pekin or mallard.

are ducks good with kids?
what is the best thing to feed them?

[Fox-Gal]

Originally posted by Mich
Please tell me what type of Duck that is in the photo? Is it a young Muscovy ? The ones I had grew red flesh above their beak.

Yes he is part Muscovy, My ducks have been so mixed up over the years that not one of them is full anything. ;)


As for getting a duck from the wild and flying south for the winter, thats going to depend on the type of duck and the age. If you get it as a baby.

I'll tell you what we do with our ducks when we first get them, just to make sure they don't fly away. We clip their wings some, you have to be carefull how you do it though. Don't clip so far up that it hurts them, of course, and leave enough that they can still fly some, just enough so they are not completely grounded. We do this several time in their first year or so. As they get older they don't even try to leave anymore, they know this is home and free food, why leave. :D Of course I live in Florida, so how much more south do they need to go.

It also helps to train them to stay in their part of the yard. We don't want them to be able to fly over to the dogs side of the yard. Fence can hold in the dogs, but can't hold in a duck!! That's where the clipping come in handy. We do this with all our birds, goose, peacocks, chickens etc. It doesn't hurt them at all, so not to worry about that.


As for feeding them, our's get chicken feed.

[Mich]

What a lovely story, Foz-Gal. I never cut the wings,but the Muscovy was too heavy to fly over the fence, and the Dwarf Appleyard, must have liked where they were. I do have to say, that that phot is a lovely one of one of your ducks. Thank you for telling me about them all.