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| Name: |
Daffy, Jemima
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Age: |
Six years old
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| Gender: |
Male, Female
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Kind: |
Khaki Campbells Ducks
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| Home: |
Lancashire, UK
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Hi,
I'd like to introduce my two ducks, Jemima and Daffy. They are
six-year-old Khaki Campbells and I bought them at a local pet shop. At the
time I didn't know whether they were male or female as they hadn't been
sexed but it soon turned out I had a boy and a girl. They have completely
bonded with each other which makes for fun in the garden because you can't
separate them with a huge fuss. They live in my garden and have a pond and
quite happily share the garden with my four dogs and three rabbits. They love
trying to come into my kitchen but they make such a mess everywhere that I
have resorted to putting a barricade up across the door way. Khaki
Campbells are supposed to make good egg layers and bad mothers but
unbeknown to me they wanted a have ducklings and they did succeed in
producing five ducklings after several attempts. What a shock that was when I
saw them, even helped two come out of their egg shells.
Amongst the pictures is one showing Daffy fighting with his reflection
because he thought another male duck was after his female (that was so
funny), another shows Jemima and her week old ducklings (four females and one
male). We even took the ducklings into my son's primary school to show
them off to his class mates for pet day. They were the highlight of the
afternoon, as I stayed to keep an eye on them.
Jemima is a bossy girl. Before Jemima and Daffy I had a female Mallard
called Donald who I had from four days old until she died of old age at
fourteen years old. I thought she was bossy ,but it would seem that female ducks
are just naturally inquisitive, bossy and are constantly looking for food.
They are friendly to people in that if they see me with a spade they'll
both coming running (lead by Jemima) because they know I'll be digging for
worms which they love. When I'm digging they pester the living daylights
out of me getting on every spadeful and it's a real art trying not to
catch them accidentally with a spade. If I shout their names, they'll also
come running to me and if they can they are in my kitchen at every
opportunity. They have, on the other hand, bonded with each other so well
that they are not as friendly as Donald, who lived on her own and thought
me and my dog were her mum.
These two are very much food oriented and Jemima is definitely the boss of
the two. It would appear that Daffy is more like a body guard, standing on
duty all the time watching for anyone trying to steal his mate. If he
feels I'm being a pest he will try to jump up and nip me or get my ankle
and even without teeth they can hurt. Jemima is a lousy egg layer she
seems to do it as and when she feels like it. My old duck laid every day
for about four years and then stopped. Jemima on the other hand, who is
supposed to be a prolific egg layer, only lays throughout the breeding
season (about March to September) and then gives up until the following
year, and even during this time she may not lay every day. I wonder if
that is because she lives with a male. As I've already said she was
supposed to be a good layer and bad mother but she has been the complete
opposite! Both her and Daffy where very attentive to the eggs and
obviously determined to have ducklings. I knew she was laying and she had
amounted quite a few in one of her nests but I believed that if I removed
some for say a week and put them back and remove the others that the eggs
would no longer be fertile. She had laid eighteen eggs and I left her with five
eventually but I really though she was safe to sit on them. It turns out
now that they can be left for about a fortnight without being sat on and
still be fertile. Well, I've never made the mistake since and they've
never been so determined to have more ducklings since.
Jemima is the brains of the outfit, she's clever, she works things out and
as long as food is being offered she's up for the challenge. Daffy on the
other hand is a follower, his brain is on constant "Go slow" mode. He
can't function without Jemima and goes into panic mode. If you shout
Jemima they both come running, but if you shout Daffy he won't react on
his own.
They live in Lancashire, UK in our garden, they have the run of the
garden, a pond at the top and they have access to shelter via a cat flap
which they can use without problem. They tend to prefer being out in the
garden though, and will happily stay there through most types of weather,
although they will shelter in the bushes. I will bring them in when it's
been snowing, but I have to catch them first!! They are not clipped in any
way, they are too heavy to get any height and the highest they done is
about three feet. We did have two wild Mallards who tried to make our garden a
safe haven for breeding for the last two springs, but Jemima and Daffy would
not share and would chase the female out of the garden.
In one picture is Daffy and Jemima up near pond whilst the wild female
mallard and her mate (who's out of sight) try to take over their patch. In
the spring Daffy has the most wonderful feathers, his head turns green and
his feathers brighten up and he gets a curl on his tail feathers, by
August each year they both moult. Daffy and Kemima are very special ducks.
View more images of Daffy, Jemima!
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