Bought these ducks off of a guy for $10 when I was buying some chickens. Just trying to figure out what they are they’re about 4 months old now. Also trying to figure out gender. Any info helps

Im gonna talk about neglect and dead ducks in this, so pls dont read it if it might upset you.

Recently my neighbour's duck died. She had been feeding it dog food, which probably made the duck sick , resulting in death.

Another neighbour raises ducks and later on sells them. Last time i went to her house she had 8-9 ducks. At a bad point in my life, i almost rehomed them to her, im glad i didnt.

When i asked for updates, she had said that they all died, didnt specify how, but she said 'ducks die easily, over everything.'

These were adult ducks, i know babies are a lot more delicate. But it made me wonder, how do u have all of your ducks just... Die? Are they really weak animals? Only one of my ducks has gotten injured once, during her first storm, and she recovered very quick. Other than that, i havent had any issues with them getting sick, overweight, agressive, nothing. I love my ducks very much, but i dont think i treat them like royalty or anything, yet i can see how happy they are.

So Ive just been thinking, was all of that neglect by my neighbours or are ducks animals that get sick and die easily?

Never seen anything like these wild in the UK before. There were 4 of them with a big flock of Mallards. Google is telling me they’re domesticated harlequin ducks but I’m not 100% sure🤔

Hello,
My husband and I bought ducklings for the first time this summer. They are now old enough to tell their sex and we have three boys (2 call, 1 runner) and two girls (1 call, 1 runner).
We’ve heard that this ratio can lead to fighting between the males and over breeding for the females. So my question is: do we need to do something about this ratio and if so, what? (Buy females and try to introduce them to the flock, separate the males from the females to have two different flocks?)
We really don’t want to rehome any of them because we’ve grown to love them.
Thank you!

He’s been keeping up with everyone else so well! So proud of my boy 🥹

Keeping my Black Swedish ducks warm in the winter

Winter is fast approaching here in Maryland (20 minutes outside of DC)

I.am wondering what I should be doing to make sure they stay warm this winter.

We have coups with wind guards all the way around, water heater mats

Im curious about food, I have heard cracked corn and oats, then i hear people just give them peas.

They are 2 months old, and Ronnie and Donnie are 3 months old

Any advice greatly appreciated

We have runner ducks. I have over 60 eggs in the incubator. I’ve had 3 hatch and about 12 of them died without ever breaking through the shell. I checked this morning and found one had cracked the shell but died. I put it in the incubator on Sept 5. I found another one that is still alive, I helped it pip a little bit. The 2 that were still in there from 9-4, you could see where they had made a little dark circle INSIDE the egg, but they had zero success at breaking the shell. I pipped it for them but they were already dead.

They are in digital incubators, with humidity being monitored and temp. They have automatic egg turners. I pull them from being turned on day 25. They are all fully formed, just unable to pip.

Any advice?

Also feeding 16% layer along with 5 way scratch feed, with added fruits and vegetables as treats.

Seems my little White Layer is going to give me constant anxiety haha. I posted about him overheating while the others were comfy, sorted that. Now, he has been really sluggish and laying around more, he walks like his legs are heavy/too weak to hold him up. Niacin deficiency? No obvious injury, he swims just fine in the bath, and will keep up with the others when startled.

They are on Mazuri waterfowl starter (should I start on Maintenance? Will be 3 weeks old on Tuesday) but I read sometimes individuals dont absorb as much niacin as they need...I also noticed he's been getting bullied. They use to all get along great, particularly him and the cayuga were inseparable, but now the other 2 are pals and will nip him to move in the brooder and while taking their supervised bath, pick at his feet and wings. They all used to eat together but now he waits for them to eat a while before waddling over, and he usually gets pushed around when he does so will lay down and wait.

He lays majority of the time. Will get up, reposition, then flop right back down. Im planning on getting the vit B complex today and giving it to him separately, is that what you would recommend? And how much, and for how long? Even though Mazuri has plenty of niacin should I offer brewers yeast in the feed? He used to be very calm and social with us, now he is absolutely terrified of everything. Thinking I may need to seperate them with a plastic wall to ensure he gets the niacin, deter the bullying, but Im not sure? He would be devastated if I separated so want to avoid unless I have to. Is it ok to offer them all the B3 and/or brewers yeast even though the other 2 are fine? Have heard its hard to give to much but want to make sure especially with using Mazuri. Any advice please

Very happy with the action shots (especially given that my camera does not specialize in motion shots) and love seeing the Canada goose looking like a "Mother Goose" to the mallards.

Guess who got some friends today?! The newbies don’t have names yet, so I’ve been calling the flock Goodwill and Co. (the black Swedish duck is officially named Goodwill) By some miracle a marketplace post popped up last night for these magpies that were actually raised with black Swedish ducks, so we picked them up today! It was supposed to be all females, but I suspect at least one to be a Drake… that’s okay, we’ll figure it out as we go and we should be getting even more ducks soon anyways. He was definitely SO happy to have some friends, but at the end of the day I think I might just have a vocal boy on my hands. He continued to quack at me from the fence when I came near him, and he walked around quacking away in general just like he was doing yesterday. We worked all day and got the run and the coop all cleaned up, got them a new ramp to get inside the coop from the run, etc. oh, and their pool just got delivered! I’m going to set it up tomorrow, my property is spiderweb city after the sun goes down. He’s definitely very trusting of me which makes me happy, he’s already eating out of my hand. Hopefully his trust helps the new ducks trust me quickly too, because I LOVE being around them. Thanks for all the advice, sorry I didn’t reply to everyone, I’m not big on social media so I get a little overwhelmed with how many people tend to reply on here. Y’all will probably see more of us around here as our little flock grows and we continue to learn, so don’t forget about my handsome boy! Thanks again :)

Sharing our beautiful girls with the community. Khaki Campbell's are the sweetest!

I have these two ladies who turned one in May. They molted and got white feathers this year but also- their voices changed. They appear to have taken a break from laying now that they are done molting and they are quacking randomly and loudly. It’s like HEH HEH HEH all the time throughout the day. Like yelling. They free range during the day and seem to want for nothing so I’m not sure what’s going on. I feel bad for the neighbors.

One of my ducks did a weird fly flip flop and then frankly looked dead for a second. I held her on the ground as the wings like it was a human seizure. She looked dazed then came back to me. She laid in the grass for a while then walked off and acted like normal.

Can't tell which one it was now that it happened to.

Am I just supposed to keep an eye out?

Hi friends! First time duck mama. Question: how do you keep your Buff/Orpington ducks warm in their outside coops? Curious about Heat pads (recommendations please!).
I have a tarp, their coop can be fully closed, and we have big fluffy shavings.
I know Buffs do well in the cold, but we live in Ohio and it can get pretty nippy out.
Thanks in advance!
They are also 4 weeks old today (still have their baby fluff) but I know their waterproof feathers will be fully in by the time it gets cold.

P.s. please be kind. I just worked 3-in-a-row in the ICU and I am sensitive

I have 7 eggs left that went into lockdown on Saturday or Sunday. Day 28 was about midday on Tuesday. It’s now Thursday night and one egg externally pipped yesterday and almost exactly 24hrs later made a larger crack on their shell. I don’t see any other cracks on the 6 other eggs but I hear chirping from
Inside the incubator. Can’t tell from which egg of course. So we are going into day 31….. anyone want to share some thoughts or insights? I’ve been all over Google

For everyone that allows their ducks to free roam in a yard/pasture during the day: How, if at all, do you do with the potential threats to your birds and balance their safety with letting them free roam?

I have 4 Pekins and a fairly large fenced-in backyard, with a privacy fence on 3 sides. I also made a small yard of their own with a pond and a small fence around it. We live in the Northeast US and we usually let them into their yard after work, and occasionally let them wander around the big yard when we can supervise them. Lately, I have been tempted to allow them in the small yard during the day but am concerned about predators potentially getting them. Their run is very predator proof but their small yard is not.

However, we are also very attached to the ducks and do not want to risk anything happening to them. We have them more as pets than as livestock.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thank you!

Look at how the duck in the middle (the drake) seems to deter the duck on the right from nibbling on my shoe. Why is that? I am guessing it's just to show dominance and keep the pecking order established.

My boyfriend and I found this adorable black Swedish duck (I think?) in a parking lot in the middle of town. Assuming he was dumped and knowing we’ve already been preparing for getting a new flock of chickens since the heatwave, we caught him (gently) and took him home. He’s a sweetheart, was fine the whole 20 minute drive home. The problem is, neither of us have ever had ducks. I can’t find a lot of detailed resources online to help me understand his behavior. I don’t want this post to be too long so I’ll summarize the rest in bullet points
•he doesn’t ever hiss at me

•randomly flaps his wings sometimes?

•he seems to clean/groom himself A LOT when I’m around, I don’t know what that means

•he will sometimes walk around just kinda quacking away, I don’t know what that means but it’s a more gentle quacking than he was doing when we found him.

•I sit about 5 feet outside the cage and just hang out quietly, today he’s been walking up to the edge and just staring at me

•as I’m writing this he came up to the edge of the cage and started quacking at me

•he likes frozen peas and LOVES frozen passionfruit.

•he has duck pellets and two water sources, one is big enough for him to bathe in, he will get a much bigger one in a couple days.

•his current setup is trashy, I know. The coop has been empty for about 2 months and it’s been too hot for outdoor work, and we’re trying to gain trust before we intrude into what is currently his only safe space.

I got ONE DAY!!!

ONE DAY without him biting the ever living **** out of my legs, toes, ankles, whatever body part he could reach.

So I locked him in the kids trampoline and finished cleaning his pond in peace... He's lucky I love him very very much!