ruthhope
Free Ranging
Hello!
I retired to NE Florida [St Johns County] and, although I have had a virtually life long desire to raise bantam chickens in retirement, I found myself supporting my son raising Pekin ducks, this spring. He impulse bought 3 x day old ducklings mid-March and I spent 24 hours reading up avidly while ensuring the little lives had what they needed to thrive. Warmth was the most problematic for a spontaneous purchase and the first night my son had the heating on full and a fan heater in his guest bedroom where we set up a brooder in a wading pool. By the second night I had obtained a heat lamp which clamped safely onto a stool. Within one week, I had ordered ceramic bulbs on line as I didn't like the ducklings under a red lamp 24/7
My son's ducklings did indeed thrive and by 12 weeks it was clear he had a male and two females [one of the females is a crested.] From the start, they did everything in threes and were not interested in being "hand raised" and petted. Since moving to a pen in the back garden -- where they sleep at night -- the three love to free range during the day, have endless pleasure in splashing in a kiddies' wading pool, and have become much more sociable with my son and I, as they now associate us with food and treats. I love their three distinct personalities, the "guard duck" role assumed by the drake who also stands back and lets the ducks eat first, and the very noisy little crested duck who may be the smallest but is clearly the boss! Both ducks have been laying daily since they were 15 weeks.
I then rescued, revived and raised a very sick perhaps 1 day old Muscovy just as my son's ducks started laying. After recovering from the near death state I rescued her in, she became very 'depressed' lying in a corner refusing to eat or drink. I recognized the signs of depression and decided to "hand rear" her. She spent hours with me sitting and sleeping between my arms as I typed on my laptop and later in a box on the chair next to me when she was just too big to sit between me and the laptop screen. She loved playing nibbly nibbly and also playing with parrot toys with strings and bells, wooden pegs and plastic tops. I could not commit to having a house duck for 12 -15 years and realized she needed to be socialized with other ducks so that she could lead a regular duck life in my back yard. So she went to "summer camp" for 4 weeks with a rehabber and then came back to me with two "room mates". The break gave me time to construct a safe pen in the yard -- it's basically a small hoop pen. The rehabber had an adult male white crested that had been attacked by a raccoon and has a badly damaged bill. I said I would take him with my duck as the crested could not be released to the wild and there isn't actually demand for male domestic ducks round here. I thought my Muscovy was female [I had been weighing her daily for 6 weeks and comparing her to ducky growth charts] but the rehabber thought my Muscovy was male and so a second "male Muscovy" came home with mine and the male crested duck. I still thought my own Muscovy was female and it seemed to me from the passive behavior that the second Muscovy was also female. Within a week, the definitely male Pekin was mounting on the second Muscovy and making domineering moves towards my original Muscovy. I am 99% certain that I actually have a male white crested and two female Muscovies.
I am enjoying "hanging out" with the ducks each morning and getting to observe their behaviors which are different from my son's three ducks' behaviors. The three stick together -- the two Muscovies a little closer to each other than either is to the Pekin [except when mating!] The crested is the "guard duck" keeping a watching eye and a cocked ear. He is not a gentleman about standing back while the Muscovies eat but his damaged bill makes feeding difficult for him and he needs to be assertive about getting enough food. While my original hand-raised Muscovy is a big softie that likes to be petted and likes to play nibbly nibbly with my shoes and feet, the other two are much more reserved. The male crested has just started taking peas from my hand -- until today he had to be fed from a plastic cup as he wouldn't eat treats from my hand -- and now also joins in the nibbly nibbly games with my feet. The second Muscovy is not yet eating treats from my hand and sits just outside arms reach when we all hang out together.
All 6 ducks think they should be "house ducks". My son's spend all day sitting on my back steps looking into my Florida room when they visit, and quickly jump at the chance to get into my son's lanai if the door is left open in error. My own ducks come out of their coup in the morning, come straight onto my back steps, and then spend the day alternately sleeping there and looking inside even though two of them have never been in my house!! My three are all very reluctant to bath in the wading pool and I have had to resort to using a hosepipe -- on mist then gentle shower-- to clean them up each morning. The male crested went into the wading pool for a good splash around today after having had his shower! Progress in ducky hygiene!! I'm still waiting on clean Muscovies.
All these ducks give me great pleasure and I feel sure my blood pressure is lower after a few hours hanging out with them. they also get more visits from my friends and neighbors than I have ever had previously!
I retired to NE Florida [St Johns County] and, although I have had a virtually life long desire to raise bantam chickens in retirement, I found myself supporting my son raising Pekin ducks, this spring. He impulse bought 3 x day old ducklings mid-March and I spent 24 hours reading up avidly while ensuring the little lives had what they needed to thrive. Warmth was the most problematic for a spontaneous purchase and the first night my son had the heating on full and a fan heater in his guest bedroom where we set up a brooder in a wading pool. By the second night I had obtained a heat lamp which clamped safely onto a stool. Within one week, I had ordered ceramic bulbs on line as I didn't like the ducklings under a red lamp 24/7
My son's ducklings did indeed thrive and by 12 weeks it was clear he had a male and two females [one of the females is a crested.] From the start, they did everything in threes and were not interested in being "hand raised" and petted. Since moving to a pen in the back garden -- where they sleep at night -- the three love to free range during the day, have endless pleasure in splashing in a kiddies' wading pool, and have become much more sociable with my son and I, as they now associate us with food and treats. I love their three distinct personalities, the "guard duck" role assumed by the drake who also stands back and lets the ducks eat first, and the very noisy little crested duck who may be the smallest but is clearly the boss! Both ducks have been laying daily since they were 15 weeks.
I then rescued, revived and raised a very sick perhaps 1 day old Muscovy just as my son's ducks started laying. After recovering from the near death state I rescued her in, she became very 'depressed' lying in a corner refusing to eat or drink. I recognized the signs of depression and decided to "hand rear" her. She spent hours with me sitting and sleeping between my arms as I typed on my laptop and later in a box on the chair next to me when she was just too big to sit between me and the laptop screen. She loved playing nibbly nibbly and also playing with parrot toys with strings and bells, wooden pegs and plastic tops. I could not commit to having a house duck for 12 -15 years and realized she needed to be socialized with other ducks so that she could lead a regular duck life in my back yard. So she went to "summer camp" for 4 weeks with a rehabber and then came back to me with two "room mates". The break gave me time to construct a safe pen in the yard -- it's basically a small hoop pen. The rehabber had an adult male white crested that had been attacked by a raccoon and has a badly damaged bill. I said I would take him with my duck as the crested could not be released to the wild and there isn't actually demand for male domestic ducks round here. I thought my Muscovy was female [I had been weighing her daily for 6 weeks and comparing her to ducky growth charts] but the rehabber thought my Muscovy was male and so a second "male Muscovy" came home with mine and the male crested duck. I still thought my own Muscovy was female and it seemed to me from the passive behavior that the second Muscovy was also female. Within a week, the definitely male Pekin was mounting on the second Muscovy and making domineering moves towards my original Muscovy. I am 99% certain that I actually have a male white crested and two female Muscovies.
I am enjoying "hanging out" with the ducks each morning and getting to observe their behaviors which are different from my son's three ducks' behaviors. The three stick together -- the two Muscovies a little closer to each other than either is to the Pekin [except when mating!] The crested is the "guard duck" keeping a watching eye and a cocked ear. He is not a gentleman about standing back while the Muscovies eat but his damaged bill makes feeding difficult for him and he needs to be assertive about getting enough food. While my original hand-raised Muscovy is a big softie that likes to be petted and likes to play nibbly nibbly with my shoes and feet, the other two are much more reserved. The male crested has just started taking peas from my hand -- until today he had to be fed from a plastic cup as he wouldn't eat treats from my hand -- and now also joins in the nibbly nibbly games with my feet. The second Muscovy is not yet eating treats from my hand and sits just outside arms reach when we all hang out together.
All 6 ducks think they should be "house ducks". My son's spend all day sitting on my back steps looking into my Florida room when they visit, and quickly jump at the chance to get into my son's lanai if the door is left open in error. My own ducks come out of their coup in the morning, come straight onto my back steps, and then spend the day alternately sleeping there and looking inside even though two of them have never been in my house!! My three are all very reluctant to bath in the wading pool and I have had to resort to using a hosepipe -- on mist then gentle shower-- to clean them up each morning. The male crested went into the wading pool for a good splash around today after having had his shower! Progress in ducky hygiene!! I'm still waiting on clean Muscovies.
All these ducks give me great pleasure and I feel sure my blood pressure is lower after a few hours hanging out with them. they also get more visits from my friends and neighbors than I have ever had previously!
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