Ok, having had a lot of experience with this situation- yes. Hand raised mallards will commonly “fly away”. Here are some examples- but first context- I live within site of a large body of water with numerous wild ducks. So one time raised 4 mallard ducklings that someone gave me…they were a...
These two ducks have started fighting constantly for dominance…mallard and call duck…both have a mate and are paired…they fight but when I separate them they still want to go back together…but a lot of feathers pulled out…see photo…normal? (This was the first summer that they mated). The call...
I have my entire yard (although only 50’) covered in aviary netting supported by tensioned aircraft cable….no more bird threats.
I have nest cams too..,tied into my surveillance system…got 30fps 8mp
My mallard or call duck, are both laying in a nest in the coop. They are first year mothers, and did this back in July. Only one duckling hatched under the call duck, but looks like a mallard. So mallard female must think she had a failed brood. But one or the other just started laying again...
Upgrading- under construction but you can see wall of wood (2x6 deck planks) and 1/2” wire. Nest box from Amazon $115 on 4x4 with wires for lights and nest box camera . Water fill / dump / filtration control via solenoid valves and relays.
No idea…hard to tell from that angle as well. But my white call duck just molted last week..she lost basically all her flight feathers in a few days…actually a bunch of my ducks are in molt right now