- Nov 16, 2015
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I he had a flock of mixed domestics and rescued mallards for a few years now, and until last year, the wild mallards kept to them selves and so did the domestics. I have a lot of ducks but had only one hybrid, called Heidi.
However last year, and arthritic old mallard drake I have nicknamed Randy McNab who has bad hips but apparently not that bad, managed to woo not one, but two of my khaki Campbell x girls, and all winter they followed him about in a happy little 3-some.
However they have not bred... Neither girl went broody (and if they had I would have given them someone else’s eggs rather than risk passing on Randy McNabs genetic tendency to bad hips!
However, I guess after watching Randy McNab steak two of ‘their’ girls out from under their noses (well, nares), the domestic boys suddenly realised that there was a wonderful big untapped source of potential mates in the mallard girls!
And so this year, in winter, for the first time, I had some of the wild mallard females form ‘committed’ relationships with domestic drakes. 2 mallards each found the self a Pekin (or maybe white runner or khaki Campbell) drake. However it turned out there was a lot more mixing going on than I anticipated, as the wild mallards, who normally go off the property to nest, then show up with a brood of mallard ducklings who stay till they can fly and then a good percentage head off in autumn, presumably to find mates....
Anyway this year I have so far had about 10 mallard ducks show up and all but 3 of them have had a clutch that was clearly NOT fathered by their mallard drake boyfriend!
I have ducks in all sorts of colours and some of them are GORGEOUS.
BUT ANYWAY I was hoping that some of the other duck people here might like to post any photos of mallard hybrids they have, for a couple of reasons:
1. So we can all mutually gush over their cuteness
2. For those of you who have a fair idea what breed the domestic parent is, it would be great to see photos of them as ducklings and adults, along with a comment on what breed the domestic parent is, or what breeds of domestic you have that might be involved.
My mallard hens have shown up with pure yellow ducklings, brown ducklings that look like a khaki Campbell, brown ducklings with yellow bibs, black ducklings with yellow bibs, as well as a fair few who have the typical mallard duckling colour patterns but are lighter ie brown where a pure mallard duckling would be black... (kinda like a mallard duckling sat in the sun and faded lol) and all sorts of patterns I havent seen before).
There are a couple whose entire clutches you would think were domestic ducklings if u didn’t see the mother arrive with them. The mallard hens all nest off the property where the domestics cannot go, so none of the eggs could have been laid by a domestic duck, so the ducklings must be 50% mallard.
Heidi the hybrid (who I am sure is 50:50 mallard/domestic) also had a lot of ducklings that I am assuming are 3/4 domestic this year, and a few that are maybe 3/4 mallard. She got off her nest before it was finished hatching and I found two eggs in it that I hatched in the incubator. Of those, one was brown, one yellow, and they are now feathered, the yellow one is a drake who is 90% white, but there are some random splotches of brown feathers with the mallard pattern. The brown one is a girl and she is the same colour as a khaki Campbell female, but slightly smaller and has a little bit ofof the posture and teardrop body shape of a mallard. I don’t know if anyone who didn’t know her mo5er was a hybrid would notice it though, they would prob just assume she’s a khaki Campbell or khaki Campbell x. Heidi, the mother has mallard colouring, but lighter and with a coppery tone ... imagine if a mallard went to the hair salon and said, lighten me all over and add some warmth, and you have Heidi. She’s shaped like a mallard, not a domestic duck, but a little larger. Her stance/posture is all mallard though. She can fly much better than a domestic but I’ve never seen her fly high. Only low. But unlikely domestics, most of who can only do a glorified hop or leap, Heidi can leave the ground and move fast for a distance of maybe 30-50 metres without needing to touch the ground. None of my domestics can do that in their wildest dreams. Heidi was hatched from an egg laid by a pure wild mallard duck and at the time (2years ago) I had a much smaller flock and know for a fact that all of the drakes were either entirely domestic, or entirely wild mallard. The domestic drakes at that time were Indian runner x, a pure pekin, a pure khaki Campbell, a khaki Campbell x and a white drake who was either fathered by a pekin, or maybe a runner or khaki Campbell with white colouring, I am wondering if the father might have been a pekin.
I have one that is brown with yellow round it’s eyes, two super cute yellow half circles on the back of its head and yellow on the wing tips, and the tail has a white patch. Not yellow. But white, which I haven’t ever seen on any of my mallard derived domestics before. It’s not yellow or pale yellow it’s white..it almost looks grey beside the other colours on the duckling.
this is duckling fluff on a duckling that’s not yet a week old. Has anyone else ever seen white duckling fluff? It’s the CUTEST thing ever, will try and find time to take a photo during the day and post it.
I’m posting this from a new iPad which has no pics of my hybrids on it, so I’ll add some photos later from a laptop
However last year, and arthritic old mallard drake I have nicknamed Randy McNab who has bad hips but apparently not that bad, managed to woo not one, but two of my khaki Campbell x girls, and all winter they followed him about in a happy little 3-some.
However they have not bred... Neither girl went broody (and if they had I would have given them someone else’s eggs rather than risk passing on Randy McNabs genetic tendency to bad hips!
However, I guess after watching Randy McNab steak two of ‘their’ girls out from under their noses (well, nares), the domestic boys suddenly realised that there was a wonderful big untapped source of potential mates in the mallard girls!
And so this year, in winter, for the first time, I had some of the wild mallard females form ‘committed’ relationships with domestic drakes. 2 mallards each found the self a Pekin (or maybe white runner or khaki Campbell) drake. However it turned out there was a lot more mixing going on than I anticipated, as the wild mallards, who normally go off the property to nest, then show up with a brood of mallard ducklings who stay till they can fly and then a good percentage head off in autumn, presumably to find mates....
Anyway this year I have so far had about 10 mallard ducks show up and all but 3 of them have had a clutch that was clearly NOT fathered by their mallard drake boyfriend!
I have ducks in all sorts of colours and some of them are GORGEOUS.
BUT ANYWAY I was hoping that some of the other duck people here might like to post any photos of mallard hybrids they have, for a couple of reasons:
1. So we can all mutually gush over their cuteness
2. For those of you who have a fair idea what breed the domestic parent is, it would be great to see photos of them as ducklings and adults, along with a comment on what breed the domestic parent is, or what breeds of domestic you have that might be involved.
My mallard hens have shown up with pure yellow ducklings, brown ducklings that look like a khaki Campbell, brown ducklings with yellow bibs, black ducklings with yellow bibs, as well as a fair few who have the typical mallard duckling colour patterns but are lighter ie brown where a pure mallard duckling would be black... (kinda like a mallard duckling sat in the sun and faded lol) and all sorts of patterns I havent seen before).
There are a couple whose entire clutches you would think were domestic ducklings if u didn’t see the mother arrive with them. The mallard hens all nest off the property where the domestics cannot go, so none of the eggs could have been laid by a domestic duck, so the ducklings must be 50% mallard.
Heidi the hybrid (who I am sure is 50:50 mallard/domestic) also had a lot of ducklings that I am assuming are 3/4 domestic this year, and a few that are maybe 3/4 mallard. She got off her nest before it was finished hatching and I found two eggs in it that I hatched in the incubator. Of those, one was brown, one yellow, and they are now feathered, the yellow one is a drake who is 90% white, but there are some random splotches of brown feathers with the mallard pattern. The brown one is a girl and she is the same colour as a khaki Campbell female, but slightly smaller and has a little bit ofof the posture and teardrop body shape of a mallard. I don’t know if anyone who didn’t know her mo5er was a hybrid would notice it though, they would prob just assume she’s a khaki Campbell or khaki Campbell x. Heidi, the mother has mallard colouring, but lighter and with a coppery tone ... imagine if a mallard went to the hair salon and said, lighten me all over and add some warmth, and you have Heidi. She’s shaped like a mallard, not a domestic duck, but a little larger. Her stance/posture is all mallard though. She can fly much better than a domestic but I’ve never seen her fly high. Only low. But unlikely domestics, most of who can only do a glorified hop or leap, Heidi can leave the ground and move fast for a distance of maybe 30-50 metres without needing to touch the ground. None of my domestics can do that in their wildest dreams. Heidi was hatched from an egg laid by a pure wild mallard duck and at the time (2years ago) I had a much smaller flock and know for a fact that all of the drakes were either entirely domestic, or entirely wild mallard. The domestic drakes at that time were Indian runner x, a pure pekin, a pure khaki Campbell, a khaki Campbell x and a white drake who was either fathered by a pekin, or maybe a runner or khaki Campbell with white colouring, I am wondering if the father might have been a pekin.
I have one that is brown with yellow round it’s eyes, two super cute yellow half circles on the back of its head and yellow on the wing tips, and the tail has a white patch. Not yellow. But white, which I haven’t ever seen on any of my mallard derived domestics before. It’s not yellow or pale yellow it’s white..it almost looks grey beside the other colours on the duckling.
this is duckling fluff on a duckling that’s not yet a week old. Has anyone else ever seen white duckling fluff? It’s the CUTEST thing ever, will try and find time to take a photo during the day and post it.
I’m posting this from a new iPad which has no pics of my hybrids on it, so I’ll add some photos later from a laptop
