Even from the first time you move them into their brooders, the mallards are already acting wild, and as the days go by, it’s constant water refills, bedding cleanings, and constant quacking. These are our noisy bundles of joy, mallard ducklings.
Our coop bought 4 ducklings last year, 3 mallard females and a drake, they immediately became obsessed with their water, and my cat Watermelon. I never had to worry about Watermelon attacking them, for shes the type of cat to run away from them.
Ducklings tend to follow around their mother figure for a few weeks, or more, when ether that’s your dog, cat, their actual mother, or you, but you should always keep an eye on your ducklings when your letting them play outside their brooder, because they are way more fragile than chicks, and more prompt to injuries or sickness.
When my mallard babies grew up, my drake and my smaller mallard hen became mates, and when they learned to fly, they were constantly flying everywhere around the yard together. My other 2 hens preferred to stay at the house, and didn’t fly as often, because they are half Rouen.
Everytime it rains, your ducks will most likely create holes all in the yard, which you could easily trip and injure yourself from, so it’s best to keep a large water source (such as a large baby pool) somewhere around the coop, this is needed so ducks can preen, and clean themselves of bugs, mallards who don’t have water will fly off and most likely not return.
Ducks are good weeders for your garden, they will eat the weeds and seeds, but avoid harder vegetables, but never let them in your garden after it rains, they will uproot your plants, and create holes everywhere.
Ducks depend on company, when ether it’s you, or their duck friends, lonely ducks can become sick and die of loneliness, or fly off and leave you, it’s always best to buy at least 2 or more ducks.
Never let your ducks out at night, or leave them out at night. ducks can’t see at night and will stay positioned wherever they are when it becomes night, quacking and attracting predators, which would make an easy meal of your duck.
Duck eggs, ducks will lay eggs in places easy to build nests at, such as a nesting box (if well covered with chips) or a bush, sometimes they will even lay their eggs in water. Never mess with a ducks nest, even if their not hatching eggs, they will abandon it at the slightest difference to what it once was.
If your mallard duck is disappearing for a day or two at a time, it might be nesting. We clipped our ducks wing who was doing that, and she kept disappearing, we eventually found a nest in our neighbors bush, with 21 eggs in it. Never try to move a nesting ducks nest if you are planning on letting her hatch them, she will abandon the eggs.
Don’t put food and water near your nesting ducks nest, it attracts wild animals, which will eat your ducks and eggs. Our duck who was nesting in the bush was gotten by coyotes, or stray dogs, and later that night, her eggs were taken.
When you have multiple ducks, they might not notice one of them is missing, as mine somehow didn’t, but it’s best to monitor their behavior to ensure they aren’t becoming depressed.
And lastly, always be kind to your ducks, they don’t know when their doing something wrong, so don’t whack them with a stick, you can badly injure them unknowingly. Always treat your ducks with love and care, and most of all, have fun with your feather babies.
Our coop bought 4 ducklings last year, 3 mallard females and a drake, they immediately became obsessed with their water, and my cat Watermelon. I never had to worry about Watermelon attacking them, for shes the type of cat to run away from them.
Ducklings tend to follow around their mother figure for a few weeks, or more, when ether that’s your dog, cat, their actual mother, or you, but you should always keep an eye on your ducklings when your letting them play outside their brooder, because they are way more fragile than chicks, and more prompt to injuries or sickness.
When my mallard babies grew up, my drake and my smaller mallard hen became mates, and when they learned to fly, they were constantly flying everywhere around the yard together. My other 2 hens preferred to stay at the house, and didn’t fly as often, because they are half Rouen.
Everytime it rains, your ducks will most likely create holes all in the yard, which you could easily trip and injure yourself from, so it’s best to keep a large water source (such as a large baby pool) somewhere around the coop, this is needed so ducks can preen, and clean themselves of bugs, mallards who don’t have water will fly off and most likely not return.
Ducks are good weeders for your garden, they will eat the weeds and seeds, but avoid harder vegetables, but never let them in your garden after it rains, they will uproot your plants, and create holes everywhere.
Ducks depend on company, when ether it’s you, or their duck friends, lonely ducks can become sick and die of loneliness, or fly off and leave you, it’s always best to buy at least 2 or more ducks.
Never let your ducks out at night, or leave them out at night. ducks can’t see at night and will stay positioned wherever they are when it becomes night, quacking and attracting predators, which would make an easy meal of your duck.
Duck eggs, ducks will lay eggs in places easy to build nests at, such as a nesting box (if well covered with chips) or a bush, sometimes they will even lay their eggs in water. Never mess with a ducks nest, even if their not hatching eggs, they will abandon it at the slightest difference to what it once was.
If your mallard duck is disappearing for a day or two at a time, it might be nesting. We clipped our ducks wing who was doing that, and she kept disappearing, we eventually found a nest in our neighbors bush, with 21 eggs in it. Never try to move a nesting ducks nest if you are planning on letting her hatch them, she will abandon the eggs.
Don’t put food and water near your nesting ducks nest, it attracts wild animals, which will eat your ducks and eggs. Our duck who was nesting in the bush was gotten by coyotes, or stray dogs, and later that night, her eggs were taken.
When you have multiple ducks, they might not notice one of them is missing, as mine somehow didn’t, but it’s best to monitor their behavior to ensure they aren’t becoming depressed.
And lastly, always be kind to your ducks, they don’t know when their doing something wrong, so don’t whack them with a stick, you can badly injure them unknowingly. Always treat your ducks with love and care, and most of all, have fun with your feather babies.
