Guess breed and health of “Rouen” duck

[NewJourney]

I was told this is a Rouen duck. I picked her up with two runners. She is tiny! I’ve never had a Rouen but I know they’re supposedly Pekin-sized. What do you think? She seems to be very underweight but even if she had a bunch of weight added she’s still tiny in stature compared to my khaki Campbell girls. Pictured with my Khaki Campbells and Magpies.






It appears as though her wings have been cut to prevent flying. I see iridescence in her wings in the sunlight.

To me, as uneducated about duck breeds as I am, she looks like a Rouen coloration on a call duck cross? I know her bill is much too long and large for a call duck. What do you think?

While making this post I just checked another thread that was suggested and their beautiful tiny Rouen is a Mallard. Haha. Is it a mallard?? I don’t know of one of her back toes is removed. I’ll check tomorrow. Thoughts?

 

[KathiQuacks]

She is a Mallard, yes. She definitely has the Mallard shape and size. Poor girl is beat up!!

 

[NewJourney]

She is a Mallard, yes. She definitely has the Mallard shape and size. Poor girl is beat up!!

We just had rain storms yesterday after we brought them home and this morning she has what I presume to be white foam in the front corner of her eyes. I can't get close enough to her to see more clearly but from a distance it's white covering the front corners of her eyes. Poor thing. The two runners eyes look okay as far as I can see. They don't let me come near them yet.

Yeah, all three of them look to have been in rough condition. Underweight. I feel as though I rescued them from a bad situation.

The woman we bought them from also has other animals such as geese and goats and the goats were very well fed, and the horses look in beautiful condition, too. So, why these ducks? It makes me wonder if they were getting chicken layer feed instead of duck feed.

If it's as simple as that they will be much healthier and happier in very short order. I have no idea how old they are. I asked her how old they were and she said "as long as I've had them they haven't changed in size". The black runner has white spots all over her shoulder/wing area. I did some research and those spots are "age spots" and tend to start appearing during the 2nd year of age. So, she's 2-4 years perhaps? I'm not sure. I've never had a duck that had them before, until now.

Side note about the possible respiratory infection. Everyone in my town seems to be having issues with their birds (all kinds) developing this respiratory infection. My flock (chickens and ducks) have had it off and on since springtime, and I brought in OEGB and a few naked-neck ducklings and a Khaki x Blue Swedish duckling and many of the OEGB one-week-olds died because they were already sick and refused to eat after they came home with me. Ugh. So sad. One of the Naked-Neck ducks had a sneezing issue but I didn't notice any foam or mucus. It has cleared up. Then one of my younger maturing ducks is came down with it and is still struggling with it. She's breathing harder than normal and has this very weird low raspiness to her breathing in the evenings. But in the morning she's fine, talkative, adorably doing her rounds around the yard being a happy cutie.

Something is in the air here in my town. I haven't seen any other strange symptoms except in that one naked-neck duckling that seemed to have Wry neck or Newcastle disease. It passed away a little over a week after I adopted them.

I'm glad my flock is now as full as it's going to get. I'm brooding 10 ducklings and 30 chicks from a hatchery, those naked neck ducks and the khaki cross, plus American Bresse. All separate groupings of course. It's chaos over here. lol

 

[Miss Lydia]

Use a saline rinse for eyes to clear up the foamy eyes or if you can’t catch her right now put some ACV into their drinking water 1 Tab per gallon it won’t sting.

 

[NewJourney]

Question about Mallards: I looked and she has both of her back toes. I read that domestic Mallards that were sold by a hatchery have one of the back toes removed at when they are hatched before they are shipped out. Do all breeders do this, too? If this is true then she wasn't bred through a hatchery. Does this mean she is likely bred by a breeder or caught and wings clipped to stay? I don't want to be holding onto a once-wild Mallard! I'm so confused right now.

 

[Miss Lydia]

If she was at one time wild it shouldn't matter at this point she most likely has formed a bond with the ones she came with and is now domesticated. I am not sure if private breeders do the hole punch or toe clip.

 

[KathiQuacks]

Question about Mallards: I looked and she has both of her back toes. I read that domestic Mallards that were sold by a hatchery have one of the back toes removed at when they are hatched before they are shipped out. Do all breeders do this, too? If this is true then she wasn't bred through a hatchery. Does this mean she is likely bred by a breeder or caught and wings clipped to stay? I don't want to be holding onto a once-wild Mallard! I'm so confused right now.

There’s 4 options for marking that hatcheries have. Removing a back toe is a common option, but there’s also,
1. Pinioning of a wing, which I’m guessing not if her wings were clipped.
2. A seamless, metal band on the leg, which I don’t see, and,
3. A tattooed letter, number, or both on the webbing of a foot.

If she has none, she could be wild or sold illegally, I suppose. Sounds like she’s been domesticated her whole life / most of her life, though.

 

[NewJourney]

There’s 4 options for marking that hatcheries have. Removing a back toe is a common option, but there’s also,
1. Pinioning of a wing, which I’m guessing not if her wings were clipped.
2. A seamless, metal band on the leg, which I don’t see, and,
3. A tattooed letter, number, or both on the webbing of a foot.

If she has none, she could be wild or sold illegally, I suppose. Sounds like she’s been domesticated her whole life / most of her life, though.

Oh very interesting. I haven't had the opportunity to look at her feet since the day I adopted her, and I hadn't thought to check at the time. She wanders off quickly just as the runners do when I come near, which is common for ducks, so I didn't consider trying to pick her up. If/when I do have the opportunity to hold her I will check her feet. Thank you for that info. Either way, she is content in my flock, as are the runners. Nobody bothers them. It's been a great transition. Her adorable little distinctive mallard quack is short and sweet compared to my Khaki Campbells and Magpies. It's easy to tell it's her quack. I don't think I've seen an egg out of her or the gray/blue runner. I did see the blue runner mate with my Khaki drake, which surprised me because she looks very old. The black or chocolate runner appears much younger and I haven't yet seen them interact with any of my drakes yet. I am getting a very large duck egg daily, which is not likely coming from any of my original ducks because I have a broody hen and it caused two others to go broody-ish, too. I think I'm getting one egg from my other non-broody khaki, and one from my young magpie, and one from, I presume, the black/chocolate runner.

 

[BlackHenCoop]

Question about Mallards: I looked and she has both of her back toes. I read that domestic Mallards that were sold by a hatchery have one of the back toes removed at when they are hatched before they are shipped out. Do all breeders do this, too? If this is true then she wasn't bred through a hatchery. Does this mean she is likely bred by a breeder or caught and wings clipped to stay? I don't want to be holding onto a once-wild Mallard! I'm so confused right now.

I know I’m like a year late, but they only do that with drakes.