My Rouen ducks can fly!

[Lilleylady]

So about 2 months ago our girls started flying a bit - and now they can fly 30 feet high for 600 feet or more! They love flying over our lake making a turn and skiing on their feet into the water. Now I know everyone is probably thinking we have mallards but the wild mallards are much much smaller than our girls and they have all of the markings of a Rouen. But I wanted to post their pictures and see what y’all think.

 

[fatty and friends]

how much do they weigh? my rouen is 5.5 pounds and definitely cannot fly

 

[Daphne_loves_mealworms]

They are absolutely gorgeous!!! How old are they? I can imagine very young Rouens having some flight ability before they settle into being ground dwellers, but the flying abilities your two have are quite impressive! Even my petite younger Rouen (3 yrs. old) can only flap and run with the very occasional pop into the air if startled.

 

[Yardmom]

Where did you get them? Wondering if they are more of a mallard cross than Rouen as Rouen are meat ducks. I have never had Rouen. I have had a khaki that could fly well, and some of my other layers could fly when they were young. My meat type ducks have tried to go with them but leaving the ground has never happened.

 

[Lilleylady]

how much do they weigh? my rouen is 5.5 pounds and definitely cannot fly

I haven’t weighed them but comparing to our little dog that weighs 12 lbs, we’d guess they are around 6lbs. At first Dilly (who was larger for a while) couldn’t fly but after watching Dilly, she followed along and now they both fly very well. I’m happy for them and it makes me glad to know they can get away from predators but the flip side is that unless they decide to come in at night, we can’t catch them. They come to us when we call but for the past month they won’t always come in at night. They just turn around and head back to the water. Most of the time that’s fine but today it’s going to storm and we’re having no luck so far getting them to come in.

 

[Lilleylady]

Where did you get them? Wondering if they are more of a mallard cross than Rouen as Rouen are meat ducks. I have never had Rouen. I have had a khaki that could fly well, and some of my other layers could fly when they were young. My meat type ducks have tried to go with them but leaving the ground has never happened.

 

[Lilleylady]

I’ve definitely considered that. We got them from our daughter in law who got them from a lady who had rescued them from someone on Craig’s list - so we have no idea what their origin was. And I knew very little about duck breeds but after looking at their markings we quickly decided they must be Rouen as they have the double stripes around their eyes. They were around 3-4 weeks old. Then as they grew, they continued to look like Rouens (I think) - they are definitely much larger than the wild mallards that have come by! They are almost 8 months old now.

 

[Quarterhorses1]

how much do they weigh? my rouen is 5.5 pounds and definitely cannot fly

Same

 

[Lilleylady]

They are absolutely gorgeous!!! How old are they? I can imagine very young Rouens having some flight ability before they settle into being ground dwellers, but the flying abilities your two have are quite impressive! Even my petite younger Rouen (3 yrs. old) can only flap and run with the very occasional pop into the air if startled.

Thank you! They are almost 8 months old and we’re estimating they weigh around 6 lbs. They started flying a couple of months ago - just 3 feet off the ground for 15 feet or so as I walked them from their pen to the lake. Then one day Dally flew right past me! Dilly was a little larger than Dally and couldn’t fly at first but it just took about a week and she was flying too! Then they started flying out over the water before they’d land. Now they fly from one end of our cove to the other. The bad thing is that we can’t make them come in now. The past month they’ve chosen to stay on the water most nights. But today it’s going to storm and I want them to come in but they won’t follow me. They’ll come initially but then they turn around and go back in the water. If we try to corral them, they just fly over us - so frustrating! Hopefully we’ll have more luck shortly.

 

[swampfox440]

In my days of having Rouen's and mallards. The Rouen's come in different sizes, standard, large and exhibition extra-large, now the standard Rouen can fly especially if they are on the small side. I would clip the wings. Mallards can be really small or the size of standard rouens.