I hatched and raised 3 mallards one summer after a raccoon tore up their nest and frightened their mother away. That was an experience. Yes, they do have different personalities.
I had one that hatched a week after the first 2 and the first 2 bullied him mercilessly. He didn’t even develop his male colors until after the first 2 (male & female) had flown away. When he was all by himself here, he developed beautiful male plumage. He actually came back here the following spring, but he didn’t stay because we have no natural water. He had a different colored bill and responded to “Ducker, ducker” so I knew it was him.
Duck Manifesto
Birds by nature will pick on the perceived weaker duck but since this is in the suburbs, neighbors are around to tell our duck friends to knock it off. Ducklings are clueless without their mama ducks. They run around peeping until a predator spots them or they get hit in traffic. The hawks were relentless but they’ve moved on. We can’t stop the cranes or the herons but the mom ducks are avoiding big ponds until the kids are big enough not to be picked off by larger tropical birds.
All my duck photos are at facebook. If you ever go over there, message me and I’ll send you my fb name and I’ll be glad to friend you so you can see my current duck and foster duck who’s been here since she was a hatchling. Her mom and seven siblings all got run over in a quiet street by an island of Fla shrubbery. Her other sibling brother turned out to be a preemie so he was only at our house for three days and he didn’t make it. She was all alone but with amazing calm and coping skills. In this case, the runt who lagged behind ends up being the lone survivor. She was brought over here.
I usually catch loners w/a butterfly net from Dollar Tree. Bigger ducklings I herd onto my back porch and shut the screen door. That’s how I have Les Brown for three years. We trapped him on my neighbor’s back porch. Les was running around by himself for a month after his entire family was run over. He stood out cuz he was all brown with no Muscovy two tone going on.
My three year old muscovy is on you tube. Anyway, Saturday a.m. at about 8:30. He’s seen his friends outside and is making his duck sound to greet them (window’s closed tho.)
I need to relocate the orphan girl Annie but she might be devastated without my other duck, two cats and me. I want to make sure the placement is right. Meanwhile, I have farm chores around here so everyone stays in good health. (Avoiding breathing in grain, water w/old corn in it or poop.)
My pet duck only gets natural water if it rains and I put a bucket outside. I won’t scoop up rain water when the backyard floods cuz I don’t need him to get parasites or something. Otherwise, he has fluoridated water and his beak has no cavities.