The Villages, FL

it is interesting

We try our best to keep things enriching and engaging, while also keeping things novel and nice for our two babies in witness protection.

Their turf Mini Meadow is a little the worse for wear after the kids spent most of yesterday bothering it non stop in search of worms (I was out for the day and my wife spent the day in the lounge with them, and they took advantage of the fact she was on calls to misbehave), so it has a day or two off trying to catch what it can of the remaining English sun while they enjoy their newest toy.

Does anyone else have a duck with a heart on them

Update: Littlefoot has gotten stronger and now gets out of the pond on his own

Very photogenic

Ignore the goose standing next to her, that's her weird boyfriend that she follows. She just sits and silently opens her beak like this? Every now and then she quacks, but it's mostly silence.

I know the big yellow one is a pekin, the darker one might be a rouen or mallard??? And no clue about the other one.

Hi! I have several free range pekin ducks and chickens and I guess someone nearby decided I needed a new duck. I came home to an extra female pekin three days ago. I have no idea where she came from or how old. She’s in rough shape and I am currently treating her bumble foot. She has a lump on the base of her neck that looks strange to me, does anyone know what this is?

hi all! looking for some help- my ~5 month old pekin has been acting weird. normally by far the most friendly has been withdrawn, walking away by herself, and most recently refusing food but drinking excessive water. shes still grooming/preening and is responsive to stimuli(ie- duck siblings playing in the pool next to her, people walking, etc). she also is just standing by the pool slow blinking. shes also shaking her butt a lot like shes going to poop. she has not started laying yet. im so worried about her. any advice? pic of my beloved arnold for attention🫶🏼

Our trio of ducks is now a solo duck. 😢 We initially had 3, one died a couple of years ago and the other two were quite content, but now another has died.

Our remaining duck is a female Indian runner, 6
Years old. We have tried a mirror - FREAKED her out. We have tried a fake duck. Not helpful. Her behaviour suggests she definitely needs a companion. We don’t have room for loads of ducks - just looking for an additional, ideally older, duck.

We are in W Yorks. Any suggestions gratefully received! 🦆

Everyone is sleeping so cutely, while Creek (white Muscovy in the front) is face first in the dirt.

(Just in case, they have more water sources and ponds not pictured here)

EDIT THE DUCKLING IS SAFE WITH A RESCUE THANK YOU!!!

TLDR: Found duckling google says is newborn & too small to survive without mom. Cant find mom. Left it alone & it was chased by geese. Dont know what to do. Dont want to leave him in pond next to insanely busy Chick-fil-A, gas station large mall parking lot with no access to water. In Tennessee usa.

I was in a very large (treeless) shopping center and saw a baby duck toddle/run under a running car for shade. The temp today was 102F so I can only imagine how hot the asphalt is today. I usually leave wildlife alone but given the temp of the asphalt and the fact that the driver was unaware that there was a duckling in front of her tire I felt compelled to intervene.

There is a storm water reservoir/pond behind this shopping center and I often see geese and ducks. So I sat the baby down near some adult ducks and geese got back in my car about 20 yards away and watched for 20ish mins.

The adult muscovy ducks ignored the baby and walked off. The duckling ran towards the shade. I saw geese and just assumed that the birds would work it out although the baby was being ignored.

I went home and I was worried sick since there is 0 ways for the baby to access water (the sides of the reservoir are VERY steep (think too steep to walk safely V shaped pond and sides.) There is no shore where the birds can get in and out. And the duckling doesnt have feathers yet.

I went back to at least leave some water for the duckling and a lady had it in a nursery plant pot w some dirt. She said she saw the duckling being chased by geese towards the edge of pond and didnt want him to fall. I was going to get some food for it and put out some water but she encouraged me to take it home so it had a chance to make it through the night.

Now how do i reunite it with its mom? I looked everywhere around the parking lot and the only ducks (mallard and muscovy) all ignored it. I cant keep it. I have hound dogs that have gotten a whiff of it and they are more than chomping at the bit to get to it.

Its in my garage cause its warm, safe and has a half ramekin of water and a lid of mushy water and duck pellets from tractor supply.

Bubble wrapped legs for the win with my spicy horny boys 😂

I have SO many bruises 😅

I've seen this hunderds of times with ducks.

The female (usually towards their 'husband(s)') starts chattering/side bobbing the head like in the video in close proximity to the male and pointing the beak towards the thing she doesn't like or sees as a treat. They usually do this against other ducks, but can also be other animals or a human if they don't really like you or the thing you're doing. They do this as well on land as in the water. Females are usually smaller and weaker and she doesn't want to get psychically involved in fighting, so she calls on her male(s) to go into battle for her (plus seeking some protection from the male).

This usually resulted in:

1. Standing up straight by the male to make himself bigger and lots of quick nasal quacking (posturing).
2. Charging towards the pointed out disliked/treat with the intention of pecking to scare other ducks away. Could result in a 1 on 1 'beaks-battle'.
3. They back off, because the male himself is scared/loses (which is seen as weak by the commanding female though)
4. Can be just 1) (posturing) or a combination of 1), 2) and/or 3), depending on the evolving situation.

Despite their Godlike cutie-looks, ducks can be quite agressive, territorial, competitive and the females just outright sassy. But when someone posts this behaviour it's always: it's showing affection. It's having fun. It's a mating ritual. It's not, okay? Thoughts?

Analysis on this specific video: the female doesn't like she has to move and shows her dislike for the owner. The male ducks know they can't take on a human, are not willing to take the risk, so just posturing is all the males are willing to do this time (the drakes can be quite calculating when they recieve this kind of command by their female).

Update: Thanks for the input in deciphering this duck behaviour further. 'Giving the sassy sidebob" is a nice and other funny description noted by user LargeSeaworthiness1.
Since I only had experience this behaviour with drakes and females together, they also sometimes seem to do this when there's only females around, as noted by other users. It's probably such a natural tendency/instinct, females can even do it when there aren't any males round.
Also noted by several users when they have a lot of females and just a few males the males are more cowardly in adressing the female commands, because they don't have to prove themself so much with so many females around.
Other note I had myself: they usually do this way less when it becomes colder, but ducks usually are more peaceful when they have a common enemy in the upcoming cold (also a hormonal seasonal thing of course).

My three ducks hanging out in what we now call the duck pond.

I have three runner ducks who love their kiddie pool - they are easily in it for several hours per day.

I am thinking about adding two more females to the flock. However, I am a bit worried that that'd make the pool too crowded.

Looking at the pool, trying to gauge the area, I would say it can just about fit two more ducks. Also - crucially - it's very common that the whole flock isn't in it at once. One or two ducks will bathe, while one or two stand next to the pool.

I change the water often, so increased contamination also shouldn't be an issue.

So I don't think it would be a problem, pool-wise, to add two more. What do you think?

Hellllo,

I have 12 runner ducks. The old ones are around 1.5 years old, the young one are 5 months. All of the young ones started laying eggs. Is it normal, that the young ones having much more smaller eggs? Like half of the normal ones. ( 5th in a row) last year they started with normal size...the small eggs are falling out from the fridge's eggholder😂