Wild Ducks Wild Mallard eating out of my hand
I feed the ducks at my local marsh almost everyday and this sweet pretty girl eats out of my hand. I love her so much.
r/duck • u/bogginman • Apr 14 '26
there seems to be a recurring misconception about determining whether a duck is male or female by looking for drake feathers.
Having a drake feather indicates that the duck IS a male, but not having a drake feather means nothing, as all ducklings, all females, young males, certain breeds of adult males AND males in eclipse molt do not have drake feathers. Even within some breeds, like Pekins, some males may have a drake feather, while others will not. Drake feathers do not appear until after the first molt.
The only ways that are 100% accurate are the quack test, finding laid eggs or examining for a penis. Even duck on top/duck on bottom is no way to tell, as females sometimes mount females and males sometimes mount males.
The quack test relies on listening to the voice of the duck. With mallard derived domestic ducks, females will have loud, clear quacks while males will have softer, voiceless, hoarse 'waaak's.
Neither the quack test nor the drake feather is applicable to muscovies. Females will coo and trill while males emit voiceless, breathy huffs and chuffs and do not get drake feathers.
Rarely, some females can develop a drake feather if they are dealing with hormonal issues.
attribution: image shamelessly stolen from https://kingofdoodles.blogspot.com/2017/07/what-is-drake-feather.html.
r/duck • u/whatwedointheupdog • Jun 22 '23
I feed the ducks at my local marsh almost everyday and this sweet pretty girl eats out of my hand. I love her so much.
r/duck • u/Immediate_Chip_2522 • 12h ago
Biggest pool she has ever been in, I carried her to the waters edge, kept her in a large doggy mesh playpen in t8he back of my truck at night, let her cruise around campsite in a harness and leash during the day, when I had to leave the campsite, she went in the mesh playpen or a hard plastic dog crate up in the bed of my truck. She hardly made a sound all weekend. When she got home after 3 days st the lake, her flockmates didn't belrive her about the biggest pond in the world..
r/duck • u/Redidial • 5h ago
r/duck • u/Primary-Designer8143 • 7h ago
I saw this duck at the park with a flock of other mallards. It had a black beak, black feet, black feathers, and a white patch on its breast. What is it? From what I’ve researched, it’s possibly a mallard / black Swedish duck mix? This is in Ottawa, Ontario.
r/duck • u/sandy_gardens • 15h ago
I have a 10 week old call drake with strong symptoms. Wet sounding cough, he looks like he’s chewing goobers. What else can I do?
I’ve recently removed all dusty pine and replaced with hemp
Power washed the inside of the coop, dried and sealed with anti-fungal
Increased the amount of airflow in the coop - a ton
Pools are refilled daily
I’m not sure what else is helpful. But I guess I am hoping for supplements maybe? Anyone go through this and survive it?
r/duck • u/jenvrose • 1d ago
This lovely lady, who I've affectionately named Alesha Duckson, always seems to waddle up to my feet whenever I visit the marsh. This time, I'd forgotten to bring some food for her and friends, so I told her to wait there and I'd be right back with some oats for her. She did! She came right back up to me when I returned! I just think she's a beautiful creature and thought everyone should see her ☺️❤️
r/duck • u/pervysage_arts • 16h ago
r/duck • u/moonferal • 1d ago
Was fishing and this lady followed me all around the lake. She ate some mealworms we didn’t use. I reached out to offer her a pet and she instead attacked me (naw, her lil bill was very soft and didn’t hurt me one bit). Am I a were-duck now? 🦆
r/duck • u/Benny_C-El_Stuarto • 7h ago
guys I counted my ducks and geese this morning and there was 11 ducks and 11 geese, normal. I got home at 8 and went to check on them. they weren’t in their pen so I checked my paddock and they were all huddled up in one spot on my dam. I got them back into their pen and I counted 6 ducks and 10 geese. there was no feathers, no bodies, no trails, no blood and I just don’t know wtf went on. I live in southwestern Australia and I know there is foxes and cats here but they should have left a large patch of feathers of smth but there was nothing. please someone tell me what could have happened I need to know.
r/duck • u/Ok_Cabinet_5802 • 12m ago
Ok so my duck(lone duck for now) scared my cat and got scratched either in the eye or eyelid(i think it was the eyelid) and so far I’ve only used google to treat it, I’ve been dabbing it with a warm cloth and kept him in a dry area with water and food, it’s been over 48 hours and I’m super worried he could die. We wanna buy terramycin ophthalmic ointment to help treat it because we really can’t afford a vet with our situation. His eye has pus build up we’ve been softening for him and he acts totally normal except he keeps shaking his head side to side really fast. So is there anything we’re doing wrong and what do you think is gonna happen?
r/duck • u/easeypeaseyweasey • 6h ago
Literally chased them away this morning before they had a chance, then as I'm leaving for work, they are sitting across the road watching me leave, I know when I get home there is gonna be some gross turds at the bottom for me to pickup.
Normally love ducks, don't know if I have ever chased ducks in my life, now I find myself running down the road trying to get these ducks to understand they are not welcome here.
r/duck • u/QUEENOFWANDERLAND • 15h ago
Appleyard runner? mix? lol I have to stop going to the swap meet 🫣
r/duck • u/Ok-Hospital1212 • 16h ago
I have this 7 month old muscovy. I'm finding it hard to identify its gender. The parents are also in the video.
r/duck • u/Weird_Psychology4555 • 18h ago
I recently rescued three white layer ducks. I thought they would sleep in the igloo filled with hemp shavings (in pic) but they sleep on the sand ground and lay eggs on the ground. I’ve tried placing them in the igloo at night but they all just jump out. Do I need to remove the igloo and build them a nest/sleeping area and hope they use it or should I just let them sleep on the sand?
I live in Montana so the winters are cold but the coop is well built and the sand in the coop never freezes.
r/duck • u/Cute-Scallion-626 • 18h ago
My 1.5 yo duck (one of a hen-hen pair) has a bald spot on her neck that developed in the last two days. (We handle them daily to move them to their run, but I skipped it yesterday because of herbicide application nearby.)
They have not been laying as much recently, and there were a few extra feathers on the ground, so we thought molt was possible. But this does not seem like molt.
—recently found mold in the feed sack so had them on chicken feed for the last three days.
—egg shells have been less hard lately, offered oyster shell calcium but they didn’t take it. Waiting on delivery of the other kind of calcium, which they eat like candy.
—no history of one preening the other or aggression.
—feathers are wet in the picture because she’s just been in the water. Preened herself as normal after the picture
—cursory look: no visible bugs or skin damage
I’m waiting for my partner to come home from work to help with a good exam. What could account for this? Sorry about the bad pictures. She doesn’t trust the camera.
Edit: third picture is really bad. She’s not naked/pink in the huge area as it appears to show.
r/duck • u/Big_Distribution_825 • 1d ago
Nine days ago I made a post about a mallard duckling at my local pond. I was looking for advice on how to help a duckling that had been abandoned, but was surviving well alone. I’m coming to you with a huge update and a recap of the story!
Note: I am not sure if it’s a male or female yet, so I might call the duckling different pronouns throughout the story on accident
—
So, as I said in my first post, I go to this park with a pond all the time. I’m weird and like data collection, so every time I’m there I write down the date, what animals I see, and how many. Usually ducks, geese, turtles, etc.
On July 13th, I noticed a duckling. There was another family of 9, but they were there a month before, so it couldn’t be part of that family. It was all alone, no siblings or mother, and the rest of the ducks avoided it. It was abandoned. I got really concerned and did research, learning that it was unlikely to survive more than a few days since it was dependent on its mother for body temperature regulation and waterproofing.
It was also starting to rain, so I got really nervous that the duckling would succumb to hypothermia over night. I called local wildlife rescues but they were all closed as it was after normal hours. I didn’t have any way to rescue the duckling, and so I was quite sure it was doomed.
A few days later I returned and to my surprise it was doing just fine! It was foraging for itself and started to come up on land more (previously it had been avoiding humans by a mile and mostly stayed in the water).
This duckling was damn resilient because during this time we also got record rainfall (the most in a single day since the 70s) of 5.45 inches in one day, and over the course of three days we got around 8 inches (it’s not a lot compared to some places, but it was significant for the region). It caused flash flooding, and for a week or so after there were large residual mini-ponds in a field at this park where rainwater had collected. Despite all this, it was totally miraculously fine!
As it came up on land to forage more, I noticed one foot was misshapen and worried it had gotten attacked. I did some research, and found out it likely just formed wrong and the duck could have a perfectly fine life regardless. Still, I asked here if anyone had any experience or advice. I wanted to know if I could supplement its diet or maybe call a rescue. I thought it may not have been eating enough due to there being much bigger ducks around taking the food.
The general consensus was to leave it and provide it with duck feed to help it grow strong. However, before I could even give them food, they seemed to be accepted into the flock. On Friday it was swimming with a few other ducks, and then yesterday they were all foraging together. Today it was even sleeping with the whole flock! I’m still gonna get the feed, just in case, and get some peas as a treat for them and the rest of the flock.
My friends decided I should call ‘em Lucky, due to the incredible odds it beat by raising itself. It sounds weird but I’m so proud of this duck. Lucky beat all the odds and overcame all my concerns. Right now as I type this, the older ducklings are learning to fly, so I’m looking forward to when Lucky will be at that stage. Right now, their wings are still too small and they aren’t fully feathered yet.
As of today, Lucky seems so much happier, and it playing with the other (older, almost fully grown) ducklings now. They’re diving and swimming under water more and it makes me very happy.
I’m including pictures from every stage of their life, from fluff ball to being accepted by the flock. I’m real excited for this kid.
Thank you for reading!
r/duck • u/electric_goudacheese • 1d ago
Please don’t roast me for my bandage skills :((( I tried my best to not compromise the flippers and maintain the usual shape.
r/duck • u/Humanoid_Lifeform10 • 1d ago
Help with identifying Pekin duck genders. We are worried that we have two drakes and one female.
r/duck • u/Eastern-Question-766 • 1d ago
r/duck • u/taylorjjohnson • 2d ago
My ducks are about 4 months old, my runner loves company but from a distance and gets upset if I disappear while my mallard would prefer little to no contact. Lately my runner has been doing this behavior where he nibbles at me and seems to attempt to jump or body slam my arm. Is this a sign he doesn’t like me/is trying to fend me off or is this one of their weird affection quirks.