I am putting it down in writing that I am never getting another duck. Our ducks will be 6 years old in the spring. They can live to be 13 to 15 years old with good genetics and good living conditions. I love those little ducks, but I will not get more ducks after these ducks pass away. They can be so mean.
Poor Anna Maria is getting picked on again. It’s happening in the duck house at night, so I have been making sure I get up very early and run down stairs to let the ducks out every morning. This morning, however, Anna Maria still had a little spot on her head. Thankfully, it’s nowhere near the damage a male duck can do, but still. In the absence of a male to lead the flock, the largest female has stepped up and is pretty fierce.
Just yesterday, I heard a loud commotion with the ducks. I looked out the window to see two ducks ganged up on another duck, just driving her head into the ground with those bills (thankfully, it was not Anna Maria getting picked on this time). I ran outside to stop the nonsense, but the largest duck went right back to it when I walked away. I chased her down and scooped her up and just made her walk around with me for a bit. She submitted quickly. She’s not a mean duck really, but my goodness, ducks can be pretty mean to each other. I know some people will think I am silly for writing this. It’s just ducks being ducks, after all, but I am opposed to any behavior that causes injury to another–in all aspects of my life–even ducks, it seems. So I’ll just keep trying to be vigilant, but no more ducks after this batch.
I have heard chickens can be like this too, but outside of a crazy rooster we had a long time ago, I’ve never seen such terrible behavior. We have a pretty nice flock.
And, speaking of our nice flock, we have too many boys right now. I mentioned before that I lucked into the best home ever for one of Ruby’s babies, and I meant to look for a home for her other little boy. But every single day that little boy gets more and more beautiful. It’s hard to capture his beautiful colors in a picture, but he just shimmers green and black in the sun. He looks just like his mama, Hector, who is a Black Copper Maran, and Black Copper Maran roosters are gorgeous. Ron said, “let’s just keep him” because Rooster is pretty old. I thought we would surely lose Rooster last winter though, and he’s still getting around, even making babies this summer. So I don’t know what to do yet, but I know that our flock makes some beautiful babies. This little boy is magnificent.
I’m glad you were there to referee the meanness. Koren has 6 ducks…. I’ll ask her if they get nasty with each other.
Crystal, FYY I’ve tried to reply in the comment bar lately to some of your posts….. like I used to….. but am unable to for some reason. So today I sent it as an email reply. Does that work for you?
Oh, I would love to know about her ducks! And, for some reason, your posts are going up for approval instead of just going straight up to the site. I always approve them, of course, but I am not sure what might be going on. It looks like the username is different. Is that the case? It could just be WordPress being strange though.