The ducklings aren’t quite two weeks old yet, but they are growing like weeds! Here they are today:
They are still in the house, but MUST go outside this weekend. They are going through way too much water (2 gallons per day), most of which goes on the floor of their cage. I hoped to build their outdoor “duck tractor” last weekend, but didn’t get to it; so it’s top priority for Saturday!
I am pleased with how tame they are turning out, being incubator babies and being handled a lot from being in the house. Though they still shy from hands, they don’t completely panic when picked up. So they’ll be nice for working with later.
What kind of ducks are these? I have two that look like them but mine have a top notch..I hot them from tractor supply and no one could tell me what they were. Up til now the closest thing we could fine was a trufed goose cause they have the top notch however the bills are very different.
Jamie, I don’t remember for sure, this was a post from 8 years ago; but I think these were Magpie x Runner duck crosses. According to a quick Google search, there are only two official breeds of crested ducks. But the gene mutation can crop up in any breeds which descend from the Mallard (which I think is all of them, save Muscovies). I have had it crop up for me in crossbreds, and also in some I purchased from a hatchery that were supposedly purebred Magpies; though when they grew up, they looked more like Swedish crosses. So I think a lot of hatcheries are sloppy in their breeding, or they source from other breeders and purebred status can be iffy.