Posted by:
Beth
(
)
Date: October 10, 2020 05:48PM
THE DUCKS ARE ALRIGHT!
OMG - ORGANIC peas! Those are some lucky ducks!
Adam, you are so wonderful. I think I saw Donald, as well.
Righteous ducks! They might not be used to people feeding them healthy stuff and were expecting bread. I've found that my ducks are meh on frozen peas but love them when they're thawed.
Try this: toss a bunch of peas in the water like, boom, boom, boom. After one gets the idea to dive for them, the rest will. Then you'll see a bunch of duck butts. You'll also see the bullies that poke each other, often in the butt, to make the poked duck move. I think that's where they came up with being "goosed," if geese do the same thing. I have no idea. BECAUSE I AM NOT ALLOWED TO HAVE GEESE.
Geese are great for sounding the alarm when a predator approaches. If I were to get a goose, and I just might and dare this place to write me a ticket or whatever they do, I'd get a Toulouse:
https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/images/global/mc/McMurrayHatchery-Toulouse-Goose.jpgI think I'm going to get a Toulouse and eff The Man always trying to keep the fowl down.
They also love catfish and swan food. They're super expensive, though. If you ever feel like shelling out the big bucks, make sure you get the kind that floats. Mazuri makes quality food, like zoo-quality food and it contains meat or fish as a source of high-quality protein. Most poultry feed does not because it can give the eggs an off taste. It wouldn't matter with your ducks, (yes, they *are* your ducks - you just don't have to deal with their voluminous poop).
A cheaper treat is red wrigglers. They LOVE worms! I have my own that live in the compost bin, but you can pick some up from a bait and tackle store.
I'm glad that they aren't coming up out of the water to be hand fed. They need a decent fear of humans.
Can you try to zoom in on a couple of them next time? Looks like there are a bunch of dudes, which makes sense because wild mallards, if they're mallards, tend to hang out together as the days shorten, and they'll probably molt into their "eclipse plumage." They lose their green heads and curly tail feathers and grow brown feathers much like females. It helps them hide from predators. They also can't fly well, if at all, during a molt, so they need the camouflage.
Once the days grow appreciably longer, like in January or so, they'll molt again into their fancy feathers for the ladies.
Thank you for the ducks, Kind Warrior. You're a good man.
Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 10/11/2020 03:17AM by Beth.