Rouen Female Duck
Rouen/Khaki Campbell cross female duck. breast feathers pulled out. She is the under duck, low on the pecking order.
It is a little warmer than it has been, but the temperature is still below zero. The wind chill tonight will give the feel of -17. When the sun is shining in the daytime and the day times being longer now, the ducks have the instinctual mating urge. I have been letting them out to comingle in the yard just outside their pens. In winter, they are not interested in going too far, just far enough to have a bath in the new pool (old toboggan) where they can share the water. Mating in water is best for the heavy breeds that live here, the Rouens and Saxony ducks. The geese do better in deeper water as well.
The ducks have been pulling feathers from each other's breasts and the drakes have been fighting by pulling neck feathers. One of the geese grabbed a drake and caught him by his wing, keeping it in his beak for about 10 feet. This mating frenzy is earlier than last year. It is time to separate the ducks into breeding pens where they are numbered correctly. A Khaki Campbell drake is rather, um, busy, and likes to have a dozen or so wives. The Saxony drake is happy with his 4 wives and the Rouen drake can manage about 10 or so. There are quite a few Khaki Cambells so they need to be split up into 5 breeding groups of hens and drakes to keep themselves happy. The problem is that the hoop shelters are still snowbound. When the new skid steer arrives, I will be able to lift them out of the snow and then the waterfowl can be mating to their heart's content. If I am fortunate, a few of the females will nest and hatch a clutch of up to a dozen or more ducklings. The Khaki Campbell sat on 18 last year, but they are small ducks and she could only keep 8 warm. Until they can be separated, the best thing to do is to give them lots of room, so they are let out daily. Now, if I can only keep that huge gander from trying to mate the little Cambell ducks.
The ducks have been pulling feathers from each other's breasts and the drakes have been fighting by pulling neck feathers. One of the geese grabbed a drake and caught him by his wing, keeping it in his beak for about 10 feet. This mating frenzy is earlier than last year. It is time to separate the ducks into breeding pens where they are numbered correctly. A Khaki Campbell drake is rather, um, busy, and likes to have a dozen or so wives. The Saxony drake is happy with his 4 wives and the Rouen drake can manage about 10 or so. There are quite a few Khaki Cambells so they need to be split up into 5 breeding groups of hens and drakes to keep themselves happy. The problem is that the hoop shelters are still snowbound. When the new skid steer arrives, I will be able to lift them out of the snow and then the waterfowl can be mating to their heart's content. If I am fortunate, a few of the females will nest and hatch a clutch of up to a dozen or more ducklings. The Khaki Campbell sat on 18 last year, but they are small ducks and she could only keep 8 warm. Until they can be separated, the best thing to do is to give them lots of room, so they are let out daily. Now, if I can only keep that huge gander from trying to mate the little Cambell ducks.
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