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Posted by Doug Miller on November 02, 2002 at 19:40:18:

In Reply to: my abandoned ducks posted by cathy41311 on November 01, 2002 at 22:13:14:

Cathy,

Glad to hear they pulled through the hatching ordeal. Given a wind break and plenty of food they just might be fine outdoors but I wouldn't want to chance it with such young birds. They have so little mass that they might spend all their energy keeping warm rather than putting on weight if they don't die outright from hypothermia since mom isn't around to keep them warm when it gets cold. Probably best to wait until they get their adult feathers. Even pumping in another 2-4 weeks of food before taking them outside would help a lot I bet. Depends of course on just how cold it gets for how long. Sep 28 on this forum has some posts on this subject. Here are some websites that may help:

http://www.liveducks.com/

http://www.poultryconnection.com/quackers/breed.html

The white head on the mother may mean its a muscovy. Did she have red/pink featherless skin at the base of the beak and around the eyes? The most common feral domestic muscovy color is the whitehead mutant because it is the only dominant color mutation in domestic muscovys. The almost-black body color could be a sun-bleached wildtype color (black feathers with green/purple iridescence) or a chocolate mutation.
Here are some websites describing and showing muscovy colors, history, etc.

http://cyborganic.com/People/feathersite/Poultry/Ducks/Musc/BRKScobies.html

http://muscovyduck.fullmoonwebs.com/index.cfm/NewsItem?ID=17807&From=Home

Here is a discussion of how to distinguish mallards (and their derivatives) from muscovy ducklings-

http://forum.birdhobbyist.com/ducks/messages/832.html

As a muscovy-holic I'm not familiar with mallard variants with whiteheads, maybe somebody else knows?

-Doug

:Hi Doug, Just caught your question on how the ducks were doing. I have two of them and they are doing great. I am using a heat lamp in a box in the living room and am now wandering how long I can keep them there, and what I should be doing with them. I am worried that if I build them a shelter outside it will get to cold for them. The nights are getting in the low 30's now. And if the nights are to cold what are my options. To answer your question about the mother I do not know anything about ducks but the mother was a very dark brown almost black and she had a white head. One duckling is dark brown and the other is dark brown with yellow markings. If anyone can tell me what to do with them now they are 2 weeks+ now. I am afraid that I will not be able to keep them in the box much longer. They dont try to get out yet but I am sure they could if they tried.
: Thanks for all help given and to come,
: Cathy

Follow Ups:

• Re: my abandoned ducks Rouen 11/03/02 (0)