If they’ve been raised alone, they tend to think that they are part of whatever flock they’re around. Sometimes they’ll believe that they’re human, a chicken or even a dog. They’re just plain quackers!

Duck Facts

• A male duck is called a drake, a female is called a duck. Babies are called ducklings.
• Ducks are related to geese and swans. The duck is the smallest of them all and have shorter necks and wings and a stout body. Ducks can live from 2-12 years, depending on the species.
• Ducks have webbed feet, which act like paddles. A duck waddles instead of walking because of its webbed feet.
• Ducks’ feet have no nerves or blood vessels. This means ducks never feel the cold, even if they swim in icy cold water.
• Ducks provide us with eggs, meat and feathers.
• Ducks’ feathers are waterproof. There is a special gland that produces oil near the tail that spreads and covers the outer coat of feathers. Beneath this waterproof layer are fluffy and soft feathers to keep the duck warm.
• Ducks keep clean by preening themselves with their beaks, which they do often. They also line their nests with feathers plucked from their chest.
• Ducks were once wild until they were domesticated by the Chinese many hundreds of years ago.

Breeds

Most farm ducks are of a species called “Pekin”. It is harder to tell a male from a female with the Pekin ducks because they look almost the same. Pekin ducks have white or cream coloured feathers and orange coloured bills. They do not fly and do well in captivity. They are also excellent for egg and meat production.

Ducks as Pets

Pet ducks will entertain you with their antics and eat pesky slugs and snails. A female will produce abundant eggs.

To look after ducklings all you need is a large cardboard box, some shavings or straw, a heat lamp, a feeder and a waterer. As they grow, they will need more space and less heat. Keep an eye on the birds; if they stay away from the heat, turn it off, if they get their pen messy quickly, they need more bedding and more space. By 5 or 6 weeks they can probably be outside all the time in good weather.

Ducks need a deep enough water bowl so they can dip their heads in water 2 or 3 times a day. They need to wash their eyes otherwise they can get dry eyes and cataracts.

A single pet duck can make a great pet but you should make sure you have enough time to devote to your duck. Make sure you get your duck very young or incubate the egg yourself and be the first thing he or she sees when it hatches. You will need to spend a lot of time bonding with your duck so that you and your family become the duck’s flock. So you’ll need to devote yourself to playing and just being with your duck everyday, on top of the usual cleaning and feeding duties.

Ducks are social animals and will suffer if they don’t have companionship. So if you can’t make this commitment for the full 12 or so years a duck can live, you should get two or more ducks.

** The article is not written by me.

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The day I walked around Hyde Park I also shot these two clips. Here I share them with you. My fav is the naughty duck feeding itself … it was fun watching it go down and up the lake.

Sweet Duck

Naughty Duck

Whoooh!!

Today I have walked one and a half hour in Hyde Perk. Discovered why is it famous around the world. Unveiled a few secrets, secrets I’m here to share with you. I walked from Lancaster gate to Hyde Park Corner, all along the long lake and dancing ducks.

What amazed me is in the in the crowdiest of all places and never stopping city there exists a place where people come to talk with the ducks, where you’ll hear to traffic noise but chatting laughing and quack quack. A place where trees are huge, calm and happy, all green and pink, flowers bloom and sing a lullaby. Wish in the arms of this solitude I could die.

Haha! The poet in me is awakening and it is getting cold, so I’ll take a leave. Here are some pictures I shot. Hope you have a good time as good as I had.