# Wild duck



## rum&coke (Apr 19, 2009)

There are quite a lot of these round my way, We get them come in our garden and often sleep on our shed roof. I put bread out for them to eat and they seam to like that. What type of duck are they and what other food would be good to put out for them?
I Want to do as much as I can to encourage them to keep coming back to our garden as it's awesome having them visit, like having pet ducks I don't have to clean up after :lol2:


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## miss_ferret (Feb 4, 2010)

thats a very nice mallard drake (male), females look like this:








colour aside, males have the curly feather thing on there tail and females dont.

if you want to keep attracting them then just keep leaving food out, bread is fine unless you want to get some bird seed or poultry/chicken corn, wild ducks arnt fussy :lol2:

they should start to nest pretty soon so keep an eye out for there nests when your doing anything in your garden : victory:


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## rum&coke (Apr 19, 2009)

Thanks.The females come in with them also, They always seam to come in groups of 3 for some reason. I will keep an eye out for nests and babys. Would be really nice if we get some babys in the garden.


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## studley (Oct 3, 2010)

*mallard*



rum&coke said:


> There are quite a lot of these round my way, We get them come in our garden and often sleep on our shed roof. I put bread out for them to eat and they seam to like that. What type of duck are they and what other food would be good to put out for them?
> I Want to do as much as I can to encourage them to keep coming back to our garden as it's awesome having them visit, like having pet ducks I don't have to clean up after :lol2:
> image


he's not a pure wild mallard though, the white chest and body colour are wrong and show he's got some domestic duck in his background somewhere.


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## studley (Oct 3, 2010)

*drake*



miss_ferret said:


> thats a very nice mallard drake (male), females look like this:
> image
> colour aside, males have the curly feather thing on there tail and females dont.
> 
> ...


Actually that pic is of a young/eclipse plumage drake!


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## LiamRatSnake (Jul 3, 2007)

Bread is bad for any poultry, I would buy them to a sack of poultry corn or straight wheat. A 20 kilo sack is only around £5-6.


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## rum&coke (Apr 19, 2009)

LiamRatSnake said:


> Bread is bad for any poultry, I would buy them to a sack of poultry corn or straight wheat. A 20 kilo sack is only around £5-6.


I did wonder if bread may have been bad for them, But was the first thing that came to mind when I saw them in the garden. I will look into getting them some corn.


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## Freakinfreak (May 13, 2009)

Agree with above. Also, they tend to like natural, unsalted peanuts (bought by the bag, from pet shops normally or garden centres).

Oh, and if you have a small area of mud, find some worms... they like worms! They can worm hunt in a tray or dish of water.

Another thing would be dig a couple of small holes near each other, about 4cm big and keep them wet. You might see them pecking into the holes to get buggies.

My gran has kept ducks for absolutely years and they're brilliant little things :lol2:


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## rum&coke (Apr 19, 2009)

They do pretty much always show up after I have cut the grass, Wonder if it's because that disturbs all the worms and bugs :hmm:


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## Freakinfreak (May 13, 2009)

rum&coke said:


> They do pretty much always show up after I have cut the grass, Wonder if it's because that disturbs all the worms and bugs :hmm:


Most likely, and they like to root through it too. 

You could also scatter food around rather than just giving them a big clump of it somewhere. They should stay around for longer and you can watch them having a dig. Obviously that will work better for peanuts than with corn... size difference and all :lol:


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## FeralWild (May 9, 2011)

*Duck food*

First of all the duck on your pic is a hybrid, possibly a white farmyard duck crossed with a mallard or even a muscovy mallard mule. The possibility of it being an eclipse mallard drake is only based on if it was hatched late last year and has not gone through its first moult yet.

I have kept ducks and also reared wild orphaned ducklings for release at a later date. The foods I fed them all was chick crumbs mixed with bottled water and some blended spinach or lettuce to start.

Then moved them onto dry crumbs and a seperate bowl of water then eventually mixed corn and pellets for the domestics, and mixed corn for the wildies with a litter tray of pond water with duckweed and bugs in it. I avoid bread wherever possible.

For feeding wild ducks visiting your garden, I would suggest either mixed corn, pellets or even a tray of both mixed up and mixed with water to a sloppy porridge and any old lettuce, cabbage or spinach leaves. You can also put out boiled potatoes which they love, and dry or live mealworms in a dish so they can't blow, or crawl away. Also provide a cat litter tray of fresh water for them to drink and wash in. Other tit bits can include cooked white or brown rice in a dish of water to prevent it drying and shrinking to then expand in the stomach later on, chopped fruit and veg, boiled or raw, cake and biscuits crumbled up and occassionally bread, but make sure it is brown or granary, not white and soak it first to make it go down easier


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## studley (Oct 3, 2010)

*duckies*



FeralWild said:


> First of all the duck on your pic is a hybrid, possibly a white farmyard duck crossed with a mallard or even a muscovy mallard mule. The possibility of it being an eclipse mallard drake is only based on if it was hatched late last year and has not gone through its first moult yet.
> 
> It's not a muscovey cross or mullard, i used to have one of those and they clearly show a lot of the muscovey influence.
> the white chest in the pic just shows he's got some domestic blood in him somewhere. This would basically make him just a mongrel, as a hybrid would have to involve a different species, and all domestic ducks are mallard based, apart from the muscovy.
> ...


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## LiamRatSnake (Jul 3, 2007)

I have to agree. I'd bet my life on there being no Muscovy in them. They can only be 50/50 crosses anyway as their offspring are sterile meaning you can't have 'a bit of Muscovy' in any duck - it would have to be full or half. Also have to agree that there is some domestic blood in there somewhere - but as they are just selectively bred Mallards it's not that surprising or unusual.
Also there is no use buying them pellets, nor provide them with some water ect they are wild animals lol They are not egg producing pets who need a balanced and thought out diet but wild ducks who occasionally visit and can find their own varied diet. Just a bit of corn to snack on whilst they are there will be good for them.


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## FeralWild (May 9, 2011)

There is no evidence that muscovy crosses carry the parental characteristics. I used to have a male muscovy running with a small group of wild mallard type call ducks and on occassion the musc would sire a brood of hybrids. In most cases the ducks would grow to be a little bigger than the call ducks and have small white bibs with the mallard markings.

Besides which, I thought this question was aimed more at attracting them into his garden not a debate about who is right and who is wrong?


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