Re: Ducklings Another little vid. No idea what those three blue ones have found to eat.... http://flic.kr/p/jvr1WB
Re: Ducklings [quote author=Oberon link=topic=3806.msg49973#msg49973 date=1390705183] For you, Julie - Spotlight on Harrison. So, that's Harrison. Accomplished diver, high-volume diva, biter and girl! [/quote] Thanks so much! She is just lovely! So cute. What a darling! The feet! Massive feet! Harri, no white shoes for you, ok?
Re: Ducklings That is really interesting. I can't believe how big they are in the videos! Hope your hand has recovered from the trauma
Re: Ducklings When is Ariel getting his/her showcase? I think Ariel is going to be a he....I always pick boy dogs and boy horses. Living Harri and the stuff about their bills ) fascinating
Re: Ducklings Yes, I'm thinking that Ariel is a boy too but when I had a close look last week I couldn't see any evidence of a penis. He could have been holding it in though. I'll do a profile of him today too Woodget and Meriwether later in the week (jury is still out on those two as well).
Re: Ducklings [quote author=Oberon link=topic=3806.msg50163#msg50163 date=1390762795] Yes, I'm thinking that Ariel is a boy too [/quote] Ariel is a GOOD name. Very romantic. I hope Ariel lives up to his name...hurry up with those pics! What? You've got to go to work to bring home the duck peas? Pah...Ariel's public awaits!
Re: Ducklings Do not fear! Thanks to Captain James Cook, who at about this time some years ago sailed HM Endeavour into what we now know as Sydney Harbour (or, more correctly, Port Jackson), today is a public holiday.
Re: Ducklings Oh - nice! [size=14pt]HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY[/size]! for yesterday/today (not very good on these time difference bits ;D )
Re: Ducklings ;D Thanks. I'm sure that Captain Cook had exactly this purpose in mind when he sailed out of Portsmouth.
Re: Ducklings Thanks, Lisa! Enjoying a nice cuppa with the ducklings just now. Hubby has extended our wifi network so I can do the internet in the duckling pen without using up all my data allowance. So I'm all set. Here's a video I took yesterday of the ducklings having some chopped grass in their pool. The slurping noises are the sounds of them sucking in water and filtering it through the serrations in their bills to extract the grass. I just played the vid back to myself and the ducklings all gathered to listen. Hilarious. http://flic.kr/p/jvtsWX
Re: Ducklings Spotlight on Temeraire. Temeraire, as you all know, is a very precocious young lady who began to quack at the tender age of two weeks. She is the daughter of two of my original birds, Tasman (Mum) and Magellan (Dad). Tasman is a really fantastic layer. Although I breed for showing, I also breed for the 'utility' side of things, which for a duck means laying ability (technically also edibility though round here we don't eat ducks we know personally). I have kept a son of Tasman's (Solander) as the boys of good layers are also important for passing on egg laying ability. Solander is the father of the indoor ducklings. I've been wanting to keep a daughter of Tasman's as well. Here's Temeraire. In the pic below you can see her left wing, which is starting to sprout the pin feathers that will become her big flight feathers (the larger quill-like things). She has three larger white pin feathers which will translate into three large white feathers at the end of her wing. The breed standard for Blue Swedish calls for two white feathers on each wing, but that is hard to achieve along with getting everything else right. In reality you aim for five or fewer. On the other wing she has no white flights coming through, which is a bit of a bummer. That means that she is probably not going to end up being shown. I will still keep her though as she has other characteristics that are valuable to me. Temeraire's tummy is now covered in adult feathers. Ducks usually become quite relaxed if you lay them on their backs. Here's a foot, showing a network of veins. Ducks use their feet as heat exchange units and have great control over how much heat they retain or lose via the way they narrow or expand the arteries and veins going into and out of their feet. Now upright again. And a little vid http://flic.kr/p/jwZdZW
Re: Ducklings A quack on demand?you can even train ducks Rachael?truly talented!im sorry about the white feathers only showing up on one wing but I think her beautiful golden necklace could surely bag her a few bonus points in the show ring?those ducks go at it busy in the pond don't they?they are lovely.Temeraire looks so cute lying on her back xxx
Re: Ducklings All done with a clicker I just took some photos of Ariel so here's his spotlight At a certain age ducklings take on the look of Grandma's shaggy old mohair cardigan. Ariel is at that age, seen here in the bottom of this pic (Woodget and Meri are the other two). Ariel is a calm, placid duck who doesn't make a fuss about anything. Apart from his quiet nature, Ariel's best feature is his bib. It's fairly symmetrical, not too big, not too small, has neat edges and no spots of colour in the middle. It's the best bib I've ever had on a duckling. On the towel on my lap you can spot the reason for the towel on my lap. As you can see in the above pic, he also has a lot of pink on his bill. Duck bills have two layers of pigmented skin. The bottom layer is either pink or yellow (wild Mallards have yellow but Swedish should have pink). The top layer can be various colours but in Swedish it should be blue (or black for a black one). For some reason Ariel has not developed a complete coverage of blue pigment. I'm not sure how heritable this is but it's a fault. Still, it is not a serious one and no bird is ever perfect. And he has that great bib. He's also got white flights on each wing, which is good - five on one and six on the other. He's also a bit of a cuddler. He did not want to sit on my lap, only under my chin. I've made the supreme sacrifice and have included myself in this pic. One thing that breeders aim for in Swedish is darker edging, or lacing, on the feathers. It's usually always more pronounced in the boys. You can see Ariel's coming through here in the feathers on his shoulders. He will have good lacing. Ariel was getting a bit hot at that point (the day is warm now and his feet were really hot to get rid of body heat) and he'd started to pant a bit, so I put him down so he could get in the water. I'll get some more pics of him when it's cooler This morning a friend came round with her daughter to see the ducklings (they have a drake they got from me a couple of years ago). The daughter took an immediate liking to Meriwether (actually the favourite of all visitors). She wanted to hold him so I caught him for her and in the process, Meri let out a quack. So, Meri is a girl That makes four confirmed girls so far - Temeraire, Christopher, Harrison and Meriwether. That is damn fine luck!! I have already promised a boy to work colleagues of my hubby's, and if Ariel is a boy it will be him. That way I know where he is and if I ever need him (say, I lose my other drakes for some reason) I have the chance of borrowing him.
Re: Ducklings Darn it! I've got a new whizzy PC that will play these vids in slow mo or at a trillion miles at hour! Lovely pics - off to sort out the vids...
Re: Ducklings Love all your photos and information Rachael. Who would have thought we would learn so much about ducks on a labrador forum. Unfortunately my phone won't play the vids so will be on the laptop later for them. So, so far, none of the ducks are perfect for showing? But potentially good for breeding? ?
Re: Ducklings Glad it is interesting All the stuff about their pros and cons is on my mind at the moment so I'm kind of thinking aloud. Christopher is very well marked and is definitely a show prospect You can technically only show the blues, but Harrison may turn out to be well marked too - it's just really hard to tell what will be white and what silver at this point. Will have to wait a few more weeks for her. Overall I am really pleased with how they are looking. None have any faults I'd regard as very significant (because of the selection process of the past few years). Significant faults are ones that are hard to breed out and would be things like white running up or around the neck or under the belly, white round the upper bill, white round the eyes, brown in the feathers, bent legs or toes, snaky heads or a lot of black in the blues. Even the ones with the weakest markings (Woodget, because of no white flights and tiny bib, and Meriwether, because of no white flights and messy bib) are better than the birds I started with. So, I am very happy with the group of them Of course, the thing that also matters is type or shape. But they should be ok on that front. Will know more about that as they get closer to 8 weeks though. I've decided I'll keep up to three girls. They would all eventually live with a black drake (name of Marco Polo). Silver plus black produces 100% blue so that's a mark in Harrison's favour. I do also have the option of agisting birds at a friends' farm that's about an hour away....
