Am I Quackers? (Ducks)

Member Name: mumsymary

Product:	Ducks
Date:	30/10/05 (1769 review reads)
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Advantages: great bird

Disadvantages: ?

Am I quackers?
My family would say so.
However browsing through the pet section I came across a category for Ducks. It brought back some memories for me, as when I was about 14 I had a friend who happened to be a boy (I would have liked him as a boyfriend really) who had a duck as a pet. I cannot remember what species it was but it was a white duck.

We lived in a small village and he had this duck from when it hatched so naturally Mark became Ducks parent and everywhere that Mark followed duck would go too. I can remember many a walk over the fields Mark and me followed by Duck.
Ducks do this naturally with their parents, they imprint, and they follow the first moving thing they see. It has been known for ducks to imprint on balls. An Austrian scientist Konrad Zacharias Lorenz first formally documented this in the 1930s. The chickens I had at the time did something similar with me.

There are many species of duck not just the white duck one automatically thinks of. At the reservoir you might see golden eye, widgeon, scoters, merganser, eider, Mallards amongst others.

Walking along the canal side with my children at work we see Mandarin, Pekin, and Aylesbury ducks. Aylesbury ducks were first bred in Haddenham about 6 miles away from Aylesbury. The Aylesbury duck is used as the heraldic emblem for Aylesbury.

The Aylesbury duck was walked from the vale of Aylesbury to London 40 miles away, the flock herders would rest at inns overnight, the ducks ion enclosures specially built. This is why you get the name Duck inn I guess. In London duck meat was popular with the wealthy so fresh or live duck would be sold. In the 1839 the train line between Aylesbury and London was built so the duck no longer had to walk to the London Market.
When the Pekin duck was brought to England from China in 1873 it crossbred with the Aylesbury duck and there were fewer true Aylesbury ducks and the duck meat trade declined.

It is really good to see ducks anywhere on the village pond, the local reservoir or canal.
I have happy memories of taking my child to feed bread to the ducks. Duck is such an easy word to say as well as is quack so feeding ducks with your toddler is a super activity, just make sure your toddler does not get too close to the water. There are many toy ducks for the bath for sale I think most of us must have had at least one.

I think keeping a duck or two for a pet would be good if you had a fairly large pond.
You do need to feed them on dried duck or chicken pellets and make sure they have access to somewhere warm and dry. If you are thinking of keeping ducks as pets do research it properly this is only a taster.

Summary: You could keep one as a pet it will imprint on you .