Here are the newest additions to The Ranch family of critters. Violet hatched this clutch of babies on July 14. Violet is a Rouen, a domestic version of a Mallard. Papa Quacks is a Mallard that we have had since he was a little bigger than these fluff balls as a rescue from someones school project about 8 years ago. He liked it so much here that he has never chosen to migrate.
I'm looking for a caption for this shot. Violet is a very protective mom who at the moment I took this pic was telling our blind hen Babette to stay away from the babies. She hisses like a snake if you get too close and lunges at you with her gaping mouth if you don't back off. It's amazingly intimidating and effective for her.
8 comments:
My Mom's friend had geese when I was a kid and her husband, a prominent radiologist, was chased from the back lawn many time by them. He would yell: "Dammit, I LIVE HERE!"
...cranim man...did you lose your 'u' or is it just in the shop for repair??
Nancy, what's that behind her tail...looks like a piece of pvc pipe? just white glare?
"No, No, Babette!" ?????
The white is her wing feathers. The last few on the tips of her wings are white. I think they are called flight feathers which is a bad joke in her case. She is too heavy to lift herself more than a few inches off the ground. It's not overeating, it breeding. Rouens were bred from mallard stock to be "meatier", so they are large-bodied in relation to their flight muscles.
You can't always see the white feathers because they are tucked under the wings when the birds are sitting or walking. But I think it's part of her threat strategy to show them here-it makes her look that much larger to her adversary.
Maybe "Back Off, Babette!!!"
Back off, Babette, it is!
Bred meatier for eating???
I believe so. I think mallards were hunted (probably still are) so I'm sure someone who liked the taste of the meat decided to mess with the genetics to increase the amount and fat content. Not to mention catching domestic ducks is easier than shooting wild ones.
Is Cranium man messing with us in the spelling department???
"The Mallard duck is the ancestor of almost all domestic breeds of ducks and clearly that of the Rouen. Though marked with the same color pattern as Mallards, with drakes having green heads, white collars, claret breast and a blue patch on the wing, Rouens are even brighter in color and larger in size than Mallards. The Rouen was developed in France and was admitted to the American Standard in 1874. It is still considered the superior meat bird in Europe, where much more duck is consumed than in America. In the U.S., Rouens are raised primarily for the restaurant market. These ducks are excellent foragers, calm in disposition and unlikely to fly. Drakes mature at about 8 pounds and ducks at about 7 pounds."
Here is the source for the previous comment:
http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/poultry/ducks/rouen/index.htm
Thanks for looking up the info!
...dunno what's happened to S. He hasn't posted anywhere for a while. Will call if we don't hear/see something soon. *blinks*
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