Daphne is our latest house guest - she's a Mallard duckling who hatched over Memorial Day weekend, 2009. Her mother and 8 or 9 siblings left her behind to fend for herself, so a friend rescued her and brought her to me. I've been raising her with my chickens, but since she IS a wild animal, I have left her wings intact and have not handled her or given her any special attention so that she will not become imprinted on humans. She'll be free to fly away when and if she wants, or she can stay here as long as she likes - the choice will be totally hers...
June 1, 2009 - Daphne at two days old.
June 17, 2009 - Daphne at 2 1/2 weeks old - she's growing up fast!!!
July 4, 2009 - Daphne at 5 weeks - getting adult feathers, and losing her baby fluff!
July 4, 2009 - Daphne hangin' wit her peeps - Scooter (left) and Skeeter (right) are silkie chickens.
July 21, 2009 - 7 1/2 weeks old here - Daphne is now starting to get some "male" type feathering, so I'm starting to think we should have called her "Daffy"!
July 21, 2009 - A little afternoon snooze...
August 15, 2009 - 11 weeks old - more male feathers popping out - just waiting for that curly little "drake feather" to show up and confirm my suspicions!
UPDATE: August 26, 2009 - Daphne apparently decided it was time to leave, and *HE* (as opposed to "she") flew the coop today. There has been a lot of activity lately with Canada Geese around here, so I guess his wild instincts finally kicked in. He was 12 1/2 weeks old, and I finally saw that drake feather starting to curl this morning!!! Ah well... Hopefully we'll see him again (and hopefully I can get some more pics!), but if not, I'm happy he returned to the wild, because that's where he belongs.
UPDATE: August 26, 2009 - Daphne apparently decided it was time to leave, and *HE* (as opposed to "she") flew the coop today. There has been a lot of activity lately with Canada Geese around here, so I guess his wild instincts finally kicked in. He was 12 1/2 weeks old, and I finally saw that drake feather starting to curl this morning!!! Ah well... Hopefully we'll see him again (and hopefully I can get some more pics!), but if not, I'm happy he returned to the wild, because that's where he belongs.
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