Missy Duck and her cohort came to us many years ago from our friend, Faith. There were five female rouens in the batch and they were thrilled to come live here since we have a creek very close to the coop. Duck heaven.Over the years, we lost two of those rouens. And we bought a few other ducks.
The pekins didn't last long because the foxes targeted their bright white hides faster than you can say duck a l'orange. K2 was heartbroken. Since then we've made sure to get ducks that can camouflage.
Once the last batch of ducklings got big enough to identify, we discovered we had three new males and three new females.
By then there were three ducks left in Missy Duck's original cohort. They spent the day studiously avoiding the babies.
Missy Ducks was not thrilled with the new males.
At. All.
The second year, when the new males were full grown and had figured out what to do with the females, we noticed that Missy Duck would chase them away from her cohort. Again and again and again. She was fearless. It was pretty funny to watch, actually.
Then we noticed she did this:
We have a cross-dressing duck. She's especially resplendent in the spring, during breeding season. In the fall, she goes back to her old self.