This page is for Marshmallow - my pseudo goose.
She was a free duckling that Holderreads included in my order of Shetland goslings in May 2006. At
first, I was upset that they had put odd ducks in my order. But, as it turned out, it was the best thing they could
have done for me at the time. The plan was for my goose to raise the Shetlands along with the runners that she had hatched
from my flock. But she heard one gosling squeak and knew there was something wrong with her "ducklings". It took
about an hour of head tossing, honking and pacing around the pen for her to determine what, exactly, was wrong and then what
to do about it. She started grabbing goslings! But she accepted the free ducklings as her own just as she had
accepted mail order ducklings in previous years. So I rescued the goslings before she actually hurt any of them.
And left the free ducklings with her and the runners. Since she accepted the ducklings, I know the timing of their arrival
in relation to her hatch was not the problem - she had come off her nest one day earlier than I had anticipated.
Marshmallow is the one I kept with a few of her runners. She looked just like a marshmallow peep when
she was a downy baby. But the question was, what kind of duck is she? Only time would tell. Mrs. Holderread
said that the only white ducks they have are runners and occasionally Magpies and Silver Appleyards. It was obvious
from the start that she was NOT a runner. So we had to wait for her to finish growing and see how big she would get.
She's a whopper compared to my runners!
She appears to be nearly as big as my 9 lb goose.
Since I had to sell all my Shetland geese in order to keep all the runners that I want to keep, she
has become known as my pseudo goose. She truly is twice the size of a runner. And with that description in hand,
I once again called Holderreads to see what kind of duck she is. She's a Silver Appleyard.
My husband and I enjoy watching her attempt to keep up with the runners when we play tomato soccer
with them. She's surprisingly fast for her size. But she rarely wins, so we're sure to throw some just to her
so she gets a bite.
I also call her Large Marge.
For all the unkind remarks I make about her, I DO think she's a beautiful duck.
It's just such a drastic contrast between her and the runners.
Sadly I have to report that we burried Marshmallow on October 16, 2006. She was
just 5 and a half months old. She had only just started showing an interest in mating and two of my drakes, her sibling
and one of the adults, were showing an interest in her. Apparantly, they got her in their pool and fought over
her. I found her floating dead and stiff a few hours after I had gone inside after morning chores and treats.
I had never seen those two drakes get that aggressive with any of the other hens I've
seen them arguing over, but it's the only thing that makes sense since the water is only 6 inches deep in that pool and she
was a very big duck. I can only concieve of them getting her head under water if she were in the submissive mating posture.
Keeping a flock of ducks has been a never ending learning experience.
But not always a pleasant one.
Marshmallow was a neat duck and will be greatly missed.
