….Almost six weeks ago QHST Science had the worldwide exclusive pictures of the new ducklings at the school. Since then they’ve grown quite quickly and are nearly ready to head to the duck pond that has graciously accepted them. Here are pictures of the ducklings all taken within the last week and a half!
June 30, 2009
June 18, 2009
Getting to know you – Pekin Ducks
….As the ducklings keep on growing bigger and older they are starting to display a lot of the features characteristic of their breed – the Pekin duck. Most people know Pekin ducks from the image they have of them floating in a pond or from their most famous member:
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Donald Duck
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….However here are some facts about Pekin Ducks that will give you a more complete picture and might surprise you!
– Ancestors of the Pekin ducks originated from the canals which linked waterways in Nanjing, China (not Peking!) and originally had small bodies and black feathers.
– The first Pekins came to America in 1873. Four Pekins were brought to Long Island for breeding and they took to the conditions on the island and began multiplying so well that they are often known as the ‘Long Island Duck’.
– The average lifepsan of the Pekin Duck is between 9 and 12 years.
– The average mature Pekin Duck weighs between 8 and 9 pounds. They grow very fast and can weigh more than 5lbs at 8 weeks.
– Their plumage is white and they have orange bills, legs and feet.
– An adult Pekin can lay up to 150 to 200 eggs in one year.
– Pekins are one of the most popular breeds of duck as both pets and as a food source in the US.
– The scientific names for Pekins are Anas platyrhynchos domestica or Anas peking.
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.Here are some excellent sites to check out for more information on the Pekin breed:
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May 30, 2009
Sleep with One Eye Open
….There are a number of new videos of the ducklings that have been posted under the QHST Science account on youtube, including this one of the ducklings trying to get comfortable so they can catch some z’s.
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….While they all are pretty safe and nestled here (you can see one or two trying to jockey for position in the proverbial dog pile), we have found that some of the time when they are sleeping the ducks on the outside seem to be aware of any movement around them. Part of this may be due to a very interesting feature of the way ducks sleep.
….Ducks can actually control how alert they are during sleep through a unique type of sleep called unihemispheric slow-wave sleep. The pioneer in the study of how ducks sleep this way is Dr. Niels Rattenborg, who published a paper in 1999 that appears to demonstrate how ducks can manipulate their type of sleep when they feel they are under risk of predation. In the studies carried out by Dr. Rattenborg and his collaborators they videotaped a row of ducks as they were sleeping and observed that ducks at the ends of the rows would only partially rest as one side of the brain continued to operate at full capacity and by keeping one of their eyes open. Ducks situated on the interior of a group of sleeping ducks experience full sleep and rotate with the ‘watcher’ ducks to share the responsibilities. While this type of sleep phenomenon is rare there are some other animals that share the ability such as lizards, whales, penguins, seals and some other aquatic mammals. You can read more about the trait and study at these links:
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Half-asleep birds choose which half dozes
Birds sleep with half brain off and rest on
May 21, 2009
May 20, 2009
Duckling Hatching Video
Here’s a video from QHSTscience’s very own youtube channel that shows one of the ducklings hatching from it’s egg!
You can find more QHSTscience videos here:
May 19, 2009
QHST: Now at least 8 times cooler than Seasame Street!
Some people might dispute the title of this post because of
But as of this morning QHST had welcomed in 6 8 new ducklings to the family (and there are more on the way). Here are some pictures of the eggs, hatching and the rambunctious little ducklings:
May 18, 2009
Chick and Duckling Embryo Development
As we get closer and closer to hatching it’s important to have an understanding of how the chick and duckling embryos develop. The embryos of both go through multiple stages of development that typically last 3 and 4 weeks respectively. The following are some great websites that document the development of embryos of both:
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The following two sites describe the development of the embryos thoroughly and are great references for step by step growth:
Chick and Duckling embryo development by stages
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The development of a chick embryo in stages.
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These two sites show the amazing real life development of embryos in the egg all the way from yolk to chick and duckling respectively:
Real life chick embryo development.
Real life duckling embryo development.
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May 12, 2009
The Chick and Duckling Hatching: Incubation
We’re beginning to hear some pecking inside one of the eggs so for the time being this post will be the introduction to the dozen (each!) chicken and duck eggs we currently have incubating at QHST. To give some background information we have had the chicken and duck eggs incubating for about 3 weeks at this point in a Model# 1588 Genesis Hova-Bator. Information on the incubation process including the steps one has to take with particular eggs can be found here. They should be hatching soon and we’ll then cover their growth in a series of posts.
In the meantime here are some pictures of the eggs being incubated. The green marked ones are the chicken eggs and the orange marked eggs are the duck eggs.
Mad Science @ QHST 