Two of the most beloved recurring characters were the Friends chick and duck birds, and fans often wondered about their abrupt disappearance. The chick and duck Friends birds were two pets owned by Joey Tribbiani (Matt LeBlanc) and Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry). The presence of the pets spanned across three seasons but the series briefly mentioned their fate before the Friends series finale in 2004. On Friends, Joey bought the baby chick as a gift for his roommate, Chandler. After many arguments, Chandler decided to return the chick but when he learned it would be euthanized, he changed his mind and also brought home a duck. Joey and Chandler were like a married couple while raising the chick and duck as if they were their own children. The chick eventually transformed into a rooster even though the duo believed it to be a female.
Over the course of the series, the chick appeared in 18 episodes whereas the duck had a part in 21 episodes. Chandler ended up naming the chick "Yasmine" and Joey started calling the duck by the name of "Dick." At one point, the duck even swallowed Ross' engagement ring which resulted in an emergency vet visit. The chick and duck Friends appearances started to become more sparse after Chandler moved in with Monica. The last on-screen Friends chick and duck appearance came in the episode, "The One with Mac and C.H.E.E.S.E." which aired in season 6. It's likely that the logistics featuring the two birds became too difficult with the later storylines, so Friends decided to move on from the pets. Thankfully, they tied up loose ends with their disappearance.
Friends Chick and Duck Died
Even though the chick and duck Friends pets appeared in season 6, the latter was mentioned the following season after eating Rachel's face cream. The Friends chick and duck birds were then absent until the Friends series finale episode. Rachel referred to the pets having died a few years prior, one of the few deaths on Friends, but Phoebe cut her off and assured Joey that the chick and the duck were actually at a special farm that didn't allow visitors. This meant that the pets most likely died of old age and the rest of the group told a white lie to shield Joey from their deaths.
The final episode also provided another callback to the beloved pets. Joey decided to give Chandler another chick and duck pair which he named Chick Jr. and Duck Jr., respectively. Chandler told his friend to keep them instead, but their fate remained unknown since the pets didn't appear in the spinoff series, Joey. Let's hope one of the other characters in Friends took care of them, so they didn't have to go to the special farm with the original pets. Unfortunately, nothing was revealed on the Friends reunion special on HBO Max either.
Chick Jr. And Duck Jr. Could Have Saved Joey's Spin-off
After Friends went off the air it was announced that Joey Tribbiani would be getting his own spinoff series titled Joey. Matt LeBlanc reprised his iconic role on the small screen, but after two seasons the series was canceled by NBC. While the show was canceled due to its low ratings from the get-go, it's possible that Chick Jr. and Duck Jr.'s inclusion in the series might've saved its fate. One of the biggest problems with Joey was its lack of callbacks to its parent series. Joey arguably erased all of Tribbiani's history leading up to his big move to California, doing a great disservice to Friends.
The spinoff used so little of the lore created by Friends, that it made it seem like Joey coldly moved away from everyone else and just left his entire life behind to start over. The Joey spinoff show had a running start, considering the massive legacy that Friends left behind, and including more Easter eggs such as Chick Jr. and Duck Jr. might've helped with the series' longevity. Unfortunately, series creators realized this too little too late, and the show got canned. While the chick and duck Friends birds sadly died of old age, their legacy could've lived on through Joey, but unfortunately, that didn't happen.