Raising and caring for ducklings

[Quackquack1738]

I put my three ducklings in a laundry basket in the bathroom,and it worked but one of them was born with a bad leg and the others pick on him
cause he is the smallest.

 

[DebraQ]

I adopted 2 ducklings, one normal and the other with what seemed to be a problem that has now turned into one with the niacin deficiency and he is about 8 or 10 weeks old. I have been giving the supplement and he never got medicated food but he is very bow legged and his back feathers are not coming in like his companion who seems to be perfect. It hasn't been long since I started the supplement, maybe a week or so but my question is do these ducklings recover from this problem and is there more I can do for him?

 

[Miss Lydia]

I adopted 2 ducklings, one normal and the other with what seemed to be a problem that has now turned into one with the niacin deficiency and he is about 8 or 10 weeks old. I have been giving the supplement and he never got medicated food but he is very bow legged and his back feathers are not coming in like his companion who seems to be perfect. It hasn't been long since I started the supplement, maybe a week or so but my question is do these ducklings recover from this problem and is there more I can do for him?

Can you post pics of what is going on? can he have some water therapy warm water is best. That can help to build leg muscles. How does he walk?

FYI anytime we do water therapy with a duck/duckling with leg issues never leave them alone they need supervision always while in water.

 

[DebraQ]

He swims just fine, can barely walk. One foot over the other and then falls. He eats, drinks and does everything else fine as well.

 

[Miss Lydia]

He swims just fine, can barely walk. One foot over the other and then falls. He eats, drinks and does everything else fine as well.

You might could make shoes for him and see if that will help to straighten out the feet.

Info here
https://sites.google.com/a/poultrypedia.com/poultrypedia/poultry-podiatry

 

[oldload]

I hatched 4 new babies and they are all insanely afraid of me. They are 6 weeks old. This is my third hatch and I can't for the life of me figure out why. I want to separate the group and start to introduce the babies to my others to see if they'll lose the fear. My other ducks are as sweet as can be. They all eat out of my hand and come running when it's time for treats. How old is old enough for me to put a duck in with my "springtime" adult drake? I don't want him to kill anybody and he can be very aggressive when he feels the need. Also this hatch appears to be 3 drakes and 1 duck . The duck seems to be the instigator of all the panic. This all started about 2 weeks ago for no good reason. It seems to have started when the duck got her quack. My other concern is we got four sexed ducklings from Meyer's Hatchery a few days ago and they too are sweet playful ducks and I don't want the scared ducks to "infect" my new babies with their insanity. We had hoped to integrate the hatched ducks with the mail order ducks rather soon to make the assimilation easier. Any advise would be appreciated

 

[theceltichorse]

Hi! Brand new to this thread. I will be a first time duck owner and am very excited. I have a couple of questions.
1) I have 2 Muscovy eggs in my incubator that are on day 31. One egg is internally pipped, unsure about the second one. The first one is rocking and rolling. No movement seen in the second one. If only the one egg hatches, what is the best way to handle this? I do have 4 other duck eggs (Rouen crosses) in another incubator that are due to go into lockdown this weekend.
2) Will the week difference in age be ok? I work at home (daycare to a little 2 year old boy) so will be more than happy to spend time with the duckling until the others hatch. 3) Will I be able to integrate the Muscovy duckling with the other ducklings once they hatch, without an integration period?

I do have some chicks that are about 3 weeks old- I can put the single's brooder next to their brooder for visual friends, but not sure putting them all together would be the right thing to do.

Thanks for any advice!

 

[blufangirl]

Questions????
My ducklings are disgusting they have played in their water and food and are now just yucky. They are maybe a week old.when is it ok to give them some bathing water? Also where can I get brewers yeast and does it need to be made for animals? Thanks for any help.

 

[Amiga]

Hey, blufangirl

I say this with great respect for you and your duckies.

They are waterfowl, and you can manage things so that you are all happier, I think

Waterfowl have a special relationship with water. It is their joy and they cannot not play in it, splash it, put things in it. They are just duckies!

But we duck keepers can work with that!

They need a watering station. A section of the brooder that catches the splash. I wish I had figured this out before mine were older. However, I DID figure it out.

I use the bottom of a large plastic dog crate to hold their waterer. For ‘lings, something smaller will do. It needs to be big enough to hold the water and let a few ducklings get to it to drink.

In the bottom, I have sawdust pellets. My ducks are adults and know not to eat the sawdust. But for littles, I would cover the sawdust with an old towel or something that they cannot lift to get at sawdust pellets to eat them.

The sawdust absorbs the water, keeping the rest of the bedding dry. Put the food away from the water, not in the watering station.

Ducklings still need room service, but managing the water helps.

I let my ducklings have tub time every day or two. Supervised at all times. Water temp same as brooder temp 90F first week, dropping 5 degrees F each week after), generally for about ten minutes, because the littles get tuckered out. Then back into a warm brooder, wiping off the ones who do not preen themselves with a dry washcloth. I only had to do that a few times.

 

[Amiga]

I get brewer’s yeast at the health food store, it does not need to be for animals only.