duckling won’t stop shivering

[Puddingtheamericana]

i have two ducklings about 3 weeks old now, and I usually give them swim time. when they were tiny we’d do it in our sink so the water was warm, then we moved to a bucket in our shower. ducklings grow surprisingly fast and now we can’t really do swim time indoors anymore so were doing it outside in an old cooler. the problem is hose water is COLD. even if i tried to put some boiling water into it to warm it up it stays cold. i know ducks are cold hardy but they’re ducklings and shouldn’t in cold cold water yet i pretty sure.
(i live in a trailer rn because my house is having a second story built onto it, so no access to a bathtub which would be super useful rn)

anyways, i’ve done two swim times in the cold water so far and usally they start shivering and hate it and just climb onto something instead of being in the water and don’t eat the treats i throw in the water, compared to when they’d be diving and swimming about catching food when in warm water. I take them out after a short period of time, cuddle them with a dishcloth until dryer and pop them back into the warm brooder under their heat lamp. one of the ducklings, Winifred, will shiver for a bit but them jump right back and start eating, running around, and away from me because the ducklings don’t really like people. but then our other duckling, Emiline, will keep shivering even after like a long time, she stumbles, can’t stand up or walking around, doesn’t eat or drink, and isn’t scared of me or runs away if i put her down; she was also making this weird breathing sound, every time she’d exhale it be like a “hefhh…” souno, really quiet and quick sounding- and i could feel it too. but the like 30 minutes later she’ll be fine and loud and scared of me and eating and drinking, etc.

does anyone know why she’s more prone to coldness than the other duckling? also any tips on giving them safer more enjoyable swim time if i don’t have access to warm water?

 

[sourland]

Ducklings can go into hypothermia and die. If they were mine, I would discontinue the 'swim time' until conditions warm up.

 

[ruthhope]

Ducklings don't need to swim at 3 weeks old and not when it is cold. My son raised 3 from day old ducklings last spring. They hatched mid March and we had exceptionally cold weather in April. They rarely went into his wading pool before 6 weeks old, but absolutely love bathing repeatedly all day long now. I had a newly hatched duckling in July and offered it swimming in a plastic washing up bowl in the house. He hated it and kept jumping out, although he liked being dried off in a towel. He still doesn't like to go in the wading pool and I have to shower him with the hose before he will go in and bath. Actually, he had his hose down today as he had not bathed for at least the last 2 weeks!

 

[Crazy Maizie]

Ducklings are not feathered in and are not cold hardy like an adult duck would be. Your duckling is exhibiting symptoms that says this is not good for her. The one just seems a bit more tolerant, but that doesn't mean it's good for them.
Why continue if you see such symptoms?
I agree ducklings don't need to swim at this age. They can definitely die if they get too cold.
In fact just by drinking water that is too cold, they can go into hypothermia and die.

 

[Puddingtheamericana]

Ducklings are not feathered in and are not cold hardy like an adult duck would be. Your duckling is exhibiting symptoms that says this is not good for her. The one just seems a bit more tolerant, but that doesn't mean it's good for them.
Why continue if you see such symptoms?
I agree ducklings don't need to swim at this age. They can definitely die if they get too cold.
In fact just by drinking water that is too cold, they can go into hypothermia and die.

thanks, i’m defiantly stopping with the cold water, seeing as their unhappy and unsafe. they just seem really bored in their brooder all day and swimming always made them happy- although the water was warm and cozy then. im looking into some pens so they can hang out in the grass outside without running away, and looking for a way to give them safer swim time.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

Being bored is a human concept. But, you can place some toys in their set up - ducks love to poke and chase around balls.
At this age even if they swim, it shouldn't be for long and it doesn't have to be a large quantity of water. Just something to jump into splash around in and back out. I used shallow dishes at first - an inch deep at most.
I also brooded my ducks at the end of February. But, I just brought hot water from the house to the building they were being brooded in. It would cool down enough by the time I poured it in a shallow dish. They got like 5 - 10 min at most. Then they got dried off and back under a nice heat lamp with fresh shavings. I continued to expand the size of container and the amount of water they could swim in as they grew.

 

[AmeraucanaHank]

how are they doing?