Teaching Ducklings to Forage and Swim in Their Deeper Water Swimming Pool. TIC
It was there first time to be in water deep enough for them swim around in. I can see why having ducks on a farm or in the countryside would be entertaining and relaxing.
For those of you just joining my Duckling Series; these are not my ducks, someone abandoned them outside my building a few weeks ago and after noticing no one was feeding or watering them for a couple days I started to and it’s just evolved into this. Lol
It’s my first time take care of ducks. I’ve had to google a lot information and at times it seems like work.
A couple of nights ago the weather was raining and windy so I went out and moved them into this shelter which at one point housed rabbits and a kitten. I stole the kitten and he has been with ever since. I didn’t think a lone kitten should be in this shelter in -10C in a little cage by himself. The rabbits were in different cages. One night I just went and took it. It was all on camera I just figured if they say anything to me about it I will tell them they are not suited to have a cat and offer them some money. No said a word but they must know it me. The rabbits were gone a few weeks later. Spring Festival dinner I’m certain. Rabbit is delicious in a stew, it’s the only way I’ve had it.
Back to the ducklings.
They were quite happy to see me. I have noticed someone else has feeding them but not much other noticeable activity. It’s the lady who runs the shop at our building. She is a nice lady and her husband let’s me leave without paying for beer because I forgot my money. The benefits of mom and pop shops is the owners actually care about the community and build real friendships with their customers. You ain’t gonna get that at Wal-Mart.
I have started feeding them finely chopped fruit, this is melon. The lady was giving them cooked rice and lettuce but I explained she needed to chop the lettuce because the ducklings don’t have teeth yet, now she does. ^^
I carried this box 1/3 full of water, it frick’n heavy and the handles were sharp edges, damn cheap Chinese stuff, but it was cheap. I put the ducks in to it and at first they were freaking out reaching to the bottom with the tips of the webbed feet. The big one could reach but the little couldn’t so he was trying to get on the back of the big one. Well after a couple mins of figuring out what floating on one spot was like I tossed in chopped melon and to see how they would react.
Once the melon near them was eaten they had to learn to swim to the bits that floated away. That was cute they would paddle like hell to get to the bit and then not knowing how to break crash into the wall.
I sat there and watched for 20 minutes it was quite soothing. They seemed happy to be swimming and learning to dunk their head under water looking for food. I gave them several helpings and they have proven to be bottomless eating machines.
I put them back in there cage and moved the cage back into the sunlight so they dry off and stay warm. Cleaned the food and water refilling them constantly. I hope that lady can pick the slack when I go to Canada this summer.
I’m going to use my Duckling Steem rewards to buy them a bigger proper cage next week. This cage is just getting too small.
TIC = This Is China
Just heartwarming. I hate animal cruelness and it's good to see others agree and take care of animals whenever they see an opportunity to do so. Well done!
That's awesome and very sweet that others have started pitching in!
Here are some ideas for a cage they would be more than happy with:
Wire mesh floor elevated off the ground kinda like this one they are in but with squares, and a couple poles/branches to nail/staple the wire floor and chicken wire sides, making the floor elevated about 1/2 to a foot of the ground, for the door, either put a side of osb or plywood, any scrapwood and cut a big enough hole for the door with some hinges, give them a few steps to get in, or use the roof as a door but then you have to take them in and out of the cage.
Bamboo would work great, and there's a few ways you can join it, search bamboo joints, and once you have made the frame for the cage either staple or attach the wire mesh with wire and give them a roof with enough overhang so they don't get hit by the sun that much, they need a good 3ftx3ft area to be comfortable and are fine with cleaning themselves 2-3 times a week.
Hmm.. Maybe I can do that. I wonder if the building manager will let me. I will have to ask. Thanks for that advice I am sure I can scrounge up that stuff.
Such sweet little ducklings! It's great that you rescued them and gave them a home. My brother had a duck he rescued when we were kids. It was a white duck. He had a little kids swimming pool for it when it go older. It's nice others are helping out with the little babies.
I wonder what these guys are gonna look like when they get bigger
I read once that grown up ducks have very oily feathers, which is part of how they float, but ducklings do not produce the oil yet. Instead, they are coated with it by being in contact with the mother duck. But without it, because the ducklings have no fully formed feathers and are not oily, baby ducks can actually drown. Not sure if this is true, but sounds plausible.
Anyway, there's this awesome website about ducks with info about caring for them, at http://www.liveducks.com/
Wow. That's incredibly useful info i did not know. I guess we got lucky. It was so deep he would drown but it would been uncomfortable and stressful. Happy they figured it out. Phew.
Gonna follow you and see what else you got for us.
Thanks for that tip.
I would guess that if you're going to have them in water, it should probably be shallow enough that their feet can fully touch the bottom, so they can pretty much walk in it. That way they can be safe and comfortable, but still splash around and get clean (which is probably very important, too). But I'm just guessing about this. You should probably try to find the info on the liveducks site, to make sure! I did find what I said about the oil, on there, so I guess that part is true.
I've never owned ducks, but I did enjoy visiting the liveducks website a lot. The owners of the site have had ducks for a long time, and there seems to be a lot of great info on there, so you should be able to find out what you need to know.
Cool thanks man. I will kook into that.