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Barnyard Buddies:  drowning ducklings  |
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saram
True Blue Farmgirl
521 Posts
Sara
Biggs
CA
USA
521 Posts |
 Posted - May 17 2016 : 1:58:41 PM
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Hi. I'm hoping someone out there has experience with raising ducklings hatched by a brooding hen. I have 3 hens, all three are brooding (close to 30 eggs total!) The first batch hatched this week--so cute, 14 of them! Three days later, mom had led them into the duck pen (which I was keeping them from, for this very reason) and they all drowned in the water trough which serves as a pond for the grown ducks.
My question is, what are your inventive ways of providing adequate water for bathing, drinking, and just plain ducking-around, while also making the water safe for new ducklings? I really don't want the same thing to happen to the next 2 batches!! God only knows how they ever survive in the wild!  |
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MaryJanesNiece
True Blue Farmgirl
7032 Posts
Krista
Utah
USA
7032 Posts |
Posted - May 17 2016 : 7:04:06 PM
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I am so sorry to hear about your new ducklings. I hope you can find a way to keep the new ones all safe and happy. Good luck.
Krista |
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magnoliakathy
True Blue Farmgirl
453 Posts
Kathryn
Magnolia
Texas
USA
453 Posts |
Posted - May 17 2016 : 8:06:43 PM
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Newly hatched ducklings get their waterproofing from the mama duck's feathers. Chicken mamas don't provide this. When I use chickens to hatch ducklings, after they have grown a few feathers, I provide very shallow dishes to the ducklings, just enough to let float in and but shallow enough to stand up and get out about 1 or so inches. They will play in any watering device you put in their pen, it has to be shallow enough they can get out if they get soaked, otherwise they sink and drown as you have seen. As the feathers grow in you will see them shedding water, this is what keeps them from drowning. I waiting until all of their baby fluff is gone before putting them in with bigger ducks and free access to deeper water.
Find something to smile about every day. Farmgirl # 714, |
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saram
True Blue Farmgirl
521 Posts
Sara
Biggs
CA
USA
521 Posts |
Posted - May 18 2016 : 08:25:46 AM
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Thank you Kathryn. I must have been unclear in my posting, but the ducklings were hatched by a duck hen, not a chicken hen. I think ducks are called hens, right? Anyway, they were with a duck mom, but she was accustomed to being in the duck pen with the other grown duck hens so she figured out a way to get in and, of course, the little ducklings were small enough to slip through the fencing and join her.
The issue now is, what can I do to eliminate the deep water my adult ducks like to have, but still provide sufficient water for a potentially large number of ducklings still to hatch. Has anyone come up with creative repurposed items to use as a shallow "pond?" Right now I have replaced the deep waterer with a shallow pan, like a baking sheet with low sides, and I'm letting the hose dribble into it constantly. But I'm in California, and letting hoses dribble is against my water-wise senses, so I was hoping to come up with a better, low maintenance solution. |
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magnoliakathy
True Blue Farmgirl
453 Posts
Kathryn
Magnolia
Texas
USA
453 Posts |
Posted - May 19 2016 : 2:58:48 PM
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Ducks and geese need just enough water to submerge their nostrils to clean them. A container shallow enough for the ducklings to stand up and get out of is deep enough for the adults to keep their nostrils clean until the little ones are bigger,the drawback to the shallow pan is the bigger ones will keep splashing all of the water out or you could provide a bucket that the bigger ones can dip their heads in but tall enough the little ones can't get in or provide steps in the water to allow the little ones to climb out if needed. I know ducks like to swim, splash and play, but keeping the nostrils clean is all they really need. I have used stacked bricks to allow ducklings to get in and out of a kiddie wading pool and buckets for the bigger ducks. Yes, a female duck is a hen and the male is a drake.
Find something to smile about every day. Farmgirl # 714, |
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saram
True Blue Farmgirl
521 Posts
Sara
Biggs
CA
USA
521 Posts |
Posted - May 19 2016 : 7:32:38 PM
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Thank you Kathryn. I've raised ducklings from the feed store, and I know that they are very high maintenance. Last year I had 6 ducklings hatch outside, and I was thrilled that I didn't have to do all the work of raising them. But then 2 drowned and 3 were found dead in their pen where they lived with chickens, roosters that fly in and out, and a drake or two. One duckling survived. Good job Mom. I didn't lose a single one when I raised them! This year I have removed the drakes (thinking they might be aggressive toward ducklings) and I thought it would be easiest to just not house ducklings with the chickens and the deep water this time, but now I see that what I think is best and what mama duck thinks is best are not always the same thing. So I want to approach these next hatches differently and thoughtfully.
For now the shallow pan with the dribbling hose is working for the adults. A permanent puddle surrounds it, which has a sloping bottom, so I assume the new ducklings could find a way out if they got into it (wrong?) I really don't know how the first 14 got into the 6-8 inch-tall tub; I would have thought they couldn't reach. (I visualize mom giving them boosts up!) :-/ So I guess I feel like the next ones are virtually doomed. We had temps in the 90's last week (yikes! It's still May!) so it would take constant vigilance to keep water in a shallow container and I just don't have that kind of time, so I am resorting to a constant flow from the hose. Which I don't like.
I guess I'm hoping someone comes up with some absolutely brilliant idea for me. Like the opposite of a creep feeder. Whatever that would look like! |
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Barnyard Buddies: drowning ducklings |
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drowning ducklings
