Help and advice needed helping rescue ducks to settle

Hi Last month I stayed with a family who's neighbours had a pair of call ducks and I fell in love. We've already got six hens and I was so taken with the ducks that when I got home I tore the garden up and built a pond

I found what I thought was a good breeder and went to pick up my pair of ducks...I was horrified when I got there an saw the conditions the animals where in. It was disgusting...I was so shocked I bought them out of worry. They were full of mites, filthy, scabby and don't even know what to do with water the breeder said they were 18 months old, personally I think he sold them because they were infertile but time will tell on that.

Sooo...I need some help and tips please....

The ducks will only wash in their large water bowl...they don't go anywhere near their pond. I'm gutted as I spent the last two weeks getting it ready, then moving it away from us (think we scare the life out of them too) then changing it....now I'm thinking of completely re-doing it to encourage them to swim. Any advice is really welcome please

Secondly the female still isn't laying eggs...what can I do to improve their health to encourage egg production? I'd love ducklings as the ultimate goal but also just want the. To be happy and healthy.

They don't even know what duck food is....they won't even eat corn...how can I encourage them to eat? Even if I put mealworms in their bowl they leave them. On the plus side they're eating loads of worms and slugs so I know they are eating.

Their feathers are still very dull (although looking brighter daily). Is there any good remedies to help them get their natural oils into their feathers? We're starting to actually see their colourful feathers now (after daily bathing) will they just gain condition in time?

Sorry for the long post I'm just very worried about them and want to give them the home they deserve.

@RavynFallen

Sounds like they already have the home they deserve!!

So these are Calls then? Just trying to make sure I've got it right, lol... I raise Calls myself... and I got breeders last year from a friend and 2 of those originally came from similar background as yours... I still have issues getting them to go into full water, but they are much better about washing up than they used to be...

The feathers will only get to looking so good until they molt them out for new ones... feather damage can't be fully repaired, so if they don't get to looking much better don't worry...

Corn really isn't good for them in quantity, what kind of feed are you trying to get them to eat? I have some that won't touch pellets, but will eat crumble...

As for laying, how long have you had them now? After moving a month of no eggs is normal, but also changing things will set that back as well... ducks like schedules, so if you can work on that, I think that would help... and how small are they? Smaller Calls lay much less eggs usually than larger ones... got any pics you can share??

Hope this helps, and please feel free to ask more questions...

They're meant to be miniature appleyards, truthfully I don't think they look very miniature lol I'll get some pics tomorrow and post them. Routine...they seem to have made their own. They sleep in the shed, it had a cat flap on from our bunnies and they chose that straight away (ignoring the lovely duck house I'd bought them . They come and go throughout the day, mainly enjoying the decking at th back garden and the flower beds. I keep persevering with the pond...I've been watching YouTube and getting ideas so think I might try making a deeper pond with a shoreline approach for them.

I'm feeding them the duck food from our feed store. I'll try crumbs as well. I found a great thread on here about foods they like so I'll start trying them with other things. Do you think they'll swim in a pond eventually? They just don't seem to know what to do we'll have had them 2 weeks this weekend x

So, you keep them in a pen that is safe from predators, yes?

Overnight they are locked in a shed, during the day they free range. I've got 7 dogs (they cannot get to them unsupervised) and two cats in a large garden so predators are put off during the day. We did have a fox come about two years ago so everything's fox proof, the dogs have access to the decking and can see the ducks....they will not let a predator in the garden

Sounds like you are doing well then... and I didn't think my Calls feally looked miniature either... until I saw them next to full sized ducks, lol!

Hopefully, they will learn to love your pond... just be patient and let them settle in well... they tend to take their own sweet time to do things in their own way...

I was watching them when I was upstairs earlier and they were actually stood on the side looking in . I'm deffo building a better pond, the more I'm looking on YouTube the bigger it's getting

Kye0001 said:

Overnight they are locked in a shed, during the day they free range. I've got 7 dogs (they cannot get to them unsupervised) and two cats in a large garden so predators are put off during the day. We did have a fox come about two years ago so everything's fox proof, the dogs have access to the decking and can see the ducks....they will not let a predator in the garden

Click to expand...

Thank you!!!!

Ok I'm just sat watching them and she's either laying or nest building behind my big fern (the monkey...just watched her break up loads of it! Two nesting boxes ignored in favour of my big fern! Lol

If she is laying eggs...will she forget about them or start nesting? What seasons do they go broody? I'd love ducklings as an ultimate goal xx