Suddenly I have ducklings...

[StarLover21]

My mom worked at a party on Easter where the owners had ducklings and chicks for the kids to play with and afterwards they would just throw them away :/ So this time we rescued both, however I have never raised ducklings before and I have some questions.

1. We don't have a pond but we have a freind that does, and we're planning on giving them to her once we have raised them. Will they be okay without a pond until then as long as we give them swims? Also how often should we let them swim (I was thinking in our bathtub?).
2. We also are raising the chicks which we've done before several times, and right now they are separated but would it be a bad idea to keep the ducklings and chicks together?
3. Is chick starter okay to feed them?
4. I was also wondering if anybody knew what breed they are. They look like regular Pekins to me, but about half of them have crests. Here are a few pictures of both the non-crested and crested if anybody could help me out.






^you can kind of see one of the crested ones here

Thanks so much! If there is any other advice on raising ducklings too that would be appreciated

 

[TLWR]

You have pekins and crested pekins or white crested (not really sure what the difference, if any, between those two).

If you wanted to keep some ducks, you can just provide a pool for swimming. They don't have to have a pond, just water. They have fun with just puddles!

With that many, I'd just keep them separate.

Non medicated chick starter is fine. Medicated is ok depending on the medication though I think what is used today is ok for ducks.

 

[sophiesmith1010]

1. Ducks can usually swim at the time they are born. When we first got our ducks we let them swim in a goat water bin.($10) They swam for about 5 minutes every day. Later I was researching and found out you can keep ducks without water to swim in.
2.We gave them chick starter and they were fine. We keep our ducks with our chickens during winters. The chickens didn't really care about ducks in their house.

 

[newfoundland]

Is there not some law that prevents people from throwing living animals away? That is outrageous behaviour! How wonderful that you have taken them on. Ducks are such happy creatures and always make you smile. You will find loads of advice on this forum for the care of ducks and luckily, they are fairly hardy creatures. I should warn you they grow rather rapidly and are a bit smelly, so as soon as possible, put them outside, but lock them in a house/shed at night. I'm sure your friend will enjoy them!

 

[desertdarlene]

Glad you got them away from those irresponsible people. Yes, there are laws against domestic animal dumping, but people are rarely caught in the act, so they go un-prosecuted.

You don't need a pond. The bare minimum would be a water pan deep enough for them to wash their heads, but a baby pool or bathtub would make them happy. But, when they're ducklings, you have to be extremely careful with swimming because they get chilled. Make sure the water is warm and shallow and limit swimming to a few minutes. Make sure they're dried off and warmed after swimming. You can raise them like you do the chicks except you might want to supplement them with vitamins such as niacin. I don't know if you want to keep them all together because you have a lot and ducks grow big pretty fast. Plus, ducklings are very messy and like to play in their water dish and spill food everywhere. Even if you just have a tiny bit of water, they will play in it.

 

[gilbert2]

Congratulations! If those people who were "throwing away" the ducklings and chicks were ever caught, the penalties are very serious for animal cruelty.

I have always let my baby ducks swim in the sink in my garage. I like to have the depth of the water be deep enough for their feet to not touch the bottom--then they can truly swim. The temp can also be easily controlled. Afterward, I just put them back in their home with the heat lamp on, and they dry out in less than 10-minutes. Their preening helps dry them. So if you use your bathtub as a pool, just be prepared to wash out all the poop.

Everyone else's advice is great, and I would go with it.