I would allow him access to food and water during all daylight hours. If he's hungry, hopefully, he'll eat and plump up. I would also give him access to grit. So long as he's got water and food, I'd just let him chow down. Make sure the feed is high quality duck / waterfowl feed. I wouldn't...
I'm so happy your duck is feeling better, and I couldn't agree more. Ducks are resilient creatures; it's amazing what these tiny little birds can withstand!
It's hard to tell by what you're saying. Is she eating? What makes you think she's under the weather? Could you try her on some nutridrench / sav-a-chick and see if she improves? Is the duck showing discharge from the nostrils? Does she have any difficulty breathing / wheezing?
I think you're making the right decision to keep them in their pen for the time being. That will help them understand where "home" is. All the points raised in prior comments are valid, but I would add that you should try not to chase them too much but instead use treats / feed as your friend...
Sometimes ducks, especially new laying ducks, will lay two eggs at once. As far as telling a drake (male duck) from a duck (female duck) we can look at more than egg production... here are some "tips"
First, ignore the "hop on top" game. That can be performed by both males and females, and...
This might be useful information to supplement @Orca5094 's post regarding a mobility device for ducks.
http://www.majesticwaterfowl.org/mmissue61.htm
Edit: I would also agree that supplemental niacin might be a good treatment option in addition to other advice.
Thank you! My wife nor I had ever seen any mutual preening behavior among ducks, so I grabbed some fast video of it. From my research I think it's fairly unusual behavior for ducks.
I am so happy with the improvements we've seen over the past couple of weeks with the rescue ducks. I hope they...
The "wet feather" condition still persists, although appears to be getting significantly better. I don't think it will ever be totally resolved until they have a molt, but at least it's not so bad. I'm guessing that the two new ducks didn't have enough water to swim in at their old house, so...
@ZoeS95423 - I'd bet it must be heartbreaking to see a duck call out for his/her friend. I'm confident that with time and introduction to new ducks, things will heal over. I'd mirror what other said regarding getting another duck to keep her company. Another girl might be less stressful for...
I picked up my Thermocube on Amazon; it works quite well. There are various models to meet your needs... I have the TC-1 (on at zero degrees and off at 10 degrees). I don't want to heat them too much inhibiting their own development of "cold hardiness."
Farm Innovators made a nice chart...
What I did that helped with the smell (at least I think this is what did it) - I plugged it in for several hours in my office. Then I let it cool down totally overnight, then plugged it in, and let it cool one more cycle. Once I completed this twice, the smell is almost all gone.