@GSDperson I would leave it until you can get a good answer, what to clean it with and how to clean it (if at all) may be very critical. Hopefully you get some informed information soon.
A bit to early for me to have any good advice. Hopefully some of the hatching experts will pipe in here. @Miss Lydia , I know you let the momma's do the hatching, but if you know any other experts in hatching/hatchlings to page, I'd appreciate it. I'm out of my depth this young.
If it's still in the shell, I know nothing as I've never hatched before. My skills start at 3 days old when they come out of the box.:lol: I wouldn't feed them in the shell, they should have yolk sacks to sustain them. @Ravynscroft @casportpony
What does it look like? How old is it? What are you feeding it? Assuming you are giving it a chicken starter food, are you giving it supplemental niacin (don't use "flush free" or "time release") or brewers' / nutritional yeast (not active yeast)? Does it have full range of motion in its legs...
...up-to-date in the Duck thread, I thought I might post it again here. Sorry to those runner thread subscribers who get to see it twice. :confused:
*** DUCK SAFETY ANNOUNCEMENT ***
Just a friendly reminder since a lot of ducklings are becoming ducks around this time. Ducks will want to stay...
Good luck! Separate booders is a good idea. Ducklings are much messier than chicks and tend to grow faster so can trample them. The chicks will thank you.
Sounds like another lone duckling... Ducks are very social animals. They are quite unhappy being alone. They should always have a friend that is with them all the time, preferably another duck.
Well the other 19 probably aren't quite as bad as Snow was. They might carelessly lay the egg any old place, but they don't come back in a couple minutes and kick a hole in the shell!!!
Ducklings will get a lot of their food in their water which makes it look disgusting but is not going to hurt them. As long as they get fresh water at least once per day, it should be fine. Now if your problem is with them throwing water all over the place and emptying out the container, there...
I'm sure! But for every big mama, there's Snow -
This response is assuming you get a drake, otherwise all would be fine. Firstly if they are together, they will mate. This is unavoidable, and shouldn't be a problem. If you don't want ducklings, collect the eggs every day. The eggs being...
Metzer rates them as "Good" in "Mothering" which I think is going broody + watching 'lings. This is the best rating they give any domestic duck: only Mallards get "Very Good". Whereas Pekins get the "Poor" rating. Here is their chart:
http://www.metzerfarms.com/DuckBreedComparison.cfm
I know the tiny bills give them problems breaking through the egg shells, but don't know other typical extreme downfalls.
Plus I would think lifespan is always part of the equation with calls since they are either pets or "decor". I hope NOBODY eats calls.
Kinda what I was thinking on that second look but I have zero experience.
I think so too. I know several people have had luck with Jumbos as "Pets", but they really are a "meat" bird and are bred with a 6-8 week life expectancy in mind. There are compromises that have to be made all the time...
I was looking at it some more... The curve on the outside of the lower leg, is that the muscle and the tendon? Maybe they slipped off the elbows and are going around the outside instead of behind the leg. I would think this would be very unusual for it to happen on both legs though... I hope...