♡ Come watch my ducklings grow up ♡

Update #8:

Moony:
(4 weeks 1 day)
Holly & Puddles: (3 weeks 4 days)

Everyone is honking! Looks like I have 3 very talkative girls :)


Moony and Holly seem to be developing very slight angel wing so I've been wrapping it daily and will keep at it until they grow in correctly. Protein is only 17% so I'm not sure if it was genetic or I waited too long to cut down the protein, but either way I'm not too worried for now.

We've moved out to the temporary "nursery" room! This is where the ducklings will stay until their coop and run are ready for them and they have enough feathers to go without any heating. I'm still going to visit them very often, of course, but they really needed some space to stretch and play. Please excuse the icky stains; the previous tenants were a bit messy ;)

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Update #9:

Moony:
(5 weeks)
Holly & Puddles: (4 weeks 3 days)

All signs of angel wing are completely gone! It only took two nights of wrapping and fixed itself right up. I'm also planning to upgrade their feeder within a day or two as it looks like its getting harder for them to shovel enough feed into their bills with the small slots.


In other news, I am starting to doubt that Moony is female. Since she is very calm to being handled its hard to get her to react loudly to anything and when she is in the pool she doesn't really honk anymore. And as you can tell from the attached video, Puddles LOVES to talk so much that she makes it hard to tell what Moony or Holly have to say :lol: Anyone want me to post another video of just Moony's sounds and take a crack at it or should we just wait a few more weeks to be sure?
 
Welcome to those who are interested in watching my little buddies grow into adults! I plan on sharing updates on their progress as they age within this thread. I'll try not to update too often! If you have any questions or requests please let me know and I'll be glad to share. I hope that you will also grow to love them as I already do ♡

The Setup:

(I will update with pictures of this soon!)

The ducklings live in a large 50 gallon tote in a room in the house without carpet. One half of the tub is shavings and the other half is a watering station I've made from old wood, carpenter cloth, and some "duck tape" (lol) on the edges to prevent any injury. The tub has a lid with a secure metal screen weaved into it to keep them protected just in case. They have a ceramic heat emitter used for warmth but the house is already quite warm since we do not have central air. So far they are doing a great job at self regulating when they need warmth or not!

The Ducklings:

Moony ("Moonpie"): Ancona-straight run (but calling male)-currently 9 days old

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Puddles: Buff-female-currently 5 days old

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Holly: Blue Swedish-female- currently 5 days old

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Update #1:

Moony:
We received Moony from a local Ancona breeder three days before the girls were due to arrive from Metzer's Hatchery. The situation wasn't ideal, but we made sure to spend nearly every moment possible near him so that he wasn't lonely. It's done wonders for his personality and Moony is the absolutely sweetest duckling I've ever met! He's the first to zip-zoom around the place and likes to sleep with his head stretched out flat on you or his buddies. His health is very good, although he was growing a little too fast for his own feathers, so we've cut back a little on the protein percentage of his feed. When Wednesday rolled around, he was very quick to take to his two little shadows despite their pecking and piling on top of him.

Puddles: Puddles is a bit of a cry baby and is always peeping away when she can't see you or her friends. She is not as keen on being held outside of the tub, but will follow you and loves to sit on hands and peck anything she can (especially Moony). She's the most curious of all so far. Something we noticed right away is that her little legs appear bowlegged since we got her in the mail. I suspect possible niacin issues but they should hopefully clear up in a few days living with us and eating brewer's yeast and niacin supplement in her feed.

Holly: This little duck is very agreeable and sweet. She loves being pet and will easily fall asleep in your arms. However, she can cry just as loudly as her sister Puddles when she's unsure of something. She enjoys splashing and walking on top of her waterer way too much already so I can tell she's going to be the big swimmer.

That's all for now! I'll update again some time soon :)
absolutely love it !!
 

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