➡I accidentally bought Balut eggs: 2 live ducks! Now a Chat Thread!

[WVduckchick]

Pretty duck! I’m not sure on breed either, but it looks young. Poor thing, glad you took it in to nurse back to health.

As far as the wing flapping, has it stopped? I kinda feel like it’s just trying to dry off underneath. Did it ever have access to swim water? If it was that nasty, swimming and bathing may have been a rare thing for him.
Or may just be nervous around new people. Personally I wouldn’t panic yet.

 

[WVduckchick]

Oh and it may be easier to integrate if they can see each other for a while, but not be able to get at each other. If you could add a temporary separator?

 

[CrazyCrttr75]

Pretty duck! I’m not sure on breed either, but it looks young. Poor thing, glad you took it in to nurse back to health.

As far as the wing flapping, has it stopped? I kinda feel like it’s just trying to dry off underneath. Did it ever have access to swim water? If it was that nasty, swimming and bathing may have been a rare thing for him.
Or may just be nervous around new people. Personally I wouldn’t panic yet.

I thought about the drying off possibility as well. It's kind of difficult for him to fully stretch his feathers and shake off the excess water. I tried wrapping him in a towel and softly drying him off and holding him before putting him in the tote but that only did so much. The video was just taken prior to me posting, so no. He got a bath a couple of hrs ago. I will give him time. I'm not panicked at this point, but I am watching and trying to be aware. He has drank but not eaten anything yet. But we are new. It is a new environment. And I took him away from the others to bring him in. He kept trying to be around the ducks outside earlier when it was daylight. He wants to belong so bad, you can just tell. I don't think he had access to any swim water up there. Just poopy mud and poopy muddy water. When we were outside, I could tell he wanted to go in their pool so bad. So I ended up getting Noah to come to me and I grabbed him and held him for a bit (which he was none too pleased about but he'll get over it). Sure enough, the little one figured out how to climb up into the pool and he got to splash a little bit. But that just wasn't doing it to get him clean and I knew I was going to have to bring him in for the night. There was no way I could have forced him to bed down with the other 3. I was worried what Noah would do to him. So that's why I got him in the tub and tried to wash him off myself. You know, he has little feet like Luna and a small tail like Luna. He doesn't have a drake curl as of yet. So it has to be less than, what, 10 weeks old? Hasn't gone through it's juvenile moult yet? If it's female, it's a probability that Noah will eventually accept it into the flock. But there's that bill color and the white feathers coming around the neck.....If it's male, nope. Time will tell I guess.

 

[littleprairieheartsfarm]

Well, we have a temporary visitor. My neighbor at the top of the driveway/hill had one of their dogs bring this duck to them. So they, as they put it, "doctored it up" and tried to save it. They have no idea where it came from. The only ducks they have are mandarins. They ended up putting it with some of their other animals, I think my hubby said their pigs or where their pigs used to be held, in a "pen" type area. They asked us if we wanted it since they know we have ducks. She called it a khaki campbell, he called it a mallard. I think it is a mix of either mallard or rouen with something else. When my hubby went up there to get it, oh boy! He said the conditions were just awful! Girl? Boy? I think it is a boy. It has quite a dark green bill and it has some white feathers around the neck that I think is the start of a "neck ring". It is bigger than my mallard, Luna, and smaller than my female rouen Xena. A LOT smaller than my drake Noah. Noah did not take too kindly to the stranger. He kept harassing it and pulling out it's feathers from his nips. The poor thing would try to run away or just take it. Never tried fighting back. Little Luna was accepting of it. Xena wouldn't try to nip at it but would try to push it out of her way with her neck if it got too close. Noah chases after it and tries to nip/bite. The poor thing was soooooo stinky. I mean it smelled liked poo. I have it in the house right now. We got it in the bathtub and washed it off. I have one of those cheesy "poultry first aid kits" that you can get at tractor supply. They had one marked down a long time ago and I grabbed it. Anyway, it has this "chicken wash" in it. I figured if it was gentle enough for chickens, it would be fine for a duck 1 time to try and get the stinky off. So that's what I used and let it rinse off really well in the tub. Now it's in the makeshift brooder I have for the night. We're trying to give it some water with electrolytes and food. It seems friendly enough. Quiet. I've heard it quack. Doesn't sound raspy but it's not really loud either, so I don't know. I'm still saying boy. Which means I am going to have to find him a good home. But I am going to take care of him as best as I can and get him feeling better before I do. A lot better than the neighbors up top did. It took me forever to integrate my littles with the big girls. I don't know how to do so with ducks. I feel so helpless. He keeps doing this wing feather twitching thing. I don't have a clue why. It's not like a seizure or anything serious like that. To me, I think it is more like nervous twitching. Idk.

As for pics:
He was so filthy. I thought his bill was black, until we bathed him.
View attachment 1635187
It's hard to see but the white on his wings, if you look at it from the back, kind of makes a heart shape. Is kind of neat.
View attachment 1635189
Can see the dark green and black bill now that he is all clean.
View attachment 1635191

The poor dear I’m sure it feels much better now. I have no idea on breed either, size wise I would say mallard mix

 

[CrazyCrttr75]

Oh and it may be easier to integrate if they can see each other for a while, but not be able to get at each other. If you could add a temporary separator?

I could probably put up a temporary fence to divide the area. I guess I will just have to bring him in at night until Noah decides to play nice? I don't have another pool or anything for him to play in but it'll hopefully only be for a short time. I will come up with something.

 

[littleprairieheartsfarm]

I could probably put up a temporary fence to divide the area. I guess I will just have to bring him in at night until Noah decides to play nice? I don't have another pool or anything for him to play in but it'll hopefully only be for a short time. I will come up with something.

I’ve found that ducks tend to be more accepting once they are able to hang out safely together (24/7, can you leave the duck in with them but separated?) but that may have just been from our experience. We’ve been integrating our ducklings the past two days to our survivor hen and they’ve been a bit rough with her but since they have been in the coop with her (separated at night) and free ranging in the day, they have started to accept her into the flock.

 

[CrazyCrttr75]

I’ve found that ducks tend to be more accepting once they are able to hang out safely together (24/7, can you leave the duck in with them but separated?) but that may have just been from our experience. We’ve been integrating our ducklings the past two days to our survivor hen and they’ve been a bit rough with her but since they have been in the coop with her (separated at night) and free ranging in the day, they have started to accept her into the flock.

I wouldn't be able to separate and house them at the same time. I can probably make a "fence" with hardware cloth and just sectikon off a piece of their pen area for him. They'll still be in the same area and see each other but won't be able to have contact. Maybe that will help. I just don't have a "housing" solution at the moment other than what I am doing unfortunately.

 

[littleprairieheartsfarm]

I wouldn't be able to separate and house them at the same time. I can probably make a "fence" with hardware cloth and just sectikon off a piece of their pen area for him. They'll still be in the same area and see each other but won't be able to have contact. Maybe that will help. I just don't have a "housing" solution at the moment other than what I am doing unfortunately.

I understand. We’re kind of in the same situation, we have young pullets who need integrated but the ducks needed out first.

I think the temporary pen will definitely help with integration, it just may take a little longer. Can you get a video of it’s voice? I have this weird feeling that it’s a hen but I was wrong about our “drake” who turned hen so don’t trust me on it.

 

[CrazyCrttr75]

I understand. We’re kind of in the same situation, we have young pullets who need integrated but the ducks needed out first.

I think the temporary pen will definitely help with integration, it just may take a little longer. Can you get a video of it’s voice? I have this weird feeling that it’s a hen but I was wrong about our “drake” who turned hen so don’t trust me on it.

I will try to get a video tomorrow if I can. If it turns out to be a girl I will be a happy camper.

 

[CrazyCrttr75]

He's mad at me right now because I keep checking on him. He hisses at me lol. I swear I just want to grab and hold him and get him to realise that he is going to be ok. But he is finally actually laying down so I am going to leave him alone and let him settle down for the night.