9 week old ducklings - two problems I need help with please.

[Dees ducks]

Hi All BYC!
Well I haven't posted for a while because I hatched 6 out of 6 welsh magpies that are now 9 weeks old. Needless to say they (and my other 7 adult ducks) are keeping me very busy.
I have 2 problems which I hope you lovely people can help me with.
1. 2 out of the 6 ducklings struggle when in pond. They very rarely get in the pond, and when they do, their tails stick vertically up and they frantically bicycle with their feet instead of floating gently like the other 4? They are healthy, eating, feathers looking good so am a bit puzzled as to this behavior.
2. My drake Donald keeps chasing after the ducklings and won't give them any peace. He tries to grab them bu the neck and just won't leave them alone. They have their separate (small area), however, I let them all out together for a few hours every day and have been doing this for the past 2 weeks. I knew at first that there might be a bit of squabbling but thought that it would get better, however, Donald is still going after them. I intervene before any harm is done but was wondering if I should just leave them get on with it. The ducklings are as big as the older ducks now but I just want to get to the stage when I can just leave them all out together in the garden instead of separating the ducklings in a too small area because I'm afraid Donald will harm them.
Thank you all for any suggestions.

 

[Stipenvlerk]

Hi All BYC!
Well I haven't posted for a while because I hatched 6 out of 6 welsh magpies that are now 9 weeks old. Needless to say they (and my other 7 adult ducks) are keeping me very busy.
I have 2 problems which I hope you lovely people can help me with.
1. 2 out of the 6 ducklings struggle when in pond. They very rarely get in the pond, and when they do, their tails stick vertically up and they frantically bicycle with their feet instead of floating gently like the other 4? They are healthy, eating, feathers looking good so am a bit puzzled as to this behavior.
2. My drake Donald keeps chasing after the ducklings and won't give them any peace. He tries to grab them bu the neck and just won't leave them alone. They have their separate (small area), however, I let them all out together for a few hours every day and have been doing this for the past 2 weeks. I knew at first that there might be a bit of squabbling but thought that it would get better, however, Donald is still going after them. I intervene before any harm is done but was wondering if I should just leave them get on with it. The ducklings are as big as the older ducks now but I just want to get to the stage when I can just leave them all out together in the garden instead of separating the ducklings in a too small area because I'm afraid Donald will harm them.
Thank you all for any suggestions.

Hi DeesDucks,

regarding to your first question: is it possible to make a video, upload it to YouTube/vimeo and post the link here so we can see their behavior when they enter the water?

 

[Dees ducks]

Hi DeesDucks,

regarding to your first question: is it possible to make a video, upload it to YouTube/vimeo and post the link here so we can see their behavior when they enter the water?

Hi, yes will try but it will mean chasing them into the pond (they just rarely go in voluntarily) and I don't want to stress them out too much. Plus, as soon as they get in they make for an exit really quickly and I'm not sure if I can get a good video clip. I'll see what I can get later today.

 

[Stipenvlerk]

Hi, yes will try but it will mean chasing them into the pond (they just rarely go in voluntarily) and I don't want to stress them out too much. Plus, as soon as they get in they make for an exit really quickly and I'm not sure if I can get a good video clip. I'll see what I can get later today.

Don’t stress them out to much but a video would be helpfull. see what you can do and what not

 

[416bigbore]

Question #1. I have noticed with a few of our young ducklings, that their first time in a larger deeper pool they would do a little bicycling shuffling motion as they tried to swim. This will go away with time as they become more comfortable with swimming.

 

[Dees ducks]

video showing Winston (duckling with speckled beak) struggling to swim.

 

[416bigbore]

Great video, Beautiful Babies and what an Awesome place you have for them. IMO, looks normal to me, they are just trying to get used to the whole being in the water and swimming thing.

 

[Stipenvlerk]

Ok, thank you for the video. It’s clear to me what you mean. I see the difference too. What makes me happy is that he’s washing himself, put his head underwater... and that’s normal duck behavior. So I don’t think you should be to worried. He’s probably training a little.

 

[Dees ducks]

Thank you all for your replies and kind comments. Although I'm not 100% sure, I think I have 2 males and 4 females and that it is the 2 males who struggle to swim with the peddling and the vertical tail for balance. Not sure if anyone else has had this experience before? It just seems ironic that the (what I believe to be) females just float in the water. All the ducklings have had the same amount of time exposure to the big pond. They halso have their own baby pond (very small) but it was the same situation even in the small pond.
Anyhow, anybody got any ideas about what to do about Donald my drake chasing the ducklings and grabbing them round the neck? He's already had a time out but it is still going on and I'm desperate to be able to leave them all together without worrying.

 

[HalfWayUpAMountain]

Its a lovely vid and made it me made me smile - ours leg it from the net as well !

Our ducks sometime change their style of swimming when they want to get a good wash on around their 'bits'.

Also, we see some of them do things just for hell of it / cos they feel like it in their pools.

If he's eating, pooping, keeping up, not losing weight, seems happy - I say accept Winston's style ! Go do your thing Winston !