I've had 3 call duck drakes since they were 3 days old a year ago in May and another one since he was 3 months old last summer. They used to LOVE to splash, dive and bath in the pond every day. Now NONE of them will go in either of the two ponds we have!
I've posted about this before but it's increasingly getting worse. They do live with 20 other various duck breeds, but they are very buddy buddy with each other and don't spend time with the others. If the rest of the ducks are on one side of the run, they're on the other. Whatever one does so does the other. One of the original 3, Sammy is kinda small and was the first to stop getting in the pond. He had really bad angel wing when he was a few months old which I wrapped and thought it was over. Then a few months ago his feathers just started falling out and he looks like a hot mess! Since early Spring, the other 3 started following suit and none of them will get in the ponds. They aren't losing feathers but their feathers are hard as a rock if I don't bathe them by hand every week...which isn't easy even though they're small!!
I've thought of everything. I thought maybe they didn't want to get in the ponds with the big ducks there, so I set them up in the dog run (pretty large!) with their own kiddie pool. Nothing. I put them in the ponds when the water was fresh. Nothing. I checked their feathers, legs, you name it. Nothing.
They're good boys. It wasn't my intention to have 4 drakes. When I got the original 3, I was sure I had 2 girls and a boy...that was before I knew how to vent sex, then a friend asked me to take in their drake. Now they're so close I couldn't think of separating them, and I can't find any hens....at least not that I can afford because I can't work anymore.
So anyone else have this problem with calls? What do you do? Any other tricks I may not have thought of? Like I said, they're very good boys, but bathing them by hand is not an easy task (I'm disabled so usually my boyfriend does it), especially when their run gets really muddy after a rain storm and their feathers get caked with mud.
HELP!
I've posted about this before but it's increasingly getting worse. They do live with 20 other various duck breeds, but they are very buddy buddy with each other and don't spend time with the others. If the rest of the ducks are on one side of the run, they're on the other. Whatever one does so does the other. One of the original 3, Sammy is kinda small and was the first to stop getting in the pond. He had really bad angel wing when he was a few months old which I wrapped and thought it was over. Then a few months ago his feathers just started falling out and he looks like a hot mess! Since early Spring, the other 3 started following suit and none of them will get in the ponds. They aren't losing feathers but their feathers are hard as a rock if I don't bathe them by hand every week...which isn't easy even though they're small!!
I've thought of everything. I thought maybe they didn't want to get in the ponds with the big ducks there, so I set them up in the dog run (pretty large!) with their own kiddie pool. Nothing. I put them in the ponds when the water was fresh. Nothing. I checked their feathers, legs, you name it. Nothing.
They're good boys. It wasn't my intention to have 4 drakes. When I got the original 3, I was sure I had 2 girls and a boy...that was before I knew how to vent sex, then a friend asked me to take in their drake. Now they're so close I couldn't think of separating them, and I can't find any hens....at least not that I can afford because I can't work anymore.
So anyone else have this problem with calls? What do you do? Any other tricks I may not have thought of? Like I said, they're very good boys, but bathing them by hand is not an easy task (I'm disabled so usually my boyfriend does it), especially when their run gets really muddy after a rain storm and their feathers get caked with mud.
HELP!