Brand New Duckling!

[obsidianembrace]

Our female call duck, Bonnie, has been sitting on five eggs and the first one hatched out about four hours ago. It's about 40 degrees outside, so we brought him inside after about a hour with his mom. He's in a plastic storage tub with a light bulb that's keeping one side at about 80 degrees. He's completely dried out and has taken a few sips of water. We got him unmedicated chick feed, but he hasn't touched it. We have some soaked in water and some dry for him. How do I encourage him to eat? Is there any other care we can give him? Or is he good for now?

There's four more eggs outside with Bonnie. We have heaters keeping the house warm and she's sitting on them. Two have broken the shell, one is making sounds. My sister is out there sitting and keeping an eye on them (we're worried about our drake bothering the eggs, he broke one earlier this week, another reason why we brought the duckling inside).

Any tips? Can anyone tell me a basic timeline of what the ducklings will need as they grow?

Thanks for your help, pictures later.

-obs

 

[obsidianembrace]

Actually, here's a picture of him about an hour old.

 

[katharinad]

It's not uncommon that they don't eat the first day. He will eat tomorrow. Get some poultry electrolytes with vitamins and minerals. Mix that into the water for the first 10 days to get a good start. They need a lot of niacin, which it in it.

 

[Birdcrazy]

Aww! Very cute duckling!! Mine recently have hatched too!

Ducklings can last a couple of days without food from obsorbing the last of the yolk when they were in the egg, so don't be too worried. I always put a few crumbs of food around because when they become fully aware, they're pecking at everything. After the first day or whenever they're all up and out of the nest I add a touch of water to their feed to make it easy to eat and they all get into it straight away but after that just dry food with their water next to it - they spend the day rotating back and forth between both bowls when they aren't asleep

I had drake problems too, so I've learnt just to completely seperate the drake

and I strongly recommend it if your still going to leave them with the mother. I had been away when my duck first hatched her duckling, but according to my grandparents who were looking after them the drake was aggresive and the mother ended up rejecting the babies since he wouldn't let her near them. When I got back I had to take the babies away. So now days the drake is in the other pen.

Goodluck with yours, love to see some more pics!!! And very pretty colours