Hey all my new ducklings are doing great but some of them are swimming around in mamas (8'' deep) water dish and loving it. I have read here to not let babies swim, why is that, will they be okay? I keep fishing them out and it does seem like they actually are wet through, is that the problem, they shouldn't get wet and chilled? Mama tucks them under her for a little bit and then they dry out but I could take the dish out for a while.
Most of the time the mother will get them out, IF she can. I wouldn't trust little ones in water alone, because the hen cannot always get them out. I watched my hen try to fish a duckling out of our pool and after a few minutes I had to intervene and help.
Yes, the ducklings don't have the preening oil and feathers they need to be in water for long. You have the advantage of momma being there, but I'd still put something in the water dish to make it easy for the ducklings to get out by themselves. They don't float that well, and can get tired and chilled quickly. Keep watchin' those ducks! Enjoy!
I did pull out the little pond, because when ever I went to fish the babies out the duck mama attacked me! She is a very protective mom, which is great but she actually grabbed the duckling from me and ran back to the nest. When I find a more suitable pond I will give it to them. I only had the one in there because I thought that the ducks (mamas) would need to bathe and swim, so far I haven't seen them do that in the pan that was there and it was to hard for the ducklings to get out by themselves.
