Can you bathe a duck?

[lilchick]

I got 3 white call ducks yesterday. They were confined to a small caged area all winter. Boy are they yellow and crusty! Can I bathe them with shampoo and if so will it wash away all their natural oil?

They are now in a large covered outside pen with doghouse for sleeping in. I gave them a small pan to drink out of.
It is thawing out here in Indiana and snow is melting...
Would they get too cold if I bathed them...
Thanks for any replies!

 

[banter]

No soap! They would not be able to stay outside without the oil protection of their feathers. Your best bet is to keep changing their bathing water, and wait for a molt.

 

[chickensducks&agoose]

I bet that you could get them some deep, warm water, and keep changing it... i think they'd want to clean themselves, and if they didn't, once they were all wet, maybe a dish brush would help scrub the schmutz off their feathers.

 

[nettie]

white ducks can also turn a yellowy color if you feed them lots of corn or yellow colored foods.. or so i've heard

 

[xke4]

My Pekin duck turns a creamy yellow in the winter due to the decrease amount of sunlight that he is exposed to.

 

[picklespickles]

if you provide them with a baby swimming pool (or put them inside in teh bathtub, i have never ever done this lol NEVER lol well........) they'll be tickled pink and wash themselves right up. might take a few days for them to get purty again, but they will. they will not be too cold to be in the baby pool or whatever in cold weather. they will be so happy you thought of them.

 

[picklespickles]

i know the warm water is intended to be nice, but i think cold water might help them chill less in that there woudln't be the shock of the temp diference. just a thought.

 

[chickensducks&agoose]

my ducks and goose LOVE warm water! They love to drink it, and swim in it.. once it chills off, they are less thrilled... I think it gives them a chance to warm up their feet, and melt the ice off their backs.... when my goose stands up and flaps his arms, after a bath, he makes this great rattling noise... all the ice in his feathers clinking together... that's when I force him inside the goose house to warm up and dry under the light.

 

[B. Saffles Farms]

Please stay on topic.
Please use the Game Jokes and Fun forum for joking.
Thanks

 

[cluckychick]

The two crested ducks I got a week ago were like that, dingy and dirty

I just stuck a tub of water out there, I change it twice a day. By the next day they were all happy and clean