Cleaning crusty baby muscovies....HELP!

[Calebs Acre]

I suffered a SEVERE asthma attack last night and was out of it until this afternoon...doctor, etc. That left my husband in charge of the birds....not a great thing.

He fed my 15 week old muscovies, but did NOT change their litter. They managed to knock over the water bottle and they are now these brown, dirty, crusty little smelly things.

I do not want to do anything until getting advice because I have NO IDEA how to wash a duck at this age and they are too young to just go in a shallow pan and wash themselves, I fear.

HELP PLEASE!!

 

[Weewanona]

Me..........I would roll up my sleeves and start washing with luke warm water.

You didn't say if they were inside or outside.

Inside: wash and put under heat lamp away from drafts until dry.

Outside: if the temps are ANYTHING like where I am (100) - wash and they will dry no problems.

 

[chiknlady]

Okay--don't panic stress is bad for asthma--first ducklings are able to swim when they hatch--their Mama usually leads them to water--hence the saying like a duck to water....However Muscovy's don't like to be water logged. I think you have two options--fill a small bowl --like a mixing bowl or pot with luke warm water and one by one--just put them in long enough to wet them and allow them to float then off to a dry warm box with a towel or bedding. Your other option is to take a damp cloth and try to wipe them down--but I suspect if they smell you will want option 1. While they are in the box--you can change their bedding and get them fresh water etc. No harm no foul ( no pun intended) when everyone is safe and dry--I say it's time for you to pamper yourself...

 

[Sparrow]

Do you mean 15 1week olds? I assume that's the situation. lol When my ducklings dumped their water over and mixed it with their food...something they love to do...and covered themselves in it they became completely crusty and uncomfortable. They were still tiny and covered in down feathers, so I just filled a shallow Rubbermaid with about 1 inch of warm water and let them splash in it for a little bit. I never left the side of the tub, and they had a blast! When they dried off again, they were fluffy and clean.

If you supervise your little ones, they should be fine too.

 

[Calebs Acre]

THANK YOU!! I have them inside at night and outside during the day. Yes, 15 one-week old babies. I just re-read my post and understand the confusion! Sorry. For some reason I thought if they got wet, they would get "too cold" even in the 80-some degree temperatures.

In the spring, I had some chicks do this and they started dying after I cleaned them. It was horrible, hence the panic. Guess I'll go have some bathtime fun with them in the sink.

Thanks again!! Love you guys!
Nancy

 

[ml]

Baby Scovies are way cute and they can recover. Let them play and make sure they all dry in the sun. I have a plastic sled saucer mine love to hop in and out of to play. I fill it with warm water from the hose and in they go.

ML

 

[Wolf-Kim]

Did you happen to get pictures of "bathtime fun in the sink" for us? It sounds like it would be awefully cute.

-Kim

 

[Calebs Acre]

They acted like they didn't even KNOW what to do with water, but when I stopped trying to hold them individually, they started playing a bit. Not all of the stuff got off at first, but in a few hours, believe it or not, they were clean and fluffy again, which surprised me.

I did find, in the middle of the pack, a weakling who died off moments after I discovered it. I was so upset. This caused me to put them in two different groups and they are doing MUCH better in two groups of 8 instead of 1 big group of 16.

I just picked up a really nice small rabbit hutch with hardware cloth run and a fully enclosed, easy to access wooden house from Craig's List. I think that I will move them outside to that hutch tomorrow. It's hotter than Hell, so I don't think they will suffer outside and my house will smell much better.