Countdown to Ducklings! [a Journal]

[askem]

I changed my shavings out SO MUCH. I had a crash course in duck ownership. This is the hard part (brooder). When they finally go outside.. it is much much easier. Mine free range on about an acre of land. The smaller the area, the messier they are. I had them in a run at first. Now they are free during the day. Only 3 BTW
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Call me crazy, because these fellas are gonna be inside ducks (well, except for supervised outside time).

 

[Lil Drake40]

Diapers unless you have wood floors. Those pics are precious. Such sweet babies

 

[Julie Birb]

I changed my shavings out SO MUCH. I had a crash course in duck ownership. This is the hard part (brooder). When they finally go outside.. it is much much easier. Mine free range on about an acre of land. The smaller the area, the messier they are. I had them in a run at first. Now they are free during the day. Only 3 BTW
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AAAAAAAUGH! THIS IS SO CUTE.

 

[askem]

Diapers unless you have wood floors. Those pics are precious. Such sweet babies

They will definitely be in diapers even though my floor is all tile/ceramic

 

[askem]

I just picked both of my babies up at the same time and they fell asleep in my hands <3

They usually are calling to each other desperately when I'm holding one so I decided to hold them both to try and get them used to me.

 

[Lil Drake40]

Sweet

 

[askem]

Still wondering about the gender thing.

If they are both males would that be okay or would they bicker and I would need to get rid of one and get a girl? I am hoping they are both girls to be honest but I'm worried.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Usually if there aren't females around they can get along. I had 2 drakes at first well they were escapees from someone who lived in the river down below us and they were fine together it was after I introduced females into the mix and they came and met them that trouble began. I ended up waiting to see which drake the females took too and decided to let him move in with us for good. So if you have 2 drakes just either keep the 2 with out females or get them some females at least 3 each and hopefully that will help. If female and drake you'll want to get at least 2 more females to keep your drake from over mating 1 duck.
More importantly is try not to worry so much right now and enjoy those little things you have at least 4 months before you'll need to decide what to do. Of course if you have 2 females then that would be great.

 

[askem]

Thank you Miss Lydia! It is refreshing to know they should be okay if they're both drakes!

I am mostly worried because I haven't been able to find any ducks locally that people are selling/getting rid of, so I was really worried about if I did end up with two drakes (or a male/female pair) that it would cause troubles trying to find more to add. I am seriously crossing my fingers for a same-sex pair!

 

[askem]

How often and with what should I worm my ducklings with? Also, when is the first time I should worm them? Should I just leave it to the vet?