Domestic Wild Ducks At Park During Winter

I would check with a local wildlife rescue group. I live in Tennessee which has similar weather and we have many domestic ducks in ponds which live all winter. I believe most are fed by people.
 
My personal belief is that domestic animals should have food, shelter, veterinary care, and protection from predators or other threats to the best of their owners knowledge and ability. Obviously other people are absolutely entitled to have other opinions.

Because of my personal beliefs I would rescue these ducks, or find a rescue organization who could help. I adopted 3 rescue ducks who were abandoned on a pond. We live near Seattle where it rarely freezes, but my adopted ducks were in bad shape. They were underweight, had mites, infectious bronchitis, had been overmated and were bloody with their flight and tail feathers broken. 5 years later one still has medical issues from that damage. I also wonder about the mallard gene pool - it can't be great for them to be breeding with domestic ducks.

I am in Washington state, and I contacted Washington State Department of Agriculture who told me there were no laws prohibiting rescuing abandoned domestic ducks. Just to make sure they are actually abandoned and aren't on private property. They also warned me about rescue ducks giving diseases to my existing flocks. And about zoonotic diseases. If you are interested I can send you the email. Your laws could be different, but the disease information will likely be the same.
 
They aren't going to freeze in texas. In Montana where we have stretches of -20f, we didn't give heat lamps and none ever died from the cold
Yeah, I know it's a lower chance here in Texas, but I just wondered in general. Where my family is up in Boston it would be a lot colder and I just wondered what happened to those ducks in the winter who cant migrate and don't have a barn with heat lamps in the night
 
My personal belief is that domestic animals should have food, shelter, veterinary care, and protection from predators or other threats to the best of their owners knowledge and ability. Obviously other people are absolutely entitled to have other opinions.

Because of my personal beliefs I would rescue these ducks, or find a rescue organization who could help. I adopted 3 rescue ducks who were abandoned on a pond. We live near Seattle where it rarely freezes, but my adopted ducks were in bad shape. They were underweight, had mites, infectious bronchitis, had been overmated and were bloody with their flight and tail feathers broken. 5 years later one still has medical issues from that damage. I also wonder about the mallard gene pool - it can't be great for them to be breeding with domestic ducks.

I am in Washington state, and I contacted Washington State Department of Agriculture who told me there were no laws prohibiting rescuing abandoned domestic ducks. Just to make sure they are actually abandoned and aren't on private property. They also warned me about rescue ducks giving diseases to my existing flocks. And about zoonotic diseases. If you are interested I can send you the email. Your laws could be different, but the disease information will likely be the same.
I know my parents would kill me if I brought home a bunch of ducks, but if I could find a rescue out here that might be a better idea. I believe my laws are pretty similar as long as they are domestic breeds.
 
Ducks are well equipped to deal with cold. The problem that arises is that if their pond freezes they are very susceptible to predation. Also natural food is less plentiful so unless folks are feeding them they may starve. Before removing them, check to see that doing so is legal.
Didn't think about the freezing. I believe most of these ponds have water circulation systems in the middle to keep the water moving during winter in case of a freeze.
 
I know my parents would kill me if I brought home a bunch of ducks, but if I could find a rescue out here that might be a better idea. I believe my laws are pretty similar as long as they are domestic breeds.
Unless your parents are leaping with joy at the idea of duck rescue it is probably best to find a rescue or other private individuals who are willing to rescue the ducks. Especially because the work doesn't end after bringing the ducks home. You'd be flabbergasted to learn how much I've spent on my rescue ducks' veterinary bills. They are worth it - it isn't their fault they were abandoned. But in my experience rescue can be a bigger financial commitment than your average duck.

Hopefully your parents will feel comfortable with you looking into rescues.
 
Unless your parents are leaping with joy at the idea of duck rescue it is probably best to find a rescue or other private individuals who are willing to rescue the ducks. Especially because the work doesn't end after bringing the ducks home. You'd be flabbergasted to learn how much I've spent on my rescue ducks' veterinary bills. They are worth it - it isn't their fault they were abandoned. But in my experience rescue can be a bigger financial commitment than your average duck.

Hopefully your parents will feel comfortable with you looking into rescues.
yeah, they've just limited me to how many animals of each species on our property. I'm going to look at some duck rescues around here and see if I can let them know about these two places.
 
I know 2 different parks near me that have a bunch of domestic ducks, peking, some cayuga and other breeds I know aren't able to fly. Theres a TON of Muscovy ducks but I read online they can fly. Will these other breeds be okay during the winter if they cant fly away? If all the muscovy ducks fly away, the ones that cannot will they slowly be picked off by wildlife? I live in Texas, so of course we aren't going to drop into HUGE cold fronts, but as my ducks lay in their coop tonight with their heat lamps I cant help but wonder about these other poor ducks out there. What typically happens?
I've seen some domestic ducks in the canal in my area. It was obvious they didn't belong, considering the other ducks in the area are different shades of brown while these ones are white. I wasn't close enough to distinguish the breed, but they could definitely fly. It's just weird to think people could dump their pets to fend for themselves. Once you do that, you are forcing your pet on someone else or guaranteeing it's death. It's sad.
 
Unfortunately dumping ducks and geese is all too common. I think that's a huge part of the reason why many states have laws about purchasing more than one baby poultry... people give them to kids for Easter without thinking it through and when they realise they aren't as straightforward to care for as a cat or a dog, and that they poop an awful lot, they dump them. Someone might impulse buy one duckling - but probably not 6. At a pond near my house there's a flock of domestic geese and ducks who were clearly abandoned. We feed them daily and look after any medical needs, but 2 of the ducks and 4 of the geese have already been killed, probably by predators, which is really devastating. There's all kinds of risks for domestic birds in the wild, they just don't have the ability to survive in the wild. I actually think that the elements is less of a concern than predators, cars, people, dogs, and accidents like ingesting something they shouldn't because they're starving. Hopefully, you'll have better luck finding a sanctuary for those guys than I have for the ones I care for. We've had to capture a duck/goose here and there to provide medical care, so if you need any help with that, let me know! What EverythingDucks posted about the pen method to capture them is great. Best of luck to you, and thanks for caring about them!
 
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