Duckling help (Urgent!)

I very seldom get to pick up a duckling since they are raised by their mamas here. I can surely understand wanting to pick them up though they are so adorable and I did get to pick up and snuggle with one when one of my ducks rejected one of her ducklings. But most ducks don't like being picked up and handled there are times when we have to though to check feet and legs if one comes up limping or something else looks off with one. I will slowly walk one of mine inside their house and close the door that way I can pick the duck up to examine. No they aren't happy about it but they get over it real quick too. Drakes are the worlds worse for sneaking up from behind and biting so once a drake gets to be around 4 months old training needs to begin to train him to respect us as the flock leader. It isn't something that happens over night but it can happen with consistency.

Duckling have to be picked up a lot more than adults because your usually keeping them in a brooder that hasn't a door that you can open so they can walk out to go outside to go into the bath tub etc. So it's something we really can't avoid. And it does help them to get use to some human handling which is going to be inevitable in their lives whether ducklings or adults.

Mine actually settle down and lay in my lap. The bigger issue is that they are attached to each other and the ones not out let me know they want the other one back in and not quietly either.
 
I might have been holding them wrong, perhaps it was because they were wriggling so much! I'm working with them however and they seem to be doing alright.

The good news is the little guy in this post is doing SO much better. We put some niacin in his water, and he's been doing very well eating and drinking on his own we decided to move one of the ducklings back in his cage and I've never seem him so happy. I had originally removed them thinking he was sick but he's already formed a great bond with the one we put in, and is even running around and finally sleeping with no problems, I feel bad for leaving him alone but now that I know he's okay and I'm able to give him a friend he's super happy!
 
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Excuse me, but I am confused again (happens a lot). There is a lot of talk about handling the young ducks--one person even said that they HAD to hold them....this is what confuses me. Of course I know that ducklings are the cutest creatures in God's creation. But where does it say that we humans are supposed to handle them? I suppose some hatchlings might imprint fully on a person and let the person pick them up without too much hassle. But every duck I have ever raised (I am up to about 30 or so now) has a huge fear of me getting too close to them. Of course sometimes I need to pick them up (to put them somewhere), but believe me, they hate it.
These are not dogs. So why then, is there this intense need to hold them? Can't they just be left alone--to be happy?
Does Momma Duck pick them up...No, never..:frow
Your trying to keep things natural as possible..
I never hold my Birds unless needed to move them..:wee
 

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