Ducklings Showed Up?

[Weeg]

And Weeg, remember.. “their” lol!

Lol! I was doing so good for awhile! Lol! Hahahahaha!

 

[Corbdee]

I'm just going to get straight to the point: two ducklings were following my neighbors on a walk and they asked us for help (we have chickens). They called animal control but until then I need to take care of them. I set two dishes of water and a dish of my chickens' layer feed for now. We have sav-a-chick probiotic and electrolyte. Should I give them some of that? We are keeping them separate from the hens (because of risk of disease) but they are in my hens' free-range area. I only have had chickens so I have no idea what ducks need. @Isaac 0 @RosemaryDuck @EverythingDucks @Corbdee or any other duck experts what should I do to take care of them? Should I have them in a brooder with a heat lamp and should I have water available to swim in? Are they okay eating layer feed? Anything else I need to know? (sorry for all the questions, I just want to make sure they are okay!)
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Thank you!

ETA: one is younger than the other.

Yes the probiotic and electrolytes will be good, as they could be exhausted depending on how far they've traveled. Do you have a brooder lamp or a heat pad/plate? Until they come set up a temporary brooder.

 

[Corbdee]

Great job saving them!
My first though, what is animal control going to do with them? Put them in a shelter? Ducks don't do well in shelters, I personally think they will be much happier/have a better chance at life and life in general, if they stay with you, but not everyone has that option.

It sounds like you have a great setup! My only additional suggestion, don't use Newspaper. It gets slippery, and doesn't absorb moisture, leaving pee and poop sitting on top. Paper towels are better, but pine shavings or straw are ideal IMO. Great job!

X2

 

[Corbdee]

Oh apparently I was a day late...I hope things went well!

 

[AprilsZoo]

Lol! I was doing so good for awhile! Lol! Hahahahaha!

Here’s how you can logically think it through, and choose the right spelling every time:

• they’re = a contraction made up of 2 words— they + are. The apostrophe is the key.
• there = a place... like here. Those three underlined letters are in both words.
• their = belongs to them... shows ownership. It’s the only spelling left, so if you work out that you don’t mean either of the first 2, then you’ll know it’s correct.