Ducks huddled and panting

Garden Bird

In the Brooder
Apr 26, 2015
15
2
34
I'm very confused. I thought panting meant a duck is cold. But my ducks are huddled together and one of them is panting. The ducks are two weeks old. They are in my house which is 86 degrees right now because the air conditioner went out this morning. We turned off the heat lamp as soon as we realized we would have no ability to cool the house. So the ducks have been without a heat lamp for several hours now. I just noticed one of the ducks panting and he is sitting in the middle of the other two ducks. Why would they huddle together and pant? They shouldn't be too warm at 86 degrees and I wouldn't think that would be too cold for them after two weeks of life. Should I direct a fan over their box?
 
Have you been using a heat lamp with them full time for the past 2 weeks? Sometimes when the light goes out they get stressed. You could try shining a regular light on them and see if it helps. They end up treating the light like it's their mom sometimes.
 
Yes. I'll go get a flashlight or something. She might be stressed. A lot has changed today with the light off and the sound of multiple fans.
 
When I brought the light over, I noticed she had already moved away from the other two ducks and was no longer panting. I now have the light shining into their box and we will see how she handles the rest of the evening. I will leave the light on tonight as they sleep too in case that is what was bothering her. Poor little babies...afraid of the duck. So sweet. I sure like these little sweeties.
 
OK. For anyone new to ducks that comes across this thread, I'd like to state that oldhenlikesdogs was spot on with this reply. Ever since I put the light shining into their box (it is a fluorescent light with barely any heat coming off of it), the ducklings hopped and and started interacting, eating and responding normally again. I never would have guessed they would have bonded so well with light.
 
I'm glad it worked. My turkeys do the same thing when the light goes out, they pile and complain, it's their mom. I slowly wean mine off it, leaving it off at times, and turning it on later each evening.
 
OK. So a few days later, the ducks are all doing well except for one that is still panting. Is there any other reason a duck would pant when all the other ducks are fine?
 
They have a regular chicken waterer...the plastic kind. Perhaps it is time to move them outside with deeper water? They have tail feathers that are about two inches long but the rest is still baby fuzz. It has been 108 lately so I have been concerned about putting them outside. This week is supposed to be a high of 100 but mostly in the high 90's. I could hook up the heat lamp at night so they don't get chilled.

The biggest issue with moving them outside is that I am trying to get the three week old ducklings to bond with our one week old ducklings. I hate to separate them and I'm not sure if the one week old ducklings could handle the heat. What is your experience with that? I don't want to kick them out of the house prematurely if it is a risk.
 

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