Help! Nearly 5wk old Pekin Ducklings pecking at little wings!

Mystic Vampyre

In the Brooder
Oct 14, 2015
68
2
33
°Wellington° - New Zealand
Hey all,
Im new to Duck/ducklings and l rescued 7 babies only a few days old. They have grown so fast and poop like theres no tomorrow! Well the weather did get hot here so l put them in an outdoor cage (similar to a very big rabbit cage with a dry box with mesh outside) but the weather turned terrible too fast and l cant get out to continue making their bigger outdoor home with a bath ect for a pond. Today (what seemed to mainly being one) had started biting the little tips of 4 of the others wings. Within an hr one was bleeding quite bad. So l let them out of the cage for the first time (they are ment to freerange eventually anyways) but one still wouldnt stop biting! So l took it away. It stopped but within an hr of being out and 4 of us watching them all, another started and wouldnt stop. So took that one away too. Given it was raining and we all were outside, l put them back in the cage and they settled fast. But a couple of hrs later more screaming started so took another out. All 3 that have been taken away have no damage at all! The last 4 all had damage from the start. One looks bad thou l cleaned them all and seems to be from the new feathers that had been trying to grow. Just seems to be lots of blood!
Now 2 of the 3 l took away had raspy voices. The other lm abit unsure of (assuming these must have been boys) the last 4 seem at the moment to have high pitched voices.
Ive now had to (as of just now) had to give away my 3 others as l dont have any means to seperate! Im very very upset as l loved them so much! But are my others going to be ok and will the wounds heal ok? Im hoping the weather gets better so l can finish the enclosure etc as l dont want to freerange them alone till they are bigger as there are cats around. I have 1 rooster & 1 hen adults that freerange and they didnt seem to care about the Ducklings (which is awesome!) but l dont trust the lings are big enough yet to defend against a cat!
Will my babies be ok? Please help lm lost!
 
So now you have 4 ducks? It really sounds like they needed more room. Five weeks old is awfully young to free range on their own. I would wash their wounds and put neosporin on sores and use the kind that is nonpain releaver. I would put electrolites in their water and get some niacin or brewers yeast tablets. You can find this at a health food store and sprinkle over their food. Five weeks is awfully young to be able to tell the males from the females. The males do have a raspy voice and females have the quack sound. I hope this helps you. Have you let them bath in the tub at all?


Patty
 
No those ducks should not be free ranging yet they are too young. As for the wounds yes neosproine is great and u might want to use some vetricine wound cleaner and/or hydrogenperoxide.
Best of luck to you
 
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Yup I have 4 left. The others were so determined to bite and hold the others wings even if they were out in the yard. They will/would only freerange in my top yard (my backyard l wont let them in as l cant see them down there)
They have been swimming in a large tub like thing l brought for them but theres not alot of room to leave it in there all the time.
So why would only a few out of 7 be biting? And is it something more a male would do?
I will put in Brewers yeast (how much do l use?) and the Neosproine lm not sure if we have in New Zealand?
 
Ok so since you are new to ducks i recommend getting Storey's guide to raising ducks off of amazon it can answer a lot of questions and prepare you for raising your ducks before a mistake is made that could harm them.
 
Teaspoon of brewers yeast sprinkled over their food once a day. Make sure this is not the cooking kind of brewers yeast. I got mine at a health food store. It doesn't have to be neosporin, any kind of antibiotic cream would help. Do they have water all the time and lots of food? You can also feed them chopped boiled egg for a treat with grit. I don't understand why they are nipping each others feathers unless it was lack of space but then they did it outside too. Let us know how they are getting along. Good luck
 
Thank you. :) This morning the last 4 look a million times better! Im amazed! They are all bloody and messy looking, they are so clean and no blood. Just small wounds that are dried up. Should l keep them away from swimming till they heal more?
These guys are amazing and l love them heaps. If only the rain would bugger off so l can continue there outdoor area!
 
Thank you fot the info! Awesome!
Would they not just eat the cream off the wound and should l keep them away from bathing water? Yes they have lots of food but l want to get them on the grass as the cage has a decking wood bottom. So lm thinking temp fence around the cage to give them space till l can get out and finish their enclosure. (which will be open to freerange once bigger)
 
Oh yes they have a bucket of water with those nipple-type things on them and a big container of food. Even rope toys etc hanging from the roof now for them to play with.
I dont understand either why they were biting. They actually were grabbing the little wing feathers and holding them and it looked like they were eating the feathers? So strange!
 

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