I am fostering a duck!!! A DUCK!!!

[Studabird]

Alright I got my very first chicken egg two days ago and Hurricane Laura hit day before that. I had 40 birds 22 chickens and 18 turkeys all of which survived a Cat 4 direct hit so thank the Lord!! Now I am fostering a duck. Please give me any and all advice to help this poor thing that is maybe two weeks old survive me!!

 

[Duck mommy 2019]

what do you mean by fostering? i’ve fostered ducklings though shelters before (and i have my own flock)

 

[Duck mommy 2019]

make sure to get him a DUCK friend. most important advice with ducklings ever, keeping a single duckling shouldn’t ever be done (unless the duck has medical issues)

 

[Duckmom27]

Alright I got my very first chicken egg two days ago and Hurricane Laura hit day before that. I had 40 birds 22 chickens and 18 turkeys all of which survived a Cat 4 direct hit so thank the Lord!! Now I am fostering a duck. Please give me any and all advice to help this poor thing that is maybe two weeks old survive me!!

Make sure you have the right food for it with enough niacin. It'll need a water dish that's deep enough to dunk its whole head under water. If you can't get it a duckling friend right now, put a mirror with it and maybe a small stuffed animal to help it not feel so lonely. Good luck! Ducks are amazing and a lot of fun

 

[Studabird]

make sure to get him a DUCK friend. most important advice with ducklings ever, keeping a single duckling shouldn’t ever be done (unless the duck has medical issues)

Okay a little context... I have turkeys and chickens and I just went through a hurricane. My neighbor had ducks. One survived and she has to leave and she left THE duck with me I don’t do ducks and I do ducks and I am not getting another duck so my question is what do I need for this duckling to survive his time with me regardless of how short or long it is

 

[Duck mommy 2019]

Okay a little context... I have turkeys and chickens and I just went through a hurricane. My neighbor had ducks. One survived and she has to leave and she left THE duck with me I don’t do ducks and I do ducks and I am not getting another duck so my question is what do I need for this duckling to survive his time with me regardless of how short or long it is

will she be taking him back?

 

[Duckmom27]

Okay a little context... I have turkeys and chickens and I just went through a hurricane. My neighbor had ducks. One survived and she has to leave and she left THE duck with me I don’t do ducks and I do ducks and I am not getting another duck so my question is what do I need for this duckling to survive his time with me regardless of how short or long it is

The main two things are niacin and water they need niacin in their diet for their legs to develop properly, so if you can't find duck food right now then chick starter plus niacin supplementation will work. There's a stickied thread on niacin in this forum. If you can't find niacin supplements because of the hurricane right now, some good temporary food sources for it are tuna, peas, and brown rice. I couldn't get the right feed at first when I got ducklings so I gave them snacks of tuna mixed with uncooked brown rice for awhile

The other thing is he/she needs to be able to dunk his whole head in water in order to keep his eyes/bill healthy, so give it a water dish that facilitates that.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Feed: You said duckling so you will need to feed it either starter crumble if it's under two weeks or a grower feed 18% or lower protein if its over 2 weeks. If you can only find chick feeds you will definitely need to top the feed with a form of niacin and if it's a duck feed check the niacin content. I always top my ducklings feed regardless if it's chicken or duck feed with nutritional yeast from the start.

Grit: Ducklings do not need grit if they are only eating their feed, but if you decided to give your duckling any other treats it will need to have grit available.

Water: Ducks need to be able to fully submerge their head into water. I use a milk just with a 4"x4" hole cut into the side for ducklings. Water needs to be changed at the very least daily. I like to change my ducks water 2-3x a day.

Heat: Depending on age your duckling will need a heat source. A good general guide is-
Hatch to 1 week 90-95 degrees
1 to 2 weeks 85-90 degrees
2 to 3 weeks 80-85 degrees
3 to 4 weeks 75-80 degrees
4 to 5 weeks 70-75 degrees

Bedding: Cedar bedding should be avoided with ducks. I use puppy pads or an old towel from hatch until they are two weeks old (to avoid slipped tendon) and then I switch to pine pellets.

 

[Studabird]

will she be taking him back?

She said she will be... but we all know how that works.

 

[Studabird]

Okay, it has been nine days since I started fostering a duck. I have since learned a few things about ducks.
1) DO NOT FOSTER ONE DUCK!! When I first posted I thought... Okay sure they like to be around other ducks, whatever. Then I saw it slowly dip into a depression. It would eat, drink and do that head washing thing; but mostly it would just sit in the corner.
2) Ducks are cool. I have read about ducks on this website and they seemed messy and I had no interest. But they really are cool and I am glad someone thrust them upon me.
3) Chicken or should I sat fowl math is really foul! I started six months ago with 4 pullets and... as of today I have 23 chickens, 17 turkeys and 5 ducks. I have moved to a bigger property to feed my addiction and could not be happier.
4) and FINALLY!!!!!!!!! Never foster / adopt one duck!!!!!!!!!!!! My wife started to see the one duckling we had or were fostering starting to decline. It had plenty of food and room and water but it would just sit there and did not groom itself. So I started to call around and one of the TSC's in my area had four ducks. I literally dropped everything and drove like a mad man to the store; I bought all the ducks they had and brought them home. I put them in the run with the one duck and it was like a light switch went off. It immediately and I do mean immediately started to wash itself and corralling the baby ducklings and showed them where the food and water was. While I have no idea how old this duck is. I do know it just started growing tail feathers. I kept watching for aggressive behavior with the older duck but there was none. It was like a switch had been turned on the duck and it went from depressed and brooding to a happy few of us will ever experience in our life time. I thanked my wife profusely for telling me to get more ducks for Sir Quacks A Lot. It deserved better than we were giving it and it finally got it. Ducks will forever hold a special place in my heart. And thank you all for your help with duck advice.