AnnieDuck
Chirping
- Jun 16, 2022
- 33
- 66
- 54
I posted a couple weeks ago about the issues one of our new ducklings was having. He or she…well, since it is clearly lucky to have survived we named it Lazarus and call it Lazzy so I’ll stick with that here. So to quickly recap the issues; we got 5 ducklings -not sure what kind- and 4 of them are normal while 1 couldn’t walk and had a problem with it’s upper bill. We did everything we could for Lazzy. We splinted the curled toes with homemade shoes, taped the legs closer together for a few days, got the 2nd nare opened up, and handed it with a syringe, provided vitamins and electrolytes. We carefully watched it for bullying from its siblings and were shocked to see the love and protectiveness they gave little Lazzy. They freaked out when we took Lazzy to feed or anything, they all circled around Lazzy when sleeping, drying off, etc. Now, just a few weeks later little Lazzy is walking, eating, and swimming fine!! How awesome is that?
Now here’s the new issue. So it’s time to introduce these ducklings to the 4 older ducks so they can move outdoors. I don’t know what they are but these ducklings are small, and because of the health issues Lazzy is about half the size of the others and way behind in the feather department. Our older ducks are about 12 weeks old and are 2 female welsh harlequins, 1 male and female silver appleyard. They’re HUGE. We put the baby ducks in our old rabbit hutch and put it in the duck coop yesterday and let them spend the day with the big ducks that way. I was planning on repeating that several times and bringing the babies back into the brooder at night but the response of the two groups towards each other changed my mind. I still plan on putting the babies back into their brooder at night for a night or two but I think they’re ready to meet today and hang out without the hutch. The adult ducks spent the day yesterday quacking and wagging and trying to get into the baby ducks. They kept trying to lead me to the cage to open it, and made it clear they wanted the door open. No signs of anger or aggression! The babies seemed quite vocal with their little baby peeps and not scared at all.
So my question is…do I need to bring Lazzy to the house and back with me every time I’m not in coop area until he’s bigger? If I should, should I bring one of his siblings so he doesn’t get lonely or since he likes us holding him and will be taking frequent trips back to the other ducks and spending the night with them, is that enough? Do I need to be scared of the older ducks hurting him on purpose because he’s smaller and has a slightly odd bill and feet?
I am including some pictures of the baby and big ducks, Lazzy, and some pictures of the big ducks taken with the camera on the coop yesterday. Thanks in advance for any advice!
Now here’s the new issue. So it’s time to introduce these ducklings to the 4 older ducks so they can move outdoors. I don’t know what they are but these ducklings are small, and because of the health issues Lazzy is about half the size of the others and way behind in the feather department. Our older ducks are about 12 weeks old and are 2 female welsh harlequins, 1 male and female silver appleyard. They’re HUGE. We put the baby ducks in our old rabbit hutch and put it in the duck coop yesterday and let them spend the day with the big ducks that way. I was planning on repeating that several times and bringing the babies back into the brooder at night but the response of the two groups towards each other changed my mind. I still plan on putting the babies back into their brooder at night for a night or two but I think they’re ready to meet today and hang out without the hutch. The adult ducks spent the day yesterday quacking and wagging and trying to get into the baby ducks. They kept trying to lead me to the cage to open it, and made it clear they wanted the door open. No signs of anger or aggression! The babies seemed quite vocal with their little baby peeps and not scared at all.
So my question is…do I need to bring Lazzy to the house and back with me every time I’m not in coop area until he’s bigger? If I should, should I bring one of his siblings so he doesn’t get lonely or since he likes us holding him and will be taking frequent trips back to the other ducks and spending the night with them, is that enough? Do I need to be scared of the older ducks hurting him on purpose because he’s smaller and has a slightly odd bill and feet?
I am including some pictures of the baby and big ducks, Lazzy, and some pictures of the big ducks taken with the camera on the coop yesterday. Thanks in advance for any advice!
