Is it okay to sell a duckling to a family without any other poultry?

[PoultryAndPets]

I heard somewhere that it is unhealthy to only buy one duck, as it would suffer from loneliness. This might've been a marketing scam, but when I first bought my two ducks, they were completely inseparable, and still are. Now that I have 10 ducklings of my own, I'm trying to make sure the advice I give to sellers is truthful.

Also, does the companion have to be a duck, or could it be a human, or chicken instead?

 

[DobieLover]

I heard somewhere that it is unhealthy to only buy one duck, as it would suffer from loneliness. This might've been a marketing scam, but when I first bought my two ducks, they were completely inseparable, and still are. Now that I have 10 ducklings of my own, I'm trying to make sure the advice I give to sellers is truthful.

Also, does the companion have to be a duck, or could it be a human, or chicken instead?

It's not a marketing scam.
Poultry are generally flock animals and should never be kept as solitary animals. Some will say it's acceptable to be a lone animal as a human companion but it is not.
The only time it would be appropriate to sell a single duckling is if somebody had a hen attempt to hatch eggs and only one of them hatched or most of the ducklings died and they're looking for a companion duckling for a survivor.

 

[SueT]

A single baby will be very very needy.

 

[morganalefae]

As another stated it's not a marketing scam. they are flock animals and thrive when in a group or at least a pair and no another animal does not make up for a lack of their own kind. Imagine being unable to speak another language and being forced to live with others who you cannot really communicate with, I imagine a life like that would suck.

Decent sellers already know this so I assume you mean buyers who might not understand this. If you do mean sellers then do not buy from them if you mean buyers I would think twice about selling them anything as they might not be able to take care of them i.e have not really researched owning one and what it entails.

However I am curious why you would think it's a marketing scam yet you can clearly see with your own two it is not with how bonded they are.

 

[Isadora]

Not in the best interest of the duckling. That's for sure. Really only scenario to do it is if someone already has a flock of their own and they only had one duckling hatch and it needs a friend.

 

[PoultryAndPets]

As another stated it's not a marketing scam. they are flock animals and thrive when in a group or at least a pair and no another animal does not make up for a lack of their own kind. Imagine being unable to speak another language and being forced to live with others who you cannot really communicate with, I imagine a life like that would suck.

Decent sellers already know this so I assume you mean buyers who might not understand this. If you do mean sellers then do not buy from them if you mean buyers I would think twice about selling them anything as they might not be able to take care of them i.e have not really researched owning one and what it entails.

However I am curious why you would think it's a marketing scam yet you can clearly see with your own two it is not with how bonded they are.

The person I bought my ducks from, (the ducks) weren't really in amazing condition - It wasn't that they were moulting, but they didn't look the same as the last time I had ducklings, so I didn't really know whether I could trust the seller. That's kind of why I thought the advice could have been a lie. Also, I have had other ducks in the past, and they had to be separated from each other as they were harming the other duck.
Thank you for your help

 

[PoultryAndPets]

It's not a marketing scam.
Poultry are generally flock animals and should never be kept as solitary animals. Some will say it's acceptable to be a lone animal as a human companion but it is not.
The only time it would be appropriate to sell a single duckling is if somebody had a hen attempt to hatch eggs and only one of them hatched or most of the ducklings died and they're looking for a companion duckling for a survivor.

Thank you for this, it's great to hear.

 

[azlyn]

I heard somewhere that it is unhealthy to only buy one duck, as it would suffer from loneliness. This might've been a marketing scam, but when I first bought my two ducks, they were completely inseparable, and still are. Now that I have 10 ducklings of my own, I'm trying to make sure the advice I give to sellers is truthful.

Also, does the companion have to be a duck, or could it be a human, or chicken instead?

Dear poultrying Pets As long as they aren't completely alone with no one they'll be fine I had two ducklings at first along with a bunch of the chickens the other duckling died but she just walks around with my chickens