Molting Duckling?

[Miss Lydia]

Just saw your post Miss Lydia. Thanks so much for the response. First thing in the morning Ill head out for some blue kote and something to keep these guys occupied beside picking on each other. Thanks again!

Hang some heads of cabbage in their run mine love to play cabbage tether ball and they eat it too. keeps them busy.Heads of broccoli even Heads of Romine will keep them busy for a while . Older ducklings will pick on younger ones it's just the way it is. Those poor ducklings need some help though to get over that red skin Blue Kote will help and hopefully keep those doing the picking from messing with them any more. Thank goodness you have them now they wouldn't have lasted long in their previous home. and Welcome to BYC.. they need grower finisher now or a good all flock feed.

 

[JenMoutz]

Thanks Miss Lydia, great advice! My neighbor had some blue kote so I put it on the ducklings, and my hand. It seemed to work instantly to disguise the irritated areas! I will definitely try some of your ideas to keep them busy and we'll probably change up their feed. Thank you so much Tracy and Miss Lydia!!

 

[JadeComputerGal]

Hang some heads of cabbage in their run mine love to play cabbage tether ball and they eat it too. keeps them busy.Heads of broccoli even Heads of Romine will keep them busy for a while.

That is such a neat idea! I have to try that! I was reading today something written by a lady who hangs bells from the top and the birds like to peck the bells to make them ring. I was thinking of trying that as well. Have you ever tried it?

 

[needlessjunk]

Thanks Miss Lydia, great advice! My neighbor had some blue kote so I put it on the ducklings, and my hand. It seemed to work instantly to disguise the irritated areas! I will definitely try some of your ideas to keep them busy and we'll probably change up their feed. Thank you so much Tracy and Miss Lydia!!

I have purple hands today too! I found rubbing alcohol works really well to get a good amount off. Not perfect but at least it isn't as bad. I knew I should of worn gloves but it hard to go back inside with them when you just wrangled the duck into position. Hopefully that will do the trick and your ducks will be good as new.

 

[TracyLovesDucks]

That was awesome of you to take them in the first place! I hear a lot of good things about muscovies!

Sounds like you have a good plan of attack. Miss Lydia is probably spot on. Also, I'd say the dog house is a little too small now, ducklings grow so quick! I believe the minimum recommended is 4 sf per duck, so I think you need like a 6'x8' structure. (Someone correct me if I'm off). I'm not sure if you include the shelf space in that calculation. I have indian runners and they're definitely ground ducks so I just count the floor space in my calculation, but I know scovies like to perch... so not sure about the shelf space area. And you might want to account for the space that the feeders and waterers take up if you decide to keep them in the duck house, too.

Hope everything goes well and the 4 little ones make a quick turn around!!!

P.S. I knew blue kote was spelled funny, but I was a little off (blu coat, I think not)

 

[JenMoutz]

NeedlessJunk, thanks for the rubbing alcohol tip! As for wrangling the ducklings...no need to go to the gym, just try to catch ducklings and keep their mother from attacking you at the same time! LOL
And Tracy, thanks so much for all of your great advice! I will be looking into a larger home for them soon, I think my husband has a few extra sheds at the back of our property so I'll take a hike out there today. Do you happen to know if you can free range ducks? Our chickens free range so would they take a hint from them?? Wrangling ducks in a 12'x12' space was hard enough, not trying to chase them on hundreds of acres LOL! As for blue kote, I knew what you meant We've used it on horses before but never thought to use it on the chickens or ducks. I'm definitely going to be buying blue kote in bulk from now on, plus it's kinda nice having purple ducks LOL!

 

[Miss Lydia]

I have purple hands today too! I found rubbing alcohol works really well to get a good amount off. Not perfect but at least it isn't as bad. I knew I should of worn gloves but it hard to go back inside with them when you just wrangled the duck into position. Hopefully that will do the trick and your ducks will be good as new.

I've had purple hands many times, and shirts and towels too. I believe there is even some purple on the wall in the duck house. lol, I did see that you can get it with a dabber so that will be for me maybe it won't be as bad as the spray. Sure does work good though.

I think if you take out those feeders it will give more room in the dog house it is 4sq' per duck , they don't need food and water over night. And they need something like a bucket to wash their heads in, chicken waterers don't work well for ducks once they get around 2 weeks old. A nice heavy rubber bowl for feed and a gallon bucket with that many you probably need 2 buckets and bowls. My Muscovys don't perch inside but some do give them the option. Will they eventually free range like your chickens do? That will help with keeping them busy.

 

[TracyLovesDucks]

Yep I think ducks can free range just like the chickens. Once they're aware that they have a safe place to sleep at night, I believe most ducks put themselves away. But they're not like chickens who become completely inactive at night, ducks can be nocturnal-ish... but they seem to prefer a safe place at night.

Your ducks should know now what their bedroom is, but you might need to train them with peas or something for a little while to get them to come back when the sun's setting (especially if you change the house). I have a smallish fenced-in duck yard for mine, so I don't know for sure if what I'm saying applies for ducks on a large acreage, but that's what I've heard.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Yep I think ducks can free range just like the chickens. Once they're aware that they have a safe place to sleep at night, I believe most ducks put themselves away. But they're not like chickens who become completely inactive at night, ducks can be nocturnal-ish... but they seem to prefer a safe place at night.

Your ducks should know now what their bedroom is, but you might need to train them with peas or something for a little while to get them to come back when the sun's setting (especially if you change the house). I have a smallish fenced-in duck yard for mine, so I don't know for sure if what I'm saying applies for ducks on a large acreage, but that's what I've heard.

Mine have half acre to roam in but come evening they know where their houses are and wait for me to put them up. They can go in on their own but seem to prefer me to tucking them in, maybe because they sleep in stalls. Any way they are creatures of habit and once they learn I think they like the idea of being snug in their house at night. Using some treats as incentives is a good idea. Dried mealworms or frozen thawed peas tossed into their run will help give the idea what you want.

 

[JadeComputerGal]

Ours are similar except they go into the pen on their own at the beginning of dusk. I don't think we did anything special to train them to do that but can't remember for sure. Once they go in, they pace the pen from end to end until one of us closes and locks the door, and they actually seem to know they must be secured at night. There was one night when my husband was doing things in the yard until after dark and was supposed to lock them in. About 15 minutes after he came in and had gotten into the shower, I heard a bunch of commotion outside. It scared me at first because they never do that and I thought a predator was trying to get in the pen, but I looked out the door and saw that he had forgotten to close up the pen. I'm absolutely sure that was a distress call and they were saying, "Help! Somebody help! We've been left exposed!" I guess that has to be instinct because we've never had a duck that's had a run-in with a predator as far as I know. As soon as I closed and padlocked the door, they went completely silent and hopped into the pond as usual.