Muscovy duckling is a troublemaker - need advice :)

[CHinsz]

Hey all I hatched out 8 (so far, more arriving soon I hope) Muscovys. This is my first time with Muscovy ducks. My dilemma : one duckling hatched out a full 24 hours before any others. I did cuddle him a bit (did I create a monster?? Lol) because he was alone all day …

Now! He scales the playpen he is in - we walked in and found him sitting on the floor of the entryway. Sheesh! He even climbs and goes UNDER the top I created. (Don’t worry - it’s tight and escape proof now).

But he is always crying! I’ve given him food, water and he has 7 siblings in there now with him. He sees me walk by or hears my voice and he screeches. And never stops climbing like a monkey. It’s insane how he can climb - like spider man

What can I do? I need him to bond with the others instead of separating himself to climb and watch for me. …. Did I create this???

 

[IvysAnimals]

Ducklings bond to whomever they see as their parent. It'll go away. Either if he spends more time with his siblings, or when he gets older. It's very sweet, though !

 

[ruthhope]

I think he imprinted on you when you picked him up becuase he was alone. Ducks imprint within the first 24 hours.

Hence has has separation anxiety when you are not there and he tries to get to you when you are nearby.

Muscovy ducklings are a handful when it comes to climbing and jumping!!! I found that out having raised pekins from"day old" ducklings without trauma, when I adopted a rescued muscovy that was not thriving. Just know you need a very deep brooder with a lid/roof to keep muscovies inside and avoid chicken wire or hardware cloth round a brooder as they can get their claws fast when they jump trying to get out.

Your little guy will get used to being with his muscovy buddies and will bond with them after the initial trauma of separation from you!

 

[Miss Lydia]

That is so funny, when my Muscivy female decided she would kill her duckling I took him from her just hatched. Of course him being an only duckling he bonded with me and my dh to a degree. First day we had him with us he climbed out of the crate we had him in so we spent alot of time putting hardware cloth all over it except the top. yep you guessed it he got out of that I'm standing in the kitchen and I hear these little feet on the walkway above me and sure enough he is coming towards the steps. I finally put him in a dog kennel that was all plastic so he could not climb left the top off so he could have the heat lamp on him. They really are part monkey. He was 12 weeks old before I put him out over night in the coop and being he's the only one that hatched of course we had to go get him some females of his own since his dad had all the other females. They really do imprint on the first one they see but this little monkey saw his mama first but she was determined to kill him. Opie is going to be 11 yrs old on June 2nd and he is still my baby boy.