Muscovy Duck Chronicles
Chirping
- Jun 29, 2024
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This is gonna be a long thread packed with info. I need all the help I can get so I appreciate anyone willing to read/post.
Quick summary of issue: I have taken in two 4-5 week old Muscovy ducklings that fell behind the mother/siblings. Both have leg issues and I would like to see if I can rehab them and get them back out into the wild.
Background: Aprox: May 26th, A Muscovy duck had a clutch of 15 ducklings. I've kept watch because I was curious and noticed they dwindled down to 5 by June 21st. Then the next day I heard one in the pond crying out and abandoned. Some crows were trying to grab and kill it. I intervened and rescued it. I took it to its mama after almost an hour of trying to find it. Tons of chirping aside, It fell behind immediately after mama left the lake and went into the bushes. It could not get out of the water. So therefore I took it in figuring it was as good as dead. Fast forward to a few days ago, and another duckling suffered the same fate. Leg issue and could not keep up. Even a drake that was following the mama decided to try and kill it.
So Duck #1 (We'll call it puffy), Seems a bit big. Duck #2 (We'll call it speedy) seems a bit undersized. Speedy is present in the photo of the mama but puffy was already captured at time of photo.
Steps I've taken thus far:
As seen in the picture above, I have set up a pretty sizeable box to both limit how far they need to go to get to food/water and keep them from pooping all over my floor lol. I was able to get some Duck food from a friend and bought brewers yeast with niacin/protein from amazon. I also acquired some peas. Its been 6 days with Puffy and 3 days with speedy and their ability to walk has not improved at all. Both are eating, drinking, and swimming good. Just can't walk. Puffy also seems to have tailfeathers growing in without any feather? I've uploaded videos of both and some additional pictures below.
What am I missing and what else can I do? My budget is limited but Amazon links help if their is another product I need. Since it seems a lot of the clutch are suffering from this problem we think the environment is the ultimate issue. It is a reclaimed water lake with plenty of predators for ducklings such as cats, tons of geese, and I even think I spotted a Ferron (sp?) recently.
It also should be mentioned that all attempts to contact wildlife rescue and rehab places have failed with either them closed or not willing to accept Muscovy ducklings. One even mentioned they were going to die either way and im wasting my time. Great advice.....
Videos:
Video of the clutch May 30th
Puffy Walking:
Speedy Walking:
Pictures:
Up and close shot of both Puffy and Speedy. I've tried to keep them calm and clean as much as possible.
Thank you again for anyone willing to help! Also I dont know if possible to tell from the videos or pictures but what is the sex of these ducklings?
Quick summary of issue: I have taken in two 4-5 week old Muscovy ducklings that fell behind the mother/siblings. Both have leg issues and I would like to see if I can rehab them and get them back out into the wild.
Background: Aprox: May 26th, A Muscovy duck had a clutch of 15 ducklings. I've kept watch because I was curious and noticed they dwindled down to 5 by June 21st. Then the next day I heard one in the pond crying out and abandoned. Some crows were trying to grab and kill it. I intervened and rescued it. I took it to its mama after almost an hour of trying to find it. Tons of chirping aside, It fell behind immediately after mama left the lake and went into the bushes. It could not get out of the water. So therefore I took it in figuring it was as good as dead. Fast forward to a few days ago, and another duckling suffered the same fate. Leg issue and could not keep up. Even a drake that was following the mama decided to try and kill it.
So Duck #1 (We'll call it puffy), Seems a bit big. Duck #2 (We'll call it speedy) seems a bit undersized. Speedy is present in the photo of the mama but puffy was already captured at time of photo.
Steps I've taken thus far:
As seen in the picture above, I have set up a pretty sizeable box to both limit how far they need to go to get to food/water and keep them from pooping all over my floor lol. I was able to get some Duck food from a friend and bought brewers yeast with niacin/protein from amazon. I also acquired some peas. Its been 6 days with Puffy and 3 days with speedy and their ability to walk has not improved at all. Both are eating, drinking, and swimming good. Just can't walk. Puffy also seems to have tailfeathers growing in without any feather? I've uploaded videos of both and some additional pictures below.
What am I missing and what else can I do? My budget is limited but Amazon links help if their is another product I need. Since it seems a lot of the clutch are suffering from this problem we think the environment is the ultimate issue. It is a reclaimed water lake with plenty of predators for ducklings such as cats, tons of geese, and I even think I spotted a Ferron (sp?) recently.
It also should be mentioned that all attempts to contact wildlife rescue and rehab places have failed with either them closed or not willing to accept Muscovy ducklings. One even mentioned they were going to die either way and im wasting my time. Great advice.....
Videos:
Video of the clutch May 30th
Puffy Walking:
Speedy Walking:
Pictures:
Up and close shot of both Puffy and Speedy. I've tried to keep them calm and clean as much as possible.
Thank you again for anyone willing to help! Also I dont know if possible to tell from the videos or pictures but what is the sex of these ducklings?
