Newbie here with 6 day old cayugas dying!

[Miss Lydia]

Good for you. Have you heard from Metzers?

How are the rest of the littles doing?

 

[CayugaJana]

Good for you. Have you heard from Metzers?

How are the rest of the littles doing?

No I haven't heard from them yet, but today is a holiday. So they may not be working today.

They are doing great. I made them the mash and they weren't crazy about it. So I mixed some creamed corn in with it and they gobbled it up. I made sure the littlest Cayuga got to eat all it wanted first then let the others eat. But now they are acting like they prefer the dry crumbles.

I let the cayugas play in shallow warm bath water also. They were so excited. Then I dried them off as soon as they got out.

I brought them outside yesterday and today to play for awhile (it's still pretty warm here) and they loved it. I tried briefly introducing the 3-4 wk old pekins to the cayugas and that didn't go over too well.

I have never even thought about owning ducks until my 4 yr old kept asking for a horse (which we don't have room). Then we went to the feed store and he asked if he could have a duck. And they are a lot easier on my yard than a horse ! So we got some. Then I realized how much I like them! I wish they all would flutter into my lap when I came outside and let me hold them!!

 

[Miss Lydia]

That could get rather messy. LOL I do like to catch one every once in a while and smooch them. Only my inside raised drake will let me hold him and pet him. Without trying to get away.

Once you can let your ducklings live side by side where they can see each other all the time they will eventually become one flock. That is the way it usually happens. I have Runners and Buff ducks that hang out together and Muscovy's that are their own group even though they are all in the same space.

 

[CayugaJana]

Metzers called me back today and they are sending me 2 more ducklings.

 

[Miss Lydia]

That is awesome. When?

 

[CayugaJana]

That is awesome. When?

By the end of the week

 

[Miss Lydia]

Excited for you. This time straight to the post office no stopping anywhere.

 

[Ducktown]

My duckling also liked dry crumbles or any kind of feed. When he got them wet, he usually stopped eating and attacked the feed when I replaced it with fresh, dry feed.

During first weeks, I have always kept some feed inside his brooder box. When I didn't have chicken feed, I gave him cracked corn, oatmeal, or anything that would make him happy. I know it's not the best thing to give them such food at hat age, but he managed to survive and is now quite big, compared to other ducks I've bought later.

Don't panic. Think twice before trying to solve a problem regarding ducklings. Sometimes you can make the issue even more severe by just trying to help. People here are very helpful, you can always ask the experts.

Good luck and congratulations on your ducks

 

[CayugaJana]

I can already tell how different varieties of ducks can be. The crumbles weren't a problem with the other ducklings I had. They gobbled them up. But not all of the cayugas knew what to do with them. I tried to look at what others did on here in similar situations do tried them. But figured I'd sign up and ask myself. And yes people here are very helpful. I've looked at this site a lot and only seen one somewhat negative comment. Which is a nice change since most media sites are now filled with negative nellys.