One of my ducklings came blind! Missing an eye socket. UPDATE 2/7 pg3

[ibpboo]

Thanks for sharing your story and pics. So far it seems as though the little guy will adjust just fine. Well, its no adjustment really as he was born that way. Hearing the others and smelling, hopefully will get him along just fine. Or her/she.

 

[G Wiz Ranch]

My ducks will always be enclosed. Right now they are in a garden wagon that I am using as a brooder, it has a lid to protect them from predators and I can move it into the barn at night or on rainy days. In 2-3 weeks, I will move them to a 8ft x 8ft pen (like a chicken tractor, without nest boxes). When they are 8 weeks old, I will be finished with their permanent home, 24ft x 60ft fenced and netted yard. I am going to build a 8x16ft pond 8-20 inches deep for them that I will drain/fill every week. They should be protected from pretty much all predators both sky and ground. I am going to build a 4x8ft 3 sided shelter for mild protection and a 4x8ft enclosed house, for complete enclosure and nesting.

My plan (unless someone's advice changes it) is to let the blind one learn to go to the food and water based on the sounds of the others like he is doing now. My only concern right now is when they are older, and the pond is complete, will it be able to get out of the pond safely. If it is around when I am building the pond, I will take that into consideration when I build it.

Right now, I have too many ducks, I figured they are like chickens and could plan on a percentage of loss. I am not thrilled about the Mallards and I will probably list them on Craigslist when they are around 8 weeks old. If I don't have any losses, that would leave me with 8 and that is what my goal was.

 

[G Wiz Ranch]

Quote:
Where are you located? I guess we may be close.

 

[ibpboo]

i think you are a few hours south. I'm in the Monterey Bay area.

 

[G Wiz Ranch]

Well, he/she seems to be doing ok. He/she eats a lot and drinks alot, and has no problems finding the food and water. He/she is just a little smaller that all the others. Today was the first time I had them in a pool.

 

[cluckychick]

I like your waterer set up, that's pretty neat

Your babies are adorable

 

[Wifezilla]

It's amazing how adaptable the little critter is. Smart thing to figure out how to find the food and water.

 

[Omniskies]

He'll be fine. His other senses will make up for the lack of vision, especially since he was born blind - there's nothing to relearn, nothing to feel sorry for. This is all he knows and, as far as he's concerned, he's as normal as everyone else. This is how life is supposed to be.

The best thing you can do for him is make sure everything remains consistant. He will learn where the food and water bowls are and will be able to walk to them without stumbling as long as you put the bowls in the same place. As long as the ladder in the pool is always kept in the same place he'll easily swim over, find it and hop on. If you change the layout in the pool or add something to his pen, he'll be lost until he figures it out.

Good luck with him.

Also, are you sure you were given mallards and not rouens? Rouens look identical to mallards but are larger. The ducklings with mallard markings don't look smaller than the campbells.

Also the swedes look like they might be magpies instead. Swedes have the bib at birth - magpies are black and white.

 

[ibpboo]

Cute duckies! Thanx for sharing.

 

[G Wiz Ranch]

Omniskies- Thanks for the advice on keeping everything constant.

I think I have;
3 Kaki Cambells,
4 B&W Magpies,
1 Blue Swede (or possibly Cayuga), and
12 either mallards or Rouens,

I have no idea how to tell the Mallards and Rouens apart at this age. They all seem to have the same markings arround the eye.

The one that I think is a sede is this one:
He has solid black feet and bill, black all over but the chest is yellow.
This is the only pic I have of him now, I will take one on Saturday.