Paradise duckling- please help!

[Miss Lydia]

I’m not even sure as tiny as they are I’d let them get wet. Like @DuckyDonna says no mama to oil them or keep them warm

 

[Cagm-]

I know nothing about Paradise duck except what I read about 5 minutes ago and I know it's summer where you are but the duck in the picture of that pool looks so tiny. Maybe they are getting too wet and aren't able to dry off then get cold and die? I know we have to be careful when they are really little because when you hatch them they don't have their mother duck to oil them up to be waterproof.

When I introduce my baby ducks to a pool when they are tiny it's usually a little paint tray and I don't let them get waterlogged. IDK, just a thought.View attachment 1974606

Paradise ducklings live in the water quite a lot, they don’t get water logged very quickly and dry out quick too, compared to other ducks, my mother had another breed of ducks and they couldn’t get wet, but these ones can dive under water and come up dry

 

[Miss Lydia]

Well you most likely know more about Paradise ducks since they are native to NZ main thing is knowing how to feed them and keeping them warm an safe.

 

[johntfs]

As I understand it, ducklings of all sorts love to play in water, but they don't actually need to be in water. And they can get waterlogged and die from drowning or hypothermia. Figure until they're maybe a week old you should provide them with water just deep enough to let them drink and clean their nostrils.

 

[Miss Lydia]

How are they doing today? @Cagm-

 

[aart]

Paradise ducklings live in the water quite a lot, they don’t get water logged very quickly and dry out quick too, compared to other ducks, my mother had another breed of ducks and they couldn’t get wet, but these ones can dive under water and come up dry

As far as I know, for most breeds of ducks it makes a big difference if they are raised with their mothers or not.
If with mothers they gain the oil by contact transfer to waterproof feathers very young.
If brooder raised it takes much longer for them to produce and distribute the oil themselves.

 

[Kiwibird]

@Kiwibird lives in NZ maybe she’ll see this tag.

Oh, I am so sorry, just looking now!

 

[Kiwibird]

It looks as though there were no further updates from @Cagm-
However, doubtless someone will find this thread again with further orphaned Paradise ducklings in future, so here is some advice. Contact your local DoC (Department of Conservation) office and/or Bird Rescue. It's illegal to keep parries in New Zealand without a license, even though you can hunt them in hunting season. I don't write the rules! Parries have a very strong homing instinct so will keep going back to your house when they are large, conspicuous adults. This homing instinct means there is no stealth mode in which you feed the ducklings quietly, slip them back into a local grassy paddock in a few weeks, and nobody notices.

So until you hand the babies over to DoC, keep them warm and dry. Feed them some finely chopped clover from your lawn, or some thawed and crushed peas from your freezer. I think you can also feed them chopped up hard-boiled egg, like most orphaned poultry, but the clover for baby parries is something I learned about recently. The adults are mainly grazing birds, apparently, so it makes sense.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Thank you for the information