Pet Ducks Dumped in Neighborhood Pond, Help?

[Miss Lydia]

To start with place the food next to their house so they can see it, then after they have been coming out to eat if next to their house isn’t good you can move it where ever it’s good. Yep they are all messy little buggers it’s a good thing we love them so much.

 

[Cayuga momma]

@Cayuga momma @DuckyDonna @Miss Lydia

Again, I want to apologize about my typing error on the cedar shaving, I really should of checked before posting.

I believe everything we are using is duck safe, but i would like to get opinions on better stuff we could be using.

And I know we need to get supplements, I think we can get b-complex at the feed store.

But when it comes to the brewers yeast, is that something you can find easily at Walmart?

Duck bedding
View attachment 1675620
Straw
View attachment 1675621 pine shavings

Ducks food
View attachment 1675624
16% layer feed

Ducks treats
View attachment 1675625crickets and quack snacks (meal worms are on the list)

And finally, incase we have a family
View attachment 1675643

Food bowl/ water dish;
View attachment 1675649
Water dish is on the left, food bowl on the right.


Everything we have now is from our local feed store, but I know we still need more supplies for the ducks.

I just get kinda confused walking into the feed store, and it seems like they catered more for raising chickens then ducks.

Do I have to question if the bag of food that has a picture of a chicken on it, is safe for ducks to eat?

Some bags say "all poultry" on it, are chickens, ducks, and turkeys similar in care?

And the employees at the feed store, sometimes are not the most helpful either.

For any duck owner, what is the most important supplies to always have on hand?

Bedding can be pine shavings, aspen shavings, straw, hay, pdz, etc. I use pdz and pine shavings in the spring and summer and straw and pine shavings in the fall and winter. I have a very large coop though.

I wouldn't give them layer feed since the calcuim in it is bad for drakes. I feed the all flock crumbles with oyster shell in a bowl to the side.
Alot of people feed their ducks chicken feed. Some only feed the niacin supplements when the ducks are growing and some feed it all their lives. Since pekins (not sure about white layers) are a heavier breed and need more strength in their legs, you might want to keep up with the niacin supplements. You can usually find Nutritional or Brewers yeast in the organic section of your grocery store. I haven't found it at walmart. You can get the B complex at walmart in the pharmacy/vitamin area. I know @Miss Lydia orders her Nutritional yeast off of Amazon.

The food and dish bowl are fine. To help with some exercise and less mess you can keep the food and water bowls seperated a bit outside of the coop/ark.

All they really need is a proper diet, good housing and plenty of water.

You could start putting together a first aid kit for them, because things happen.

 

[DuckyDonna]

@Cayuga momma @DuckyDonna @Miss Lydia

Again, I want to apologize about my typing error on the cedar shaving, I really should of checked before posting.

I believe everything we are using is duck safe, but i would like to get opinions on better stuff we could be using.

And I know we need to get supplements, I think we can get b-complex at the feed store.

But when it comes to the brewers yeast, is that something you can find easily at Walmart?

Duck bedding
View attachment 1675620
Straw
View attachment 1675621 pine shavings

Ducks food
View attachment 1675624
16% layer feed

Ducks treats
View attachment 1675625crickets and quack snacks (meal worms are on the list)

And finally, incase we have a family
View attachment 1675643

Food bowl/ water dish;
View attachment 1675649
Water dish is on the left, food bowl on the right.


Everything we have now is from our local feed store, but I know we still need more supplies for the ducks.

I just get kinda confused walking into the feed store, and it seems like they catered more for raising chickens then ducks.

Do I have to question if the bag of food that has a picture of a chicken on it, is safe for ducks to eat?

Some bags say "all poultry" on it, are chickens, ducks, and turkeys similar in care?
And the employees at the feed store, sometimes are not the most helpful either.

For any duck owner, what is the most important supplies to always have on hand?

Y'all are doing awesome! these are the luckiest ducks ever! I had to get my brewers yeast online but it came really fast. I think that is more important for ducklings but I'm sure it will benefit them now as well and won't hurt to have. I would definitely get some B-complex at TSC as well as a bottle of calcium gluconate just to have on hand. Also get some activated charcoal to have in your ducky first aid kit. Walmart has the capsules in the vitamin dept. I'm sure if I forgot anything someone will let us know. oh, put the food and water outside but put the food in your house at night so nothing can get at it.

 

[SansDuck]

I have really enjoyed watching this thread, and I hate to rain on everyone's parade.....

I have had sooooo much trouble with predators--ESP neighbors' dogs and cats and now raccoons (kitty dishes and bird feeders from 9 new houses and 4-6 'new' neighbors after the older folks passed on). Leaving food outside in an unsecured area is a pred magnet! A "makeshift" fence will NOT deter dogs or raccoons--the average loose dog will easily clear a 4' fence to 'play.' Raccoons and weasels/minks can reach through 1/2 -1" spacing and pull at the animals inside(fence or hutch). Foxes, coyotes, dogs, raccoons, and skunks will also go under. The fence will need to be pretty solid and, since you live in a housing development, attractive. It will need to be sheltered (hidden) from the road(s) to avoid drivers taking potshots at them. If you rent, what does the owner say? Will they help with a fence for your dogs/kids/etc? How is your relationship with your neighbor/neighbor's dog--would they call animal control if they got mad or if the muddy ducky coop got stinky? What if they do hatch ducklings, how will you keep them safe (from cats, esp), and how would that affect your pen design? (You might want to hunt down their nest for a little ducky birth control?)

I really do think what you've done is great and hope for the best for all of you!

Hi, thank you for enjoying the thread and I appreciate your comment.

No worries, you haven't rain on any parades.

You are right, as of right now the pen isn't 100% predator proof.

We have had these ducks for 23 days, we are going to need a little time.
Remember, we recuse these ducks, we didn't buy them on a whim as ducklings and is just now building them a shelter/pen.

My idea pen would be fully enclosed with a locked gate, but that will have to wait a while to build.

It's winter time here, and we dont have a lot of money to go out and buy them a fancy run.
We use the materials that was available to us at the time, to at least give them a place outside the ark.

At least they aren't still sitting ducks in a open pond, like before the ark was built.

Next time the ducks come out of the ark, then we can safely modify it again, with added protection to the board gaps.

And for underneath the ark, we have bricks blocking the underside and on the side of the ark there is a open moat.
Any predator that digs will have to go through a freezing cold moat and rock hard bricks if they want my duckies, that badly.

Also we dont have kids, and whenever our dogs go outside, they are on a leash.
Also our dogs are toy breeds, and nearing 13 years of age and obese, they dont jump over stuff like the use to be able too.

Onto the neighbor/loose dog concern;

The conected neighbour right next to us doesnt have any dogs, and loves/approves of the duck ark.

Both the connected neighbor and I own our homes, so no worries there.

The neighbor on the other side of us (not connected), has one dog, he is never let out unsupervised and he actually goes to work with his owner (most of the day they are both gone). Hasn't mention anything about if hes okay with the ducks, but he is about to move away, and he only rents.

The guy who lives on the side of pond, who is diagonally across from us.
Has one small breed dog, who is only let out into its fence backyard.
They also built a pallet boat for the pond, and they only rent their house and trust me the pallet boat is way worse then our duck ark.

Not the prettiest, and It's also dangerous.
We have seen neighborhood kids jump on it at night to throw rocks into the pond. If they fall, the pond is deep enough for someone to drown in.
That same neighbor also mows our lawn and has no issue mowing around the duck ark, so I'm sure he has no issue either with the ducks themselves.

We have another neighbor that has stacks of pallets outside his home, he donated some pallets to us for our ark.

And another neighbor has a trailer in the backyard of his home.

What I'm saying is, we live in a neighborhood were people are allowed to do anything with their home, weather they rent or own.

If someone complains, well most likely they have something in their yard that is consider a eyesore too.

Also, I'm not trying to say a lose dog could never happen, or if someone lost control of their dog, that a possibility too.

But in the weeks they were outside unprotected, all the neighborhood dogs never bothered them.

Onto the stray dog/cat concern.

In over the decade I've lived here I have never seen a stray dog, if I had I would of adopted it lol
The reason no one let's their dogs run free is because of the road behind my house, it is so dangerous, it's a surprise when you dont see roadkill that day.

With stray cats, if I saw any, they would be mine.
Funny enough, a stray cat was hanging near the pond months before the ducks arrived.
I was keeping an eye on it, like the animal lover I am.

Its disapeared right after the ducks arrived, I assumed snice winter was beginning, it found somewhere else more warm.

Besides that, no neibours leave food out because unlike most neighbourhoods, we honestly dont have a stray cat problem.

When the neighbor accros they way began to feed the ducks, that was the only food bowl we noticed outside in the whole time we have lived here.

The car concern;
That's the whole reason the duck ark/pen is in our front yard.

We are the last house on a dead end street, so if some psychopath drove out of their way just to hit our duck ark on the front yard....Then danm, no duck ark or chicken coop anywhere would ever be safe.

Onto the duckling concern;
So far they have laid no eggs, and we think they are to young or to stress.
I read it's possible for ducks to shoot blanks.

I also read certain breeds of ducks are not good brooders. So most likely any eggs they lay, we would take care of it until it hatch.

And I'm sure, BYC will help us with that too. I already know about turning, marking, and candling eggs, as my SO raised chickens growing up.

We do have four inside cats.

But if it came down to it, the cats would be locked out of my room if we had baby ducklings.
Sure the cats might not like being locked out of a room, but if its for the ducklings protection, so be it.

We would most deffinetly keep the duckling inside the main house, until they were old enough to live in the duck ark of course.

And if we ever did get to overwhelmed with too many ducks, I'm sure there is tons of options available.

Thank you so much for voicing your concerns, I really do appreciate it. And thank you for your tips too, we will definitely be giving the duck ark/pen a makeover very soon.

I hope you have a great day!

 

[Gold Griffin Chicken Mom]

Cheap pool (Winter) alternative: cement mixing tray!

Go to your favorite big store like Lowes or Home Depot and go to the concrete aisle. Those rectangle mixing trays/pans are great for water! I have seen two sizes: small one around $12 and bigger (and more boxy, you will see) around $20.

Those trays are easier to upend than a round kiddie pool. Also, the plastic is heavier. The ones I have bought at Lowe’s are Made In USA (I don’t use weird plastics for my animals). In addition, the product label had pictures of the tray being used for things like an ice bucket on a picnic table.

While you are at the big store, head to the garden center and check out the bird and deer netting. The brands I bought came in 14’ squares and 7’ by 100’ rolls. Our first chicken pen was 13’ by 26’ and my husband covered the top of the pen with two squares. He wove a string through the netting and fence. It lasted until I raised idiots that thought it was a trampoline...

My point being: your duck pen width can be tailored to available netting. It will make it easier to get good coverage. We had a young Red-Tailed Hawk make it inside our Guinea pen despite our netting because we had gaps.

Last suggestion for tonight: invest in a good crab net with a long handle. My geese still say nasty things about my husband, “There’s that man that caught us with the net! Watch him!”

Come to think of it, Mr. Red-Tail wasn’t thrilled when Hubby used the crab net (plus leather gloves) to remove him from the pen before the Guineas decided to attack the predator. I have a picture of Mr. R-T on his back, glaring at the world!

Bless you for adopting those ducks. You will have many war stories before you know it!

 

[shawluvsbirds]

Hi, thank you for enjoying the thread and I appreciate your comment.

No worries, you haven't rain on any parades.

You are right, as of right now the pen isn't 100% predator proof.

We have had these ducks for 23 days, we are going to need a little time.
Remember, we recuse these ducks, we didn't buy them on a whim as ducklings and is just now building them a shelter/pen.

My idea pen would be fully enclosed with a locked gate, but that will have to wait a while to build.

It's winter time here, and we dont have a lot of money to go out and buy them a fancy run.
We use the materials that was available to us at the time, to at least give them a place outside the ark.

At least they aren't still sitting ducks in a open pond, like before the ark was built.

Next time the ducks come out of the ark, then we can safely modify it again, with added protection to the board gaps.

And for underneath the ark, we have bricks blocking the underside and on the side of the ark there is a open moat.
Any predator that digs will have to go through a freezing cold moat and rock hard bricks if they want my duckies, that badly.

Also we dont have kids, and whenever our dogs go outside, they are on a leash.
Also our dogs are toy breeds, and nearing 13 years of age and obese, they dont jump over stuff like the use to be able too.

Onto the neighbor/loose dog concern;

The conected neighbour right next to us doesnt have any dogs, and loves/approves of the duck ark.

Both the connected neighbor and I own our homes, so no worries there.

The neighbor on the other side of us (not connected), has one dog, he is never let out unsupervised and he actually goes to work with his owner (most of the day they are both gone). Hasn't mention anything about if hes okay with the ducks, but he is about to move away, and he only rents.

The guy who lives on the side of pond, who is diagonally across from us.
Has one small breed dog, who is only let out into its fence backyard.
They also built a pallet boat for the pond, and they only rent their house and trust me the pallet boat is way worse then our duck ark.

Not the prettiest, and It's also dangerous.
We have seen neighborhood kids jump on it at night to throw rocks into the pond. If they fall, the pond is deep enough for someone to drown in.
That same neighbor also mows our lawn and has no issue mowing around the duck ark, so I'm sure he has no issue either with the ducks themselves.

We have another neighbor that has stacks of pallets outside his home, he donated some pallets to us for our ark.

And another neighbor has a trailer in the backyard of his home.

What I'm saying is, we live in a neighborhood were people are allowed to do anything with their home, weather they rent or own.

If someone complains, well most likely they have something in their yard that is consider a eyesore too.

Also, I'm not trying to say a lose dog could never happen, or if someone lost control of their dog, that a possibility too.

But in the weeks they were outside unprotected, all the neighborhood dogs never bothered them.

Onto the stray dog/cat concern.

In over the decade I've lived here I have never seen a stray dog, if I had I would of adopted it lol
The reason no one let's their dogs run free is because of the road behind my house, it is so dangerous, it's a surprise when you dont see roadkill that day.

With stray cats, if I saw any, they would be mine.
Funny enough, a stray cat was hanging near the pond months before the ducks arrived.
I was keeping an eye on it, like the animal lover I am.

Its disapeared right after the ducks arrived, I assumed snice winter was beginning, it found somewhere else more warm.

Besides that, no neibours leave food out because unlike most neighbourhoods, we honestly dont have a stray cat problem.

When the neighbor accros they way began to feed the ducks, that was the only food bowl we noticed outside in the whole time we have lived here.

The car concern;
That's the whole reason the duck ark/pen is in our front yard.

We are the last house on a dead end street, so if some psychopath drove out of their way just to hit our duck ark on the front yard....Then danm, no duck ark or chicken coop anywhere would ever be safe.

Onto the duckling concern;
So far they have laid no eggs, and we think they are to young or to stress.
I also read it's possible for ducks to shoot blanks.

I read certain breed of ducks are not good brooders. So most likely any egg they lay, we would take care of it until it hatch.

And I'm sure, BYC will us with that too. I already know about turning eggs, as my SO raised chickens growing up.

We do have four inside cats, but if it came down to it they would be locked out of my room if we had baby ducklings.
Sure the cats might not like being locked out of a room, but if its for the ducklings protection, so be it.

And we would probably keep the duckling inside the main house, until they were old enough to go into the duck ark.

And if we ever did get to overwhelmed with too many duck, I'm sure their tons of options available.

Thank you so much for voicing your concerns, I really do appreciate it.

They might be young still yet but as far as laying goes I'm pretty sure most ducks stop laying in the winter months. My Cayuga ducks haven't layed an egg for a couple months now, but gave me an egg every day all summer throughout the fall. Once they start you'll be wondering when she will take a break!
I doubt you'll have a fertility problem. If anything you may have to consider getting another female so your girl doesn't get over mated. Once a day is nothing. . when spring hits he will most likely be mating her several times a day.

 

[Animal family]

I love this thread, just finished reading it and at first was so worried about the abandoned ducks! But you have done a wonderful thing by sheltering these creatures! They will give you so much joy!
A few tips I’ve learned in the 2 years I’ve had ducks, ( which were unplanned I’ll add)

Get your mealworms from amazon. I buy a 5 or even 11 pound bag, the 5 lb bag is just under 30 dollars.

I use bales of straw for bedding and underfoot in the winter, dry leaves and dry grass in the summertime. I try to compost most of the used bedding, you could give it to neighbors.

My 2 ducks love romain lettuce, chives, and green onions all diced finely and in water, As well as peas.

I bet if you sat flat in the pen, you could get one of them at least to sit on your lap, my girl always acts like she doesn’t want to but then she settles right down and tucks her head in my hand.

Bomb proof your pen as much as you can. You might feel like it’s too much but it’s not. I almost lost my girl to a hawk that went under the patio table to get her. Predators are smart, hungry, and will take chances you would never think possible.

Find a neighbor or two who will put your ducks away when you can’t be home in time. This is so important! It could mean life or death for your ducks. Maybe you can give them eggs in payment!

Lastly, this site is invaluable! I’ve received the best advice and help and everyone responds fast. My two ducks are happy and healthy because of this site!
I hope to hear all about your duck adventures and I wish you all the luck!

 

[SansDuck]

To start with place the food next to their house so they can see it, then after they have been coming out to eat if next to their house isn’t good you can move it where ever it’s good. Yep they are all messy little buggers it’s a good thing we love them so much.

Thank you Miss Lydia, would right outside in front of their ramp work?

The ducks would be able to see it very well, and if it begans to rain we can always move it to a more sheltered location.

 

[SansDuck]

Bedding can be pine shavings, aspen shavings, straw, hay, pdz, etc. I use pdz and pine shavings in the spring and summer and straw and pine shavings in the fall and winter. I have a very large coop though.

I wouldn't give them layer feed since the calcuim in it is bad for drakes. I feed the all flock crumbles with oyster shell in a bowl to the side.
Alot of people feed their ducks chicken feed. Some only feed the niacin supplements when the ducks are growing and some feed it all their lives. Since pekins (not sure about white layers) are a heavier breed and need more strength in their legs, you might want to keep up with the niacin supplements. You can usually find Nutritional or Brewers yeast in the organic section of your grocery store. I haven't found it at walmart. You can get the B complex at walmart in the pharmacy/vitamin area. I know @Miss Lydia orders her Nutritional yeast off of Amazon.

The food and dish bowl are fine. To help with some exercise and less mess you can keep the food and water bowls seperated a bit outside of the coop/ark.

All they really need is a proper diet, good housing and plenty of water.

You could start putting together a first aid kit for them, because things happen.

Thank you @Cayuga momma, for the all of the tips!

What brand of flock crumbles do you use?

Would this type of flock crumbles work, or are they only for young ducklings?

Hopefully you can see the ingredients pretty okay, I notice it does have yeast, and a b-12 supplements but I'm not sure if that is enough for grown ducks.

Next time we go to the feed store, I will take pictures of some of the poultry brands that are available. Perhaps BYC can help us pick out a better duck food brand for them?

We do have a country mart and price chopper, I'm sure one of those will have brewers yeast and nutritional yeast if not, I will get it online.

Is it easy to find oyster shells in your common grocery stores?

Sounds good, we will start a duck first aid kit here soon.

 

[SansDuck]

Y'all are doing awesome! these are the luckiest ducks ever! I had to get my brewers yeast online but it came really fast. I think that is more important for ducklings but I'm sure it will benefit them now as well and won't hurt to have. I would definitely get some B-complex at TSC as well as a bottle of calcium gluconate just to have on hand. Also get some activated charcoal to have in your ducky first aid kit. Walmart has the capsules in the vitamin dept. I'm sure if I forgot anything someone will let us know. oh, put the food and water outside but put the food in your house at night so nothing can get at it.

Thank you @DuckyDonna for the compliment, you have helped us so much!

We do have some other stores that might have brewers yeast, but if they dont I will buy it online.
What website do you buy your brewers yeast from?
I know Cayuga Momma said Miss Lydia buys hers from Amazon.

I will definitely be getting b complex, and calcium glucose.
Do you put the tablets in the water? How do you personally do it?

Activated charcoal will be the first item added to the first aid kit. What is the activated charcoal used for?

And definitely, no food left outside at night. Dont need to attract any unwanted predators.