Pet Ducks Dumped in Neighborhood Pond, Help?

[Cayuga momma]

Of course pictures will be taken! And we'll definitely keep a good eye durning swim time, I heard young duckling can tire themselves out quickly.

I hope Downy and Fergus love it here.
In the morning when we are filling up their pool and food ect, we will hear them knock (with their bills) from the inside of their ark door. They are so excited to come out for the day, and enjoy the pool.
We have even left the gate open while we let them out of the ark, they always go straight for the pool inside of escaping. I honestly think they have forgotten all about the pond across from them.

They are happy and know they are loved and they love you in return. What could be better than that!?!

 

[SansDuck]

Another duckling question;

When can they start having treats? Like crickets, meal worms?

I know they cant have to much protein while their young.

If they are to young, is there any good low protein treats ducklings can have?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Little bit of treats never hurt anyone. But at their age keep them small size they need their feed most of all. I take dried meal worms and crush them a little in my hand before giving to very young. I have never fed crickets they have to look for them themselves.

 

[SansDuck]

@Miss Lydia @Cayuga momma

So I have a few concerns.

Main concern:
One duckling has a bald spot on the back of it neck about the size of a dime or penny

Sorry if you cant see well from the pictures, it was the best pics I could take right now. The duckling is acting 100%, normal, they are running, drinking, sleeping, pooping, eatting fine. The duckling did scratch the spot once with its foot.

The other duckling I'm not to concern about, but sometimes when they peep their peep will sound like a little honk or something similar?
I dont think the duckling is sick as everyone is doing very well, but can voice change happen this fast?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Yes voices are changing. As for bald spot someone might be nibbling or at the age where they begin to lose some down. Brooder size can cause nibbling in each other as can boredom. Have you had to go up in size for your brooder seems for every growth spurt there needs a bigger brooder size. Haven’t seen them for a while how about some pictures

 

[SansDuck]

Yes voices are changing. As for bald spot someone might be nibbling or at the age where they begin to lose some down. Brooder size can cause nibbling in each other as can boredom. Have you had to go up in size for your brooder seems for every growth spurt there needs a bigger brooder size. Haven’t seen them for a while how about some pictures

The original box brooder was soon destroyed, so we upgraded them to this storage container

We went with no lid, just to give them some extra ventilation snice they are being kept in the 'final brooder' too.
We were also able to add two waters, and two feeders, and a pet bed we turned into a nest.

These pictures were taken about four days
ago, so they have gotten a bit bigger snice then.

Snice we are on the topics of brooder size, I was curious when we can move them to the final brooder.
The duckling current brooder is inside their future brooder like I said above.

I have a platform bed, that has storage underneath (future brooder), that's were their current brooder is kept right now.

Its been working out great snice it's totally cat proof, totally draft free, and stays at a constant temperature because there are no air vents/drafts, and a bunch of other good benefits.

When they get bigger, I want the whole storage space to be their brooder, but what size/age is that appropriate?
I feel like if I put them in their now, they wouldnt know what to do with all the space.

The size of the outside space is 50 inch long,60 inch wide, and 32 inch in height. And when I googled how many sq feet is a queen size bed i got was 10 sq feet, witch sounds right.
Here are some pictures, on what it look like on the outside and inside to give you an idea.

Baby gate in front of large brooder, keeps other pets out and will keep ducks in when they are moved out of current brooder.

Gate is kept on tight and on at all times, can only be removed by human strength.

Going inside the brooder, humans can fit easily inside to clean or hang with ducklings.

I'm not fully inside the brooder, but I'm at the end of the little hall way leading up to it. I also pointed my camera at a angle so you can see where the current brooder is and the size difference between the two.

Also, the light is not usually pointing straight at the ducklings like it is in the picture. Usually its pointed in the opposite direction to give them a little bit of light without blinding them.

We went with the mama heating pad method, the reason for the light was because they would peep very loudly when it was slightly dark.

I just took these pictures of the ducklings a few minutes ago.

I changed their brooder out a few hours ago, but it looks so messy. Sorry about that.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I’d put them in there now give them lots of room to move around just keep one end for sleeping and heat lamp put food and water at the other end . They will love having more space. They have grown so much and are gorgeous. That’s a nice set up.

 

[SansDuck]

I’d put them in there now give them lots of room to move around just keep one end for sleeping and heat lamp put food and water at the other end . They will love having more space. They have grown so much and are gorgeous. That’s a nice set up.

We got it all set up yesterday, and the ducklings seem to absolutely love their new brooder.

First we put down Floor Comfort (Flooring Underlayment), we had extra from a previous project.
What Flooring Underlayment does is provide a sound barrier, softer floor, and a bit of a texture so the ducklings dont slip on the hardwood floor. The type we have is also waterproof, so it protects the hardwood floor underneath.
Before underneath the bed became a duckling brooder, it was previously a mini library.
So we also covered the inside walls of the platform bed with cardboard to protect the books, and also so no duckling gets hurt or stuck.

Outside of the Brooder we have two shelves for the ducklings supplies, easy for us to clean ect.

Outside of brooder we built a cardboard door, it keeps the ducklings from getting into the duckling supplies, and keeps the ducklings away from the baby gate.

inside We placed pee pads over the Floor Overlayment for easy cleanup, it adds another layer of protection, provides more texture, and padding for ducklings feet.

The duckling nest is on one side of brooder, with straw for extra comfort.

on the other side is their water and eatting tray. It's a shallow storage lid that's easy for them to step over, filled with pine to help with water spillage.

Also we put baby/childproof outlet covers on any exposed outlet. Dont need a wing or bill to get zapped.

A few pictures of everything setup, and the ducklings exploring the new brooder for the first time.

Baby gate is alway put back on and secured, when we are not visiting the ducklings.
We also left the door a bit short so we can see them through the baby gate.

We also have two drawers on the outside of the brooder that we can remove to check on the duckling when ever we want, need too.

Drawers are closed.

Drawers have been removed to check on ducklings, I don't think they were expecting to see me pop out of the drawer lol.

Also after we got their brooder done last night, we turned their old brooder into a pool.
They were all so excited to swim, and some even tried to drive. It was very cute.

Bath time was a huge success, I would say. Next time we will upgrade them to the big bathtub.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Awwww they are soooo adorable!! And the new brooder looks great!!

 

[Miss Lydia]

That is an awesome brooder! You have done a fantastic job setting it up. I am sure they love all that space. Look how big they are!