Please help! It's day 27 with no movement or internal pip from the duckling, what should I do?!

[Miss Lydia]

I do the same with my broody's but my in-door ducklings all got warm water to play in. Just me but I felt that was best for mine so they wouldn't chill.

 

[Cocelean]

I only used room temp water for the ducklings that I brooded and never had an issue. But, my ducklings were brooded in a building and weren't allowed in the house. Harder to get warm water out there - since it would have cooled off quickly.
My broody raised ducklings were in all sorts of water outdoors. I just let her do her thing.

Hi! It's been a while! I've noticed the duckling sleeps alot, is that normal? Like she'll actually sleep through the night so she hasn't been giving me troubles (just found out it's a girl btw!), and when I put her in the brooder, she does eat and drink but sleeps otherwise. When I take her out, she runs after me and once she reaches me she just sits down. I dont know if that's normal, shes 7 days old now - I was expecting her to be awake and a lot more active, running around being crazy. I gave her a bath/swim yesterday following your advice, but she kind of just half sat in the water and started drinking it a lot, dipping her entire head in to her nose and bobbing her head up and down a lot blowing bubbles, and then when I took her out of the tub to dry off she starting spitting the water out. Maybe shes tired because she's been coming with me to the farm?

And this might be an odd question but how do I play with her or what toys would she enjoy if they're supposed to have any?

 

[Crazy Maizie]

Ducklings sleep a lot because they grow a lot. As long as she's eating and drinking, she's fine.
How do you know it's a girl?
As far as playing, my ducks are outside ducks. They don't have toys. But, I know some put small toys like balls and such in brooders. A mirror would be a good idea since shes alone.

 

[Cocelean]

Ducklings sleep a lot because they grow a lot. As long as she's eating and drinking, she's fine.
How do you know it's a girl?
As far as playing, my ducks are outside ducks. They don't have toys. But, I know some put small toys like balls and such in brooders. A mirror would be a good idea since shes alone.

She does have a mirror - tends to sleep in front of it with the teddy nearby, I'll try giving her a ball though and see how it goes! She has an odd and very lazy way of eating and drinking - she just sits down in front of the feeder on her stomach (it's those dual cat bowls with a refilling water bottle), and stretches her head over to eat rather than being up on her feet dunking her head into the water or eating - is it safe to give her a swim every day? Since she doesn't dip up to her nostrils otherwise. And is spitting out water normal? Oh one more thing what does abnormal poop look like?

We found out her gender because the manager at the farm did this thing where he turned her over, pushed up at the base just above her tail with his thumb and pulled apart where her bottom is to widen the hole a little so that you could see inside and her fur wasn't covering it, and then applied a little bit of pressure at the bottom. If she was a boy, a little penis would've popped out but as it didn't it meant she was a girl - it was a bit painful to watch but he has experience with these things and said it wasn't painful - just a bit uncomfortable for the duckling (trusting his words!) so that was okay hopefully.

We did a bit of a celebration lol - she turned a week old today and we had a gender reveal so it was a pretty exciting day! She got her very first little taste of an earth worm and her duck parents and aunts also got to join in on the special day to worms and slugs as a treat!

 

[Crazy Maizie]

Is she spitting water, when you pick her up? That happens.
Duck poop is all over the place and it usually looks like what they ate.
She can swim every day. Just not a long time and she needs dried off after due to not having feathers yet.

What the farmer did is called vent sexing.

 

[Cocelean]

Is she spitting water, when you pick her up? That happens.
Duck poop is all over the place and it usually looks like what they ate.
She can swim every day. Just not a long time and she needs dried off after due to not having feathers yet.

What the farmer did is called vent sexing.

Yes, when I pick her up to take her out of the tub of water! But I'm glad to hear it's normal, I panicked when it happened - and I only gave her a two minute "swim" the first time since all she did was stand and start dipping her whole beak in rather than actually swim lol.

Her poop doesn't really look like what she eats - she eats these grey small grains and her poop varies in consistency - some being watery and foamy, some being firm and dark green with a bit of white and some being more white than green

Ohh it was my first time seeing it! Would you say its accurate on a 7 day old duckling? I've always heard you cant tell till the duckling is 4 weeks old or something of sorts

 

[Crazy Maizie]

What are you feeding her?

Just be careful picking her up especially after eating or drinking.

Ohh it was my first time seeing it! Would you say its accurate on a 7 day old duckling? I've always heard you cant tell till the duckling is 4 weeks old or something of sorts

Not sure what you are referring to?

 

[Chickengirl2671]

Not sure what you are referring to?

I think they're talking about vent sexing.

 

[Crazy Maizie]

If vent sexing, you can actually do it from day 1 and it's easier to vent sex when younger rather than older.

 

[Cocelean]

If vent sexing, you can actually do it from day 1 and it's easier to vent sex when younger rather than older.

Oh ok that's good then thank you!