CharmCity
In the Brooder
Hi everyone!
We're the proud owners of 3 Pekin ducks (one about 4 months old, two about 2 years old) and a 5 week old Indian Runner duckling. Our plan has been to keep the duckling by herself until she's old/big enough to run with the big ducks; she's in a brooder box by herself (with a mirror, stuffed animal, and heat after supervised time in the pool). She's lonely right now - she cries when she hears the other ducks quacking - but we figured this would be a short phase, and she'd be with the other ducks soon enough.
In response to her crying, we've started to let her have supervised time with the older ducks, and 2 of the 3 are rough with her; they lunge at her, bite her, and occasionally pull out her down/feathers. She has enough room to run away from them, and we never let her swim in the pool with them, so we're not worried about her drowning. My question is this: how do we know how rough is too rough? I know that the ducks will have to establish a hierarchy, but we don't want to risk her getting hurt. At this stage of the game, we grab her whenever she cries out in responses to one of the other ducks, but otherwise just keep an eye on her. She's very eager to be accepted by the other ducks and stays right with them, even when they're aggressive.
Should we stop letting her hang out with the other ducks until she's bigger? or is slow introduction at this age the way to go? We've never integrated a duckling before, and we don't want to do anything that jeopardizes her safety! I'm worried that we've made a mistake in having her in the brooder box alone; her loneliness is breaking my heart, but I know it's not safe for her to be out full-time with the others just yet...
We're the proud owners of 3 Pekin ducks (one about 4 months old, two about 2 years old) and a 5 week old Indian Runner duckling. Our plan has been to keep the duckling by herself until she's old/big enough to run with the big ducks; she's in a brooder box by herself (with a mirror, stuffed animal, and heat after supervised time in the pool). She's lonely right now - she cries when she hears the other ducks quacking - but we figured this would be a short phase, and she'd be with the other ducks soon enough.
In response to her crying, we've started to let her have supervised time with the older ducks, and 2 of the 3 are rough with her; they lunge at her, bite her, and occasionally pull out her down/feathers. She has enough room to run away from them, and we never let her swim in the pool with them, so we're not worried about her drowning. My question is this: how do we know how rough is too rough? I know that the ducks will have to establish a hierarchy, but we don't want to risk her getting hurt. At this stage of the game, we grab her whenever she cries out in responses to one of the other ducks, but otherwise just keep an eye on her. She's very eager to be accepted by the other ducks and stays right with them, even when they're aggressive.
Should we stop letting her hang out with the other ducks until she's bigger? or is slow introduction at this age the way to go? We've never integrated a duckling before, and we don't want to do anything that jeopardizes her safety! I'm worried that we've made a mistake in having her in the brooder box alone; her loneliness is breaking my heart, but I know it's not safe for her to be out full-time with the others just yet...
