Separation anxiety for ducks

[LT71689]

not so sure about integrating with the other ducks on the lake - they might be a bunch of males. They might be wild and leave the lake leaving the pet ducks in an unbalanced gender ratio. Penning up too many males with too little females even if only overnight is still not guaranteed safe. Either way I wouldnt place any bets on it as a problem solver

 

[Debby Duck]

@Debby Duck now seeing your set up i can tell you why they are not going to the pond your water station is the reason they have the water they need right there so no need to go to the pond second your floor needs to be solid the wire will give them feet issue's and if you are going to rehome the girls that is plenty of room for 4 drakes if you get rid of there water station and get them to the pond you probably won't have to re-home the girls they will integrate themselves in with the other ducks that are there and won't get over bred and if you get them in the pen every night and keep the girls you will get eggs if you add a couple nest boxes you will be set

Darn! I guess the kiddie pool should go. They love that pool

 

[Debby Duck]

Thanks for all your feedback everyone!

 

[KaleIAm]

My experience is that your ducks will be sad, but they will adjust and move on. It may take a few days or weeks, but they will be ok. Just remember you are doing the right thing. Like young children they can't make the best choices for themselves so you have to do it for them. After a few days it will be harder for you than them.

When my ducks were young they snuggled very closely and foraged within inches of each other, but since becoming adults they keep more space between them. Your ducks might need a bigger space as they get older. Even though my flock is bonded they do occasionally settle pecking order desputes with bill pokes. When that happens I'm glad I have the extra space for the admonished duck to get a little distance. I also agree that you might want to be careful to keep a soft floor under your ducks' feet to prevent bumbles.

I have to respectfully disagree with the poster who said you can probably keep the girl ducks on the pond. My crested pekin came from a pond where she was being mated by wild mallards. She had 2 other domestic ducks with her to share the mating. When all 3 came to me they were stained red and bloody with all their tail and flight feathers broken. My crested had so much damage to her tail feathers that some follicles have been permanently altered. She now gets ingrown feathers that sometimes have to be surgically removed under anesthesia, even though I've had her for 5.5 years. The vet also suspects she has had internal damage, as her reproductive system doesn't work correctly and she's had surgery for that as well. Both of these conditions would kill her without careful monitoring. So... I definitely feel it is not a good idea to put two female ducks on a pond with 4 males and who knows how many wild males.

Another thing to think about is that when I first got my 3 pond rescues they had diseases and parasites from the mallards. And even if you do rehomed your girls and let your boys into the pond, what about the boys mating with the wild mallards girls? The babies will be half pekin. Will they be able to fly? Will you be responsible for them? I'm not sure how that works, but it doesn't seem good.

Sorry to word vomit so many of my negative experiences your way. I made a lot of mistakes in the beginning and I hope they can help you keep your ducks safe.

 

[Debby Duck]

My experience is that your ducks will be sad, but they will adjust and move on. It may take a few days or weeks, but they will be ok. Just remember you are doing the right thing. Like young children they can't make the best choices for themselves so you have to do it for them. After a few days it will be harder for you than them.

When my ducks were young they snuggled very closely and foraged within inches of each other, but since becoming adults they keep more space between them. Your ducks might need a bigger space as they get older. Even though my flock is bonded they do occasionally settle pecking order desputes with bill pokes. When that happens I'm glad I have the extra space for the admonished duck to get a little distance. I also agree that you might want to be careful to keep a soft floor under your ducks' feet to prevent bumbles.

I have to respectfully disagree with the poster who said you can probably keep the girl ducks on the pond. My crested pekin came from a pond where she was being mated by wild mallards. She had 2 other domestic ducks with her to share the mating. When all 3 came to me they were stained red and bloody with all their tail and flight feathers broken. My crested had so much damage to her tail feathers that some follicles have been permanently altered. She now gets ingrown feathers that sometimes have to be surgically removed under anesthesia, even though I've had her for 5.5 years. The vet also suspects she has had internal damage, as her reproductive system doesn't work correctly and she's had surgery for that as well. Both of these conditions would kill her without careful monitoring. So... I definitely feel it is not a good idea to put two female ducks on a pond with 4 males and who knows how many wild males.

Another thing to think about is that when I first got my 3 pond rescues they had diseases and parasites from the mallards. And even if you do rehomed your girls and let your boys into the pond, what about the boys mating with the wild mallards girls? The babies will be half pekin. Will they be able to fly? Will you be responsible for them? I'm not sure how that works, but it doesn't seem good.

Sorry to word vomit so many of my negative experiences your way. I made a lot of mistakes in the beginning and I hope they can help you keep your ducks safe.

OH NO! Your poor babies . I'm so sorry for them. It really frightens me now that I know how ducks mate. I've decided that because of their crests I don't want my girls mated at all. I wish I could fix all of mine and not have to worry about it.
And now that worries me wondering if my boys do mate with the wild ducks and they don't fly. And all the ducks out there are wild.
It was never an option for me to have the girls be on the pond. I don't see them separating from the flock that much. And they still depend on me for food and shelter. They need to be someone's pets. I just hope I can find that person.
It sounds like I need to look into the flooring again. But speaking of wild ducks, look at this sweet little girl and her ducklings below. I've never heard this duck mentioned, and this is the first time I've seen them in my Florida lake and I've been here for 20 plus years.
I did a close up of the mommy. Then the other has her on the left and her ducklings who are almost her size now on the right. Of course my gangster chicken ducks are in there. Those ducks are called mottled ducks. They're small and if you zoom in to the center one you can see a blue feather peeking out. When they spread out to fly it's a big beautiful bright blue under the wing. They have the sweetest face! And I think they've adopted us as their family, though I wasn't trying to encourage it. Although I can't speak for my husband!

 

[Debby Duck]

My experience is that your ducks will be sad, but they will adjust and move on. It may take a few days or weeks, but they will be ok. Just remember you are doing the right thing. Like young children they can't make the best choices for themselves so you have to do it for them. After a few days it will be harder for you than them.

When my ducks were young they snuggled very closely and foraged within inches of each other, but since becoming adults they keep more space between them. Your ducks might need a bigger space as they get older. Even though my flock is bonded they do occasionally settle pecking order desputes with bill pokes. When that happens I'm glad I have the extra space for the admonished duck to get a little distance. I also agree that you might want to be careful to keep a soft floor under your ducks' feet to prevent bumbles.

I have to respectfully disagree with the poster who said you can probably keep the girl ducks on the pond. My crested pekin came from a pond where she was being mated by wild mallards. She had 2 other domestic ducks with her to share the mating. When all 3 came to me they were stained red and bloody with all their tail and flight feathers broken. My crested had so much damage to her tail feathers that some follicles have been permanently altered. She now gets ingrown feathers that sometimes have to be surgically removed under anesthesia, even though I've had her for 5.5 years. The vet also suspects she has had internal damage, as her reproductive system doesn't work correctly and she's had surgery for that as well. Both of these conditions would kill her without careful monitoring. So... I definitely feel it is not a good idea to put two female ducks on a pond with 4 males and who knows how many wild males.

Another thing to think about is that when I first got my 3 pond rescues they had diseases and parasites from the mallards. And even if you do rehomed your girls and let your boys into the pond, what about the boys mating with the wild mallards girls? The babies will be half pekin. Will they be able to fly? Will you be responsible for them? I'm not sure how that works, but it doesn't seem good.

Sorry to word vomit so many of my negative experiences your way. I made a lot of mistakes in the beginning and I hope they can help you keep your ducks safe.

Also... Don't worry about the word vomit . I appreciate all the advice!

How long do you think I have before making begins? They are 15 weeks old.

 

[KaleIAm]

The rescues did have a hard start but they live like royalty now. They are among the most spoiled of ducks - and they'll never be mated from a drake ever again. They do have sexy girl duck time but it's with consent!

Maybe you could put some type of work out mat on the bottom of their coop, over the wire? Something soft that you could hose off easily? We used to have bumblefoot issues before we made everything soft so I'm very careful about that.

I don't know very much about what age drakes become sexually interested in girl ducks. I think it is a combination of season and age that trigger hormones. I speculate that if it were spring your boys would already be chasing your girls around, harassing them. So it's possible that you'll have until late winter, early spring when the days are getting longer. Or it could start anytime. Personally, I would start looking for a family now so that you won't feel as pressured to take a less than ideal situation for them.

The 3 rescue girls that I took in were on Craigslist for 3 weeks without a single inquiry until mine. They were young, laying, and free. It can be hard to find a home for ducks.

I just love that the wild ducks have decided to trust you and hang around!! That is so sweet! They are very adorable. I quacked at a wild duck flying over once and she quacked back at me. I felt very fortunate and skilled at quack.

 

[LT71689]

Put ads on craigslist, check facebook groups (its not always easy to find them because fb is kinda garbage about that but they are out there) if you have a local feed/farm supply store see if you can post an ad if theyve got a bulletin board or something, or maybe they can ask around for you to customers they know who have ducks, etc.

Also if you go back to the main forums listing, further towards the bottom theres a forum for rehoming

 

[Debby Duck]

The rescues did have a hard start but they live like royalty now. They are among the most spoiled of ducks - and they'll never be mated from a drake ever again. They do have sexy girl duck time but it's with consent!

Maybe you could put some type of work out mat on the bottom of their coop, over the wire? Something soft that you could hose off easily? We used to have bumblefoot issues before we made everything soft so I'm very careful about that.

I don't know very much about what age drakes become sexually interested in girl ducks. I think it is a combination of season and age that trigger hormones. I speculate that if it were spring your boys would already be chasing your girls around, harassing them. So it's possible that you'll have until late winter, early spring when the days are getting longer. Or it could start anytime. Personally, I would start looking for a family now so that you won't feel as pressured to take a less than ideal situation for them.

The 3 rescue girls that I took in were on Craigslist for 3 weeks without a single inquiry until mine. They were young, laying, and free. It can be hard to find a home for ducks.

I just love that the wild ducks have decided to trust you and hang around!! That is so sweet! They are very adorable. I quacked at a wild duck flying over once and she quacked back at me. I felt very fortunate and skilled at quack.

You're apparently better at quack that I am. My ducks just look at me like I'm crazy. You know, the main reason I'm not doing it right away is I want to make sure I'm right about the boys. I don't have experience to know for sure by sound. I was really expecting something different to come out. Not some of the high pitched, though not loud and not a quack, screeches I hear. I was hoping to get that tail curl to tell me, but I don't know if they come in time.
I'm also so afraid they'll go to someone who might have them for a meal instead of a pet. Mine have been living quite a royal life too. And I would like them to have something similar. I found out there's a re-home forum here and that might be a good place for me to look. I'm willing to drive them anyplace in FL and give them free to someone who will treat them well. I just took in their kiddie pool to try and get them in the lake more. But I think they miss it and they aren't in the lake more so I might give it back. It's really hot here! And they like floating and napping in it!
My husband did so much research on the flooring. We're going to look again. But most of what I saw of people who tried it used the regular wire. They talked about painting it it because of rust, but that sounds crazy and very unsafe. What we have is vinyl coated, so it's softer. Also it cost a lot more. He even put quarter round on the edges where he had to cut to protect them. The idea is that we're putting the big dog kennel trays underneath and we can pull them out to house off. We might regret this but we'll see and keep an eye on things. I'm glad to have learned about bumblefoot though. I just had to rethink the mulch and rock we're putting down out back. I now have duck lawn. Before I wondered why all the people who showed pictures of their ducks had no grass. Now I know!

 

[Debby Duck]

Put ads on craigslist, check facebook groups (its not always easy to find them because fb is kinda garbage about that but they are out there) if you have a local feed/farm supply store see if you can post an ad if theyve got a bulletin board or something, or maybe they can ask around for you to customers they know who have ducks, etc.

Also if you go back to the main forums listing, further towards the bottom theres a forum for rehoming

Thanks, I'll do that! I didn't know about that forum.