Should I bring my ducks on vacation?

[CeceliaD]

I’m going a few hours up north in Maine in July for a week long vacation on a lake. I want to bring my two ducks so that they can swim in a lake for once instead of their tiny kitty pool. Does anyone think that’s a bad idea? What might some risks be?

 

[Percheron chick]

Not a bad idea. It's a very bad idea on too many levels.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I’d be worried about not being able to get them off the lake for one. Then other water fowl around that may give a sickness to your ducks. You could take them along just set up a dog x pen to give them outside time they still would probably enjoy a small kIddy pool to play in. Ducks don’t need much to keep them happy

 

[Magnolia Ducks]

Look at the thread from @SuperDuck about Chuck and Buck. Ask for advice there

 

[cheezenkwackers]

Ducks are creatures of habit and do not like change. I suspect they will be terrified of the lake. Also, what are you going to do if I am wrong and they love it. They may not come out when you want them too. Will there be people with dogs there? A loose, friendly dog could easily kill a duck with one shake. My opinion is that they would be happier left at home with a pet sitter. However, I once saw a family at a public beach who had their pet Pekin duck and their lab with them. The duck was obviously used to following the family and dog and had been to the beach before. He swam in the ocean for the day with the family and then waddled back to the car with them to go home. He was lone duck though, who was obviously very attached to his family.

 

[CeceliaD]

Ducks are creatures of habit and do not like change. I suspect they will be terrified of the lake. Also, what are you going to do if I am wrong and they love it. They may not come out when you want them too. Will there be people with dogs there? A loose, friendly dog could easily kill a duck with one shake. My opinion is that they would be happier left at home with a pet sitter. However, I once saw a family at a public beach who had their pet Pekin duck and their lab with them. The duck was obviously used to following the family and dog and had been to the beach before. He swam in the ocean for the day with the family and then waddled back to the car with them to go home. He was lone duck though, who was obviously very attached to his family.

I have a dog that will be coming with us and she hangs out with the ducks from time to time. They also follow me everywhere so I’m not worried about them getting out of the lake. There will be my whole family which is 11 people, but no one I don’t know and no other dogs.

 

[CeceliaD]

I’d be worried about not being able to get them off the lake for one. Then other water fowl around that may give a sickness to your ducks. You could take them along just set up a dog x pen to give them outside time they still would probably enjoy a small kIddy pool to play in. Ducks don’t need much to keep them happy

I do have a crate and pen that I’ll be bringing and I’ll probably just have them stay outside with me for the day. I guess the sickness thing would be my biggest worry, but I’m not sure if it could actually be dangerous or not. Do you know of any sicknesses they could get from swimming on a lake?

 

[cheezenkwackers]

If they eat any snails in the lake they could get flukes? Does anyone ever get swimmer's itch from this lake?

 

[SuperDuck]

If we leave the house for more than a day, our two boys go. What am I talking about? If we go to Tractor Supply or Petco, they get to go. But they have no clue they are ducks.

They love to go bye bye. They’ve traveled quite a bit with us. They have gone into a big lake once (they aren’t a fan of murky waters) but they were always with my son who is a very experienced, open water marathon swimmer. They stayed right with him in the water. We always bring their portable dog pen on camping trips but they never end up using it except at night time when we go to sleep in the RV. We hang out at the campsite and bring their little pool to play in. They love to take naps in the lounge chairs And love sitting by the campfire at night. We do not leave them outside alone for various reasons. They behave better than the kids almost always.

We’ve gone Boondock camping with them and we’ve also gone to multiple campgrounds and even a water park camp resort with them. They love it. They love the car rides there and get so excited to stop and explore. We take rest stops to stretch our legs and give them water and let them flap a bit.

The only hard part of our outings is getting all the feathers out of the car or RV after the trip.

 

[Miss Lydia]

❤ @SuperDuck did you start them out when real young going places.