The Duck Spa - how the heck do you soak your duck's feet without a fight?!?

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The only picture I could find is this one from 10 years ago. Daryl drake is no longer with us. He's using one of our winter pans for his bath. This size works well because the ducks can take a decent bath, but I can still get the ice out of it the next day when it freezes solid. I have used bigger deeper rubber pans but they often freeze down and I can't get the ice out without breaking them.
 
We also use these rubber buckets for deep drinking water in the winter. I had to put out the pans, otherwise ducks were crawling in the water buckets for baths. I keep hay on the floor around their water, and add more as necessary, and move the pans and buckets to keep from getting too much ice buildup in one spot.
 
Firefightra said:
I recently acquired 5 rescue Muscovy ducks ( 3 from one location and 2 from another) and 3 of them have Bumblefoot on both feet (they came from very muddy conditions). I had done a lot of research and came to the decision that I would soak them in Tricide Neo for a week. I live in Canada and a 1 gallon package came to $100.00, so that's very pricy. I divided the soaks into 1/4 gallon at a time, so that I could extend the life of the product - it comes to $25 per soak for a total of 4 soaks per package. The problem is, two of the ducks keep trying to jump out of the container and kick their legs during the 7 minute soaks, causing the Tricide Neo to go splashing everywhere. Two days of soaks and $50 later, I'm not sure I can make it the full 7 days. Does anyone have any tips on how they have soaked their ducks feet? Muscovies don't like to be held, so this is a problem. :( I have a 9 x 13 glass baking dish that I stand them in and point their very active poop away from the dish, so that it doesn't soil the Tricide Neo. I have also put the dish in a large tupperware container and then put them into the container, so that they are somewhat contained and still are able to soak. The drake has no issues and is easy to soak, but the two hens are a handful. I start off with 4 cups of Tricide Neo solution and am down to 2 cups after a day of soaking. Argh. Any tips on what others have done would be incredibly helpful.
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The RCMP want's their ducks back! just kidding:oops:
 
oldhenlikesdogs said:
The only picture I could find is this one from 10 years ago. Daryl drake is no longer with us. He's using one of our winter pans for his bath. This size works well because the ducks can take a decent bath, but I can still get the ice out of it the next day when it freezes solid. I have used bigger deeper rubber pans but they often freeze down and I can't get the ice out without breaking them.

View attachment 1342905
Click to expand...
Love the green feathers! Very handsome duck.
 
oldhenlikesdogs said:
The only picture I could find is this one from 10 years ago. Daryl drake is no longer with us. He's using one of our winter pans for his bath. This size works well because the ducks can take a decent bath, but I can still get the ice out of it the next day when it freezes solid. I have used bigger deeper rubber pans but they often freeze down and I can't get the ice out without breaking them.

View attachment 1342905
Click to expand...


Those are the exact pans I was thinking about when you described them. I will be getting a couple for next winter. We have a wonderful 50 gallon stock tank for the Spring - Fall; but, was wondering how to keep their feathers clean throughout the winter. Do you you just keep filling it and removing the ice daily, so that they have access to bathing throughout the winter? Or do you allow them to use it on a weekly basis?

I have a couple of electric dog bowls for their water. They can only take a "head bath" in those and it looks hilarious when they lay on the ground, flapping their wings, and thinking that they're getting more water on their bodies than they actually are. I always have to laugh. No one has tried to climb in the bowls YET (the bowls are pretty small; but, you can never predict a duck's antics :p ), so if that happens, I have some deeper buckets, like yours, tucked away. I was also wondering what people did regarding ice build-up from the drinking buckets - you answered my question before I even asked. Moving them around sounds perfect.

Lovely pics, btw! Daryl had such beautiful green/black feathers! What a handsome boy. Two of my girls have a couple of those feathers and I love watching them glisten in the sun.
 
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