The Duck Thread

[hennible]

Personally I think you did the right thing saving the egg, but maybe just maybe you could release him when he's older? Do ducks migrate down there? If they don't it may not be to hard to let him go when he's full grown.
Just a thought. If you did release him you could alway get some demes tic ducks to quell you duck fever down the road
And you could visit Qwackerjack at the park!

 

[Miss Lydia]

Personally I think you did the right thing saving the egg, but maybe just maybe you could release him when he's older? Do ducks migrate down there? If they don't it may not be to hard to let him go when he's full grown.
Just a thought. If you did release him you could alway get some demes tic ducks to quell you duck fever down the road

And you could visit Qwackerjack at the park!

Qwackerjack looks to be a domestic duck from the pic on the avatar, it would be heartless to release him into that kind of situation after he has been dependent on her for food and love. I don't think she would anyway,seems to be mutual love there.

 

[LittleBlu]

I'd like to share the story of my little Qwackerjack. Please be kind, I'm sure many may not approve but I did what I thought was the right thing to do at the time :/

 
I visit a local park a few days a week to feed the ducks and geese and to de-stress. It's beautiful with big trees and nice creek full of fish, turtles, and waterfowl.
I'm there so often, I've gotten to know many of the ducks and they know me, several will eat from my hand and a few even seem to recognize my car, running up to me as I'm parking. LOL.

Anyway, back in June I was there as usual tossing feed to my feathered friends when a couple of my regulars, Curly & Freckles, waddle up for a snack. After a few minutes, Freckles moved back about 10 feet from me and dropped an egg.    I was shocked to say the least. She didn't even give it a second look as she rejoined the others gobbling up the feed. The egg just sat out in the grass,with no shade or cover or hide. After 45 minutes and Freckles still had not acknowledged her egg, I began to worry about what would become of it. She couldn't pick it up and carry back to a nest, it couldn't stay out in the open under the brutal Texas sun, not to mention vulnerable to predators, dogs, and bratty kids. As I was on my phone googling for some info on the situation, trucks pulled up on the other side of the park and were unloading their huge mowers, it was just a matter of time before they got to my area and scrambled the poor egg. I was heading for a full on anxiety attack when I decided I just couldn't walk away and not at least try to help. 

I gently picked up Eggy and looked around for Freckles thinking maybe she'd be alerted to me messing with it but she'd already wandered off farther down the creek. I took Eggy home, found instructions for homemade incubator on youtube and educated myself on temp/humidity/turning. My friends kept telling me it was probably not fertilized and that's why she abandoned it, but I thought I'd give it a week then candle to see if it was developing. At eight days, we could see it was indeed fertilized.   I spent the next 20 days monitoring and turning and falling in love with my little Eggy. Candling every few days and watching him grow. 


After 2 days of him struggling and no sleep for me, my sweet Qwackerjack kicked off the last of his shell July 29th. He was a healthy black duckling with cute yellow bib and white wing tips. He already had me firmly wrapped around his tiny wing. His first week he spent in a 20 gallon fish aquarium on my bedside table so he could always seem me and I could be at his beck and call. Now at almost 11 days old, he has outgrown the aquarium so I've set up a big cage in our living room for him during the day and he still sleeps in his glass tank at night to be near me. 

Since his hatch, I've often thought, "I have a DUCK! What am I going to do with this DUCK!" LOL  I guess it's like an unexpected pregnancy, you love them and find ways to make it work. I've contacted the city zoning department and we are allowed to have yard fowl in my neighborhood, I'll just have to set up a habitat for him when he gets a bit older and the temps get back down under 100F. 

I've learned my Qwacker will need a friend to be a happy well adjusted duck but I don't know where to get another that's his age. And is it any more work/expense to have two vs just one? I love this little mega-pooper and want him to be happy, healthy and thrive in my care. I'll probably have lots of questions on this journey, and I'm so thankful I came across this amazing forum/website. So far I've been about to search the comments here to find answers to most of my queries but it will be great to interact with folks who are knowledgeable in ducks and share my affection for them. 

If you've made it all the way to the end of this mini-novel, thanks for reading my story and I hope folks aren't too critical of my actions. 

Sonja & Qwackerjack,
Fort Worth, TX

MY first duckling was awfully lonely and was a ton if work because she always wanted to be with me. I loved her dearly but she would cry so loudly and be so pitiful when I would leave to get food or take a shower or anything. She refused to sleep in her pen next to my bed. I now have two ducklings. Poop the Same amount as her. And the food cost wise isn't any different. My local feed store obky sells big bags of feed and u have a 40lb bag. They eat the same as her for now so no difference yet. Two you get twice the love and they're okay just being with each other

 

[Amiga]

Sonja1018, welcome.

An unbreakable mirror and stuffed washable toy (nothing that can be pulled off and swallowed) can help. If you can spend most of your time with Qwackerjack, it may work out. DenverDucky and several others have single ducks. It is a full time job.

Take a deep breath and keep an eye out for a possible companion. First we need to know if Q is a drake or a duck (female). With just two, I feel two of the same sex is usually best. But there are always exceptions! I know of male-female pairs that do well. I also know of drakes that just want to mate all the time, and that is very very hard on the duck.

 

[Burns Homestead]

Okay I have been raising chickens for years but Ducks I just started a couple months ago my question is do I feed the same? like chick starter then chick grower and then lay pellets? I also give them any garden scraps I have left over.

 

[LittleBlu]

Okay I have been raising chickens for years but Ducks I just started a couple months ago my question is do I feed the same? like chick starter then chick grower and then lay pellets? I also give them any garden scraps I have left over.

They can have chick starter as long as its unmedicated. Chicken layer I'm not sure but I believe that is the layer feed people have been saying they feed their ducks. Vegetable scraps are fine but, don't quote me, I saw something about fruits being too acidic for ducks

 

[Miss Lydia]

Okay I have been raising chickens for years but Ducks I just started a couple months ago my question is do I feed the same? like chick starter then chick grower and then lay pellets? I also give them any garden scraps I have left over.

Yes to all 3. also ducks love to forage for bugs so if you give them time they will take care of all your slugs, grass hoppers and spiders and other bugs as well. Have fun.

 

[Burns Homestead]

All of them free range and I raise mealworms for them Thank You so much I wasnt sure because I seen a bag at TSC called flockraiser and another bag for ducks so I was like oh no I am feeding them wrong lol

 

[Miss Lydia]

All of them free range and I raise mealworms for them Thank You so much I wasnt sure because I seen a bag at TSC called flockraiser and another bag for ducks so I was like oh no I am feeding them wrong lol

Since I have ducks geese and chickens I use Flock raiser instead of buying chick, grower,layer that way I can feed one feed [ FR] to hatchlings all the way to old age. if you only have ducks and want to feed water fowl food that would be great too. My flock love meal worms too.

 

[Burns Homestead]

Since I have ducks geese and chickens I use Flock raiser instead of buying chick, grower,layer that way I can feed one feed [ FR] to hatchlings all the way to old age. if you only have ducks and want to feed water fowl food that would be great too. My flock love meal worms too.

Okay Thank You so you can feed chicks and ducklings flock raiser?