- Aug 2, 2017
- 1
- 1
- 59
hello! first time poster and duck owner.
about two months ago, my family and i acquired some mallard ducks from some terrible living conditions. we live out in the desert; it reaches 120 in the summer sometimes. not exactly an ideal place to own ducks to begin with, but the people who owned them also rarely provided any sort of water and had them crammed in with several chickens and guinea fowl.
they also only ate cracked corn. only.
when we got them, they were dirty, skittish, and had just started their molt. no green to be found on their heads and they were sort of scruffy and puffed up everywhere as they prepared to drop their feathers. as such, it was kind of hard to tell just how thin they were. when we would pick them up (rarely, because they had been terrorised by kids and don't like being handled), they felt pretty light, but we've never owned ducks so we weren't sure just how light they were supposed to be.
today, they finally finished dropping all their feathers from what i can tell. however, now i can see their keel bone. its definitely protruding i think, and the sides of it are sunken in. however, their crops seem pretty okay and they've kind of got, like, cleavage? there's a little indent in their breasts.
their keel just kind of is there, especially visible between the legs.
anyway, they eat fine i think? we feed them a 16% layer feed by Dumor from TSC. couldn't find anything other that layer feed but i heard that was okay for drakes?
they usually only eat it at night, since it's hot during the day and they tend to forage around in the grass eating bugs and clover most of the time. sometimes they don't even empty out their bowl. they love lettuce, grapes, and corn, which they get every day. we also have this meat based kibble that's supposed to "promote" foraging, but they've stopped caring about it as much now that it's hotter it seems.
they also play a lot. they chase each other around and duck their heads in their pool and wag their little tails. the bigger one, Ace, not in the pool, is more dominate and also more friendly. he eats out of our hands, while the smaller one, Gary, just kind of hangs back and we have to throw his treats to him.
i'm really sorry if this is long winded, i'm just kind of out of depth and worried? i don't know if they're too thin, if they look okay, if we should be doing something more? if they are thin i'm assuming it's from their previous mistreatment, but if that's the case should they have put on more weight in the two months we've had them? i'm going to feel pretty dumb if they look okay and there's nothing to worry about.
about two months ago, my family and i acquired some mallard ducks from some terrible living conditions. we live out in the desert; it reaches 120 in the summer sometimes. not exactly an ideal place to own ducks to begin with, but the people who owned them also rarely provided any sort of water and had them crammed in with several chickens and guinea fowl.
they also only ate cracked corn. only.
when we got them, they were dirty, skittish, and had just started their molt. no green to be found on their heads and they were sort of scruffy and puffed up everywhere as they prepared to drop their feathers. as such, it was kind of hard to tell just how thin they were. when we would pick them up (rarely, because they had been terrorised by kids and don't like being handled), they felt pretty light, but we've never owned ducks so we weren't sure just how light they were supposed to be.
today, they finally finished dropping all their feathers from what i can tell. however, now i can see their keel bone. its definitely protruding i think, and the sides of it are sunken in. however, their crops seem pretty okay and they've kind of got, like, cleavage? there's a little indent in their breasts.
their keel just kind of is there, especially visible between the legs.
anyway, they eat fine i think? we feed them a 16% layer feed by Dumor from TSC. couldn't find anything other that layer feed but i heard that was okay for drakes?
they usually only eat it at night, since it's hot during the day and they tend to forage around in the grass eating bugs and clover most of the time. sometimes they don't even empty out their bowl. they love lettuce, grapes, and corn, which they get every day. we also have this meat based kibble that's supposed to "promote" foraging, but they've stopped caring about it as much now that it's hotter it seems.
they also play a lot. they chase each other around and duck their heads in their pool and wag their little tails. the bigger one, Ace, not in the pool, is more dominate and also more friendly. he eats out of our hands, while the smaller one, Gary, just kind of hangs back and we have to throw his treats to him.
i'm really sorry if this is long winded, i'm just kind of out of depth and worried? i don't know if they're too thin, if they look okay, if we should be doing something more? if they are thin i'm assuming it's from their previous mistreatment, but if that's the case should they have put on more weight in the two months we've had them? i'm going to feel pretty dumb if they look okay and there's nothing to worry about.
