Upside down duckling in the pool!

[DarkWater1929]

It's a long story, involving a dry well, but my water birds' pool had only about 3 inches of water in it. Today, to my immense good fortune, I happened to go back to where it is. I found my mama Muscovy duck absolutely losing her mind in the pool. One of her two adopted Pekin ducklings ran to me, peeping frantically. The second duckling was flat on his back, in the pool. He had clearly been that way for a while. He was soaked to the skin, and had almost no voice left. It was well over 100° today, but when I picked him up, he was shivering violently.

Both ducklings are bigger than mom. But, they are only just getting their feathers. They still have their stupid, adorable, little stubby wings. He was helpless, with nothing to use, to flip back over. I am sure that he did not have much more time, when I found him.

Is this common??? I have never heard of such a thing! I am afraid, now, to leave them unattended, with any water bigger than a dog dish!

Have you heard of this happening? How do I keep the little idiots safe?

Thank you so much for anything you can offer!!!

Patience

 

[_-Captain BRM-_]

Wow! I haven't heard or struggled with this, but I wonder if when their adult feathers come in and they have wings, if they will be more... Floatable?

 

[Serin]

More water. If they can float, they can right themselves!

 

[Miss Lydia]

How is the little duckling doing today?

 

[PJ1]

I agree more water so they can right themselves. I have 3 ducks (male & female) snd 14 one week old ducklings in a huge pond. Mamma brings them up to the dock/deck every morning and goes back to best at sundown. They swim freely in their own and follow momma everywhere. It’s about the cutest thing I’ve seen. Now for my dogs. My little deer chihuahua is curious and gets close but responds to me to back off easily. My chiweeni (chihuahua and dachshund mix) has been difficult. He had momma’s neck in his mouth once shaking her. When I caught him he let her go. She was fine but I think he would have killed her. The ducklings I’m worried about because twice bid he’s grabbed one in his mouth and started to get away. Thank heaven I’ve caught him and he responds and drops them. Both survived. I have to keep his doggie door shut because I can’t trust him. There’s no other way to control the situation I’ve found. He gets scolded but he does it again if I turn my head. Wish I. Oils get him to leave them alone. My ducks are domesticated so they come up to the lawn and patio freely. They live on the pond so normally I’m not too worried but with the new ducklings hatched in the reeds, they are just yo easy prey. It doesn’t help that Oscar’s favorite toy is a yellow duck. No more duck toys!

 

[Miss Lydia]

You need to some how keep the dog and ducks separated. If you don't you may not be there next time to stop your dog. Then when you have time put your dog on a leash take it out with the ducks and train it not to go after them by teaching leave it. It's not overnight but many on here have dogs and poultry and have trained their dogs to accept the poultry as their own. I have mini dachshund and I had to teach them. I also had to train my geese to leave the dogs alone. [They like to bully]

 

[BelovedBirds]

I agree more water so they can right themselves. I have 3 ducks (male & female) snd 14 one week old ducklings in a huge pond. Mamma brings them up to the dock/deck every morning and goes back to best at sundown. They swim freely in their own and follow momma everywhere. It’s about the cutest thing I’ve seen. Now for my dogs. My little deer chihuahua is curious and gets close but responds to me to back off easily. My chiweeni (chihuahua and dachshund mix) has been difficult. He had momma’s neck in his mouth once shaking her. When I caught him he let her go. She was fine but I think he would have killed her. The ducklings I’m worried about because twice bid he’s grabbed one in his mouth and started to get away. Thank heaven I’ve caught him and he responds and drops them. Both survived. I have to keep his doggie door shut because I can’t trust him. There’s no other way to control the situation I’ve found. He gets scolded but he does it again if I turn my head. Wish I. Oils get him to leave them alone. My ducks are domesticated so they come up to the lawn and patio freely. They live on the pond so normally I’m not too worried but with the new ducklings hatched in the reeds, they are just yo easy prey. It doesn’t help that Oscar’s favorite toy is a yellow duck. No more duck toys!

In my view its better safe than sorry
I live with three dogs, one medium and two very large, very strong malamutes.
Two of these dogs are mine, and as much as I love them, I don't trust any of them with my ducks.
My elderly husky mix is the best behaved and she's allowed to be close to my ducks, but I wouldn't trust her loose with them because she wasn't socialised as a young dog and I find the risk of her unintentionally hurting them too great.
My malamute, as sweet as she may be, will never be allowed anywhere near my animals. She killed a wild pigeon once, and it took a long time to pry it from her mouth. So that's enough for me to rule out any possibility of giving her any time around my ducks.

Better safe than sorry.
I have my ducks in a pen to keep them away from the dogs, and also have a fence dividing the garden. So there is a double barrier to keep the dogs away.
Could you do something like this? At least with a single barrier, a fence?
I definitely personally wouldn't risk having your dog near your birds, even supervised, if loose