When can I take my duckling for his/hers 1st swim in the creek?

[Rainbow1036]

My duckling will be 3 weeks old on Tuesday, when should I take him/her (not sure of gender yet) out on its 1st swim in the creek in my backyard? I'm planning on going out in my kayak so I can be with him/her at all times. I already let him/her swim in a paint tray 2-3 times a day and take him/her on walks in our yard.

Thanks in advance

 

[streemers]

if the water moves fast then no

 

[Rainbow1036]

its just a slow moving narrow creek, the wild ducklings with their moms go swimming in it on day 1

 

[streemers]

well if your going to be right there then i dont see why not

 

[Rainbow1036]

should my duckling be producing oil yet at 3 weeks old?

 

[Wifezilla]

If you are supervising, the duck will be fine. I bet if you look really close you can see the little oil gland on the top of the tail.

 

[PeepsInc]

My ducks would go nuts in there little pool. You may have a hard time keeping up with it in a bigger body of water. Try fencing off a small area of yard, with the fence running into the water. So it has a swim area in it's pen. Even just a small temporary one that you can put it in for exercise.

 

[Rainbow1036]

OK thanks everyone

I'll try and set up a penned off area near the shore with a portable dog kennel we have, if that doesn't work then I'll get the kayak out and just keep him from going farther downstream (my kayak is long enough that I can stretch it from one bank to the other thus the duckling cant float farther down unless he/she figures out how to dive under it lol)

I'm going to wait several days tho, its 60 degrees F out right now and its been raining the past 4 days so the water is pretty cold right now.