BlueSwedish42
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Hello, I have browsed this site before and it seems like many people with experience are here, I have found helpful advice just from reading posts that address my issues, but this time I have a specific situation w/ our ducks that I need some duck lovers w/ more exp to give me their advice on. May be a little long but please read and advise:
Background:
My son was gifted two ducklings as a surprise to both of us this Spring(March) and we raised them as best we could w/ lil experience & preparedness(I didn't have the means for a super professional setup to keep them in). We absolutely love them and they reached adulthood w/ no serious issues.
[Until they reached a certain age they were inside overnight in a small pen, during the next phase I brought them in overnight but let them out onto the lake w/ a morning feeding{other feedings through the day as well} and would Kayak out to bring them in once the sun was setting, and eventually they seemed grown and adjusted enough to let them live on the lake 24/7{they come up to our shore for feedings but we rarely handle and we never bring them inside}]
They kind of live a half domesticated-half wild lifestyle but they are very well taken care of. They have bonded with other ducks in the area, there is a white Peking Duck(neighbors introduced to the lake b4 we had ours) that the male of our pair(Kennedy, Blue Swedish) seems to have paired w. One of the fully wild Mallards that flew in with the summer pack has paired with our female(Ashe, not sure of species{half something-half BlueSwedish?}}, to the point that the rest of the wild pack has migrated away but he stayed here despite the lake freezing over.
So as of now it is a pack of 4 living on the lake together, our 2 and their partners.
And now my issue:
I was worried about their 1st winter and did research on the hardiness of Blue Swedish and landed on building them a covered shelter w/ straw bale insulation near their feeding spot and letting them stay outdoors for winter.
Fed them overtime as winter approached to let them build up a winter layer.
I've considered the idea of bringing them inside the house overnight again when the temps got super low but I am worried that ripping them away from their bonded mates overnight might wind up causing more damage in the long run if they lose their bond with their pack, or the 2 that I don't bring in get so stressed the get hurt or leave. During the transition into this half wild living arrangement Kennedy & Ashe slowly grew more averse to the idea of being picked up at all by us, which I was actually happy to see as I don't want them too comfortable with any human walking up to them anyway. Ashe will call back to me from across the lake and head right over to get fed, but other than that I am happy to see them keeping their guard up.
The lake began to freeze, but they seemed to be fine at first; I would take food out to the shore near the edge of the frozen part and they seemed happy and healthy.
Then the whole lake froze but at the moment they have a good sized hole that they are keeping unfrozen swimming around in it. Did more research at that point and found that some ducks can do that and survive the winter that way; so I let that go on, bringing them food out to the edge of their hole multiple times a day.
Just two days ago I noticed the hole they have was halfway frozen over with a thin layer of ice so I went at it with a hammer and opened it back to the full size they had to begin with, I did that as well yesterday. They still seem perfectly healthy(we made it through I think about 9 degrees at its coldest just recently and the temps look to rise for a couple days)
But we have one more dip in temp coming up that shows a -5 degrees low in the forecast.
I think Kennedy will be fine as he is a full Blue Swedish male(the Peking he paired w/ lived through last winter outside 24/7) but our female Ashe I have no clue what she is. She has a pattern similar to a female mallard but her body shape seems close to his(def chonkier than the wild female mallards that were around), and she didn't start flying at 7-8 months like I had expected(she did actually fly a good distance to meet me as I crossed the lake towards them w food this week, I think she saw her wild mallard buddy fly and realized she should try it lol)
One last detail of why I am more worried for her is that she suffered a bill injury one of their first weeks doing overnight on the lake, I think she got clipped by a snapping turtle. The top section of her bill has about 1/3 of it missing, when it first happened we were worried but I cleaned it daily and she adapted to it and returned to eating fairly easily. This has fully healed and outside of me having to make sure she gets to eat out of a dish she can shove her bill down into it doesn't seem to hinder her. But about 1 cm or less of her tongue is exposed to the elements unless she tucks her head into her wings. So kind of concerned about frostbite there causing long term problems.
I wrestled with what to do all night and I am fully stuck in the middle between the my choices.
We are in Ohio for background info on general temperature.
Adding pics for ID purposes
Again, I can't bring all 4 inside, so if I go with bringing them in they are going to be separated from their pack and I know it is going to stress all 4 of them out drastically. Maybe to the point where the Wild Mallard decides to just leave.
[Edit]Extra detail: they never did start using the shelter I built and the hole they are occupying is about halfway out down the lake from us. So they are just staying at the hole 24/7
Give me your opinion so I can weigh them against discussion we have been having as a family:
Should I...
A) Let them stay outdoors and keep going as we have been
B) Bring them both in overnight for just the coldest night(maybe more if it stays low)
C) Bring just Ashe in and let Kennedy stay outside with the pack(K & A were raised side by side with us so they have a bond from the start)
I limited the poll to these 3 options, but please do reply with a post if u have a fourth suggestion I didn't consider.
P.S. I know the situation is odd, but we love these ducks w/ all our heart, they are our babies. Just rolled w the punches and tried to let them live their best lives out on the lake. I put so much detail in this, thx for reading it all; I still feel like there
is more I can add but I will save it for responses.
Background:
My son was gifted two ducklings as a surprise to both of us this Spring(March) and we raised them as best we could w/ lil experience & preparedness(I didn't have the means for a super professional setup to keep them in). We absolutely love them and they reached adulthood w/ no serious issues.
[Until they reached a certain age they were inside overnight in a small pen, during the next phase I brought them in overnight but let them out onto the lake w/ a morning feeding{other feedings through the day as well} and would Kayak out to bring them in once the sun was setting, and eventually they seemed grown and adjusted enough to let them live on the lake 24/7{they come up to our shore for feedings but we rarely handle and we never bring them inside}]
They kind of live a half domesticated-half wild lifestyle but they are very well taken care of. They have bonded with other ducks in the area, there is a white Peking Duck(neighbors introduced to the lake b4 we had ours) that the male of our pair(Kennedy, Blue Swedish) seems to have paired w. One of the fully wild Mallards that flew in with the summer pack has paired with our female(Ashe, not sure of species{half something-half BlueSwedish?}}, to the point that the rest of the wild pack has migrated away but he stayed here despite the lake freezing over.
So as of now it is a pack of 4 living on the lake together, our 2 and their partners.
And now my issue:
I was worried about their 1st winter and did research on the hardiness of Blue Swedish and landed on building them a covered shelter w/ straw bale insulation near their feeding spot and letting them stay outdoors for winter.
Fed them overtime as winter approached to let them build up a winter layer.
I've considered the idea of bringing them inside the house overnight again when the temps got super low but I am worried that ripping them away from their bonded mates overnight might wind up causing more damage in the long run if they lose their bond with their pack, or the 2 that I don't bring in get so stressed the get hurt or leave. During the transition into this half wild living arrangement Kennedy & Ashe slowly grew more averse to the idea of being picked up at all by us, which I was actually happy to see as I don't want them too comfortable with any human walking up to them anyway. Ashe will call back to me from across the lake and head right over to get fed, but other than that I am happy to see them keeping their guard up.
The lake began to freeze, but they seemed to be fine at first; I would take food out to the shore near the edge of the frozen part and they seemed happy and healthy.
Then the whole lake froze but at the moment they have a good sized hole that they are keeping unfrozen swimming around in it. Did more research at that point and found that some ducks can do that and survive the winter that way; so I let that go on, bringing them food out to the edge of their hole multiple times a day.
Just two days ago I noticed the hole they have was halfway frozen over with a thin layer of ice so I went at it with a hammer and opened it back to the full size they had to begin with, I did that as well yesterday. They still seem perfectly healthy(we made it through I think about 9 degrees at its coldest just recently and the temps look to rise for a couple days)
But we have one more dip in temp coming up that shows a -5 degrees low in the forecast.
I think Kennedy will be fine as he is a full Blue Swedish male(the Peking he paired w/ lived through last winter outside 24/7) but our female Ashe I have no clue what she is. She has a pattern similar to a female mallard but her body shape seems close to his(def chonkier than the wild female mallards that were around), and she didn't start flying at 7-8 months like I had expected(she did actually fly a good distance to meet me as I crossed the lake towards them w food this week, I think she saw her wild mallard buddy fly and realized she should try it lol)
One last detail of why I am more worried for her is that she suffered a bill injury one of their first weeks doing overnight on the lake, I think she got clipped by a snapping turtle. The top section of her bill has about 1/3 of it missing, when it first happened we were worried but I cleaned it daily and she adapted to it and returned to eating fairly easily. This has fully healed and outside of me having to make sure she gets to eat out of a dish she can shove her bill down into it doesn't seem to hinder her. But about 1 cm or less of her tongue is exposed to the elements unless she tucks her head into her wings. So kind of concerned about frostbite there causing long term problems.
I wrestled with what to do all night and I am fully stuck in the middle between the my choices.
We are in Ohio for background info on general temperature.
Adding pics for ID purposes
Again, I can't bring all 4 inside, so if I go with bringing them in they are going to be separated from their pack and I know it is going to stress all 4 of them out drastically. Maybe to the point where the Wild Mallard decides to just leave.
[Edit]Extra detail: they never did start using the shelter I built and the hole they are occupying is about halfway out down the lake from us. So they are just staying at the hole 24/7
Give me your opinion so I can weigh them against discussion we have been having as a family:
Should I...
A) Let them stay outdoors and keep going as we have been
B) Bring them both in overnight for just the coldest night(maybe more if it stays low)
C) Bring just Ashe in and let Kennedy stay outside with the pack(K & A were raised side by side with us so they have a bond from the start)
I limited the poll to these 3 options, but please do reply with a post if u have a fourth suggestion I didn't consider.
P.S. I know the situation is odd, but we love these ducks w/ all our heart, they are our babies. Just rolled w the punches and tried to let them live their best lives out on the lake. I put so much detail in this, thx for reading it all; I still feel like there
is more I can add but I will save it for responses.