Bullied duckling!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anonymous
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Dont worry, I would leave them together, and not risk putting them back with the other ducklings for a least 2 weeks. The house and run you have as a temporary measure sounds fine, I am sure they will settle down together and become firm friends. Keep them on good quality growers, preferably waterfowl growers and move the water container next to the food to encourage eating and drinking, if the water is closer that will encourage them to come out.
I have found duck breeds seem to mature at dfferent rates, and come the autumn they all calm down and the should all be OK as a flock. Good luck and keep us posted! :D
 
Thank you foxy - that's eased my mind a little :D . I'll move the water tray tonight when I get home. I'm trying to get JoJo (the bullied one) to eat the growers pellets but I've still been putting in mushed up chick crumb which she loves and that bowl's empty every morning. I deliberately didn't put any in this morning, only the pellets, otherwise she's just going to eat the mush forever isn't she? The bowl of pellets doesn't seem to be going down much so I'm wondering exactly how much the other one (Lloyd!) is eating? When I go and feed the other 15 ducklings they wolf it all down and usually want seconds - but they are much larger than her of course. Just another thought (!) will these two grow slower because they're in a hut and not swimming and exercising? All these questions!!!! :D
 
i would just stop wirrying and start enjoying them, just wait till you think your littly is big enough not to be knocked over, then put them back in
ducks are very resiliant, much stronger than chicks :D
 
Yes, agree with the above. Ducks like to eat a little then drink / dabble a little so having food and water next to one another helps them.

Good Luck. Tim
 
Good morning all - sorry I haven't replied but the home computer is having a hissy fit and I couldn't get onto my emails over the weekend. Well I patrolled the hut all Saturday and they DO come out (until they see me of course) I've become superb at hiding behind trees now :lol: They both came out several times during the day and I saw JoJo get into the tray (changed the little enamel one to a much bigger roasting tin!!!) and have a good wash then Lloyd did the same thing. They're both really clean and fluffy so they must be washing regularly. Bought some mash on Friday and tried them on that and they both loved it - pellets bowl hardly touched - mash bowl empty twice a day! She's definitely getting bigger - they've been in the hut for five and a bit days now so I'll keep them in this week and see how they are on Saturday. I snuck up on them yesterday and they were both cuddled up together :D how gorgeous! Thank you sooooo much to everyone who replied and gave me advice and encouragement - I can't WAIT to let them out with the others - this is going to be a long weekend! I shall keep you posted :D xxx
 
No problem on the delay, the idea of the forum is for people to pop in and out as they feel so there's no urgency ;)

I'm sorry to say it but it's best not to feed mash to waterfowl as it can get stuck in their (wet) bills.

I find plastic trays from the garden centre very useful as they grow and need more water to wash in. Whatever they have, just make sure they can get their heads in some water to keep their eyes clean - ducks don't have tear ducts so need clean water to keep their eyes clean.

Good luck, it sounds like you're having such fun!
 
I am indeed having fun - though maybe not so much at 6.30 am when I'm cleaning out their pooh! I've even got people from work collecting newspapers for me as I put them down on the floor of the pen overlapping so just have to roll them all up every morning and night and put them on the compost. I've noticed that they both come out and sit on the newspapers as soon as they're clean - must be warm. The man in the feed shop told me ducklings eat mash - grrrr - ah well the chickens like it too so they can have it. Even the geese ate it this morning. Probably a silly question but is it a bit like porridge? Can you make hot mash for the winter for them or is that just barking? Back to just pellets for those two then. Should have read this this morning as I put mash in there before I left. I think the tray I have is deep enough - I've certainly seen them wash - which was soooo cute :D Hubby was looking at them last night and was wondering if we should try them back out with the others. They've certainly grown loads. It's a week today since they've been in the hut. I told him someone on this forum (sorry I can't remember who without going back and reading all your messages!!) had said to re-introduce them at night so we'll probably wait till Friday night so we can be around if there's any hoohah. Wonder what'll happen? If they pick on them again I guess we'll just have to take them out again. I hope not - I really want them both to be back with the gang swimming and not stuck in that horrible pen on their own. Talk to you soon :D xxx
 
I tend to introduce ducklings to other ducks a bit differently than chickens, maybe because I have runners and they tend to be a bit nervy. I introduce ducks during the day, and carefully observe them to see if they are bonding as a flock,if the timing and age is right usually there are no problems. I then let them naturally go to bed together, in the morning they are best friends! :D :D My ducks would get too stressed if I introduced a new duck/duckling into their shed at night. Others may do things differently though! :D
 
Hi foxy - that's interesting. I would actually prefer to re-introduce them in the daylight so I can observe them, as you say, and make sure there's no bullying going on so I can intervene like I did last time. Might make sure I'm not in my dressing gown and slippers this time though before I dive into the stream to rescue them :lol: Guess we'll just go with our hearts - as we normally do :D JoJo is obviously always going to be smaller than the rest so I guess there's never going to be the 'right' time for her. Lloyd is the same size as the gang so I guess he'll be OK. She certainly looks bigger and stronger so it won't be long before we try (though it feels forEVER since they've been in the pen!). Many thanks :D
 
Good morning! A little update for you. On Saturday we decided to try and reintroduce JoJo and Lloyd to the gang during the day. Carried them over and put them over the fence - within two minutes they, especially JoJo, were being harrassed. She was pinned up against the fence and the bigger ones were putting their necks over hers - obviously trying to drown her :( . So that was that. Took them out again. This time though we didn't put them back in the penned cage just sat them down on the grass. They loved it :D . Brought their food dishes out and filled a washing up bowl full of water - they were in and out of it, eating their food, eating grass, looking for god knows what in the dirt. The hut is in the 'garden' part of our home but we've always let all the birds (ducks, chickens and geese) roam freely - which was lovely to see but annoying cos they eat all my flowers! We put a barrier between the garden and the rest of the land (grass, mud, stream and woods) so none of the ducks or geese could come up there. The hens flew in of course and neither of the ducklings were bothered in the slightest - one of the cutest things was seeing both of them drinking out of the bowl and being joined by a chicken for a drink! At some stage, the barrier fell down - I wasn't around but hubby saw this. JoJo and Lloyd went down onto the land and joined the adult ducks - a few sniffs but no argy-bargy at all. Great. Until they got too close to a nest one of the geese had made and the goose had - guess who? - pinned into a corner :x little JoJo must have 'please bully me' on her forehead. Hubby shooed the goose away and herded the ducklings back into the garden. No harm done. The first two days we let them out I had to go and take them from the hut inside the pen and physically take them out. The third time I looked into the pen and they were sat on the newspapers, opened the door and they walked out, down the little ramp I'd made for them :D . So, that's my update - they are both now outside walking around the garden all day, sleeping in the penned cage at night. I reckon they're better off than the other ducklings :D . We've managed to sell 5 of them so there's 10 left now. Not sure that I want to try and reintroduce them now - they seem perfectly happy (for the time being) roaming round the garden with the chickens! Only problem is I reckon most of the 10 are boys so we may not be able to sell them. Anyway, for now, all is sunshine and roses :D :D :D xx
 
Great, pleased you are making some progress..

Without wishing to put a cloud in front of your sunshine :oops: - if you have ALL drakes, they can often all get on well together however if there are ducks involved - ie more drakes than ducks, you will have problems next spring - so it's worth thinking about getting the numbers right over the winter months whilst there is stock available for sale. Come the early spring, they will be in short supply and more expensive.
 
Hi Tim. Yes it certainly is progress - the two seem very happy and are waiting for me each morning to open the door :D . Thanks for the advice - I wouldn't have thought of that till it was too late probably :roll: I was listening to them last night and I'm sure I heard two or three females there (a (albeit feeble) quack instead of the quieter noise the males make?). They're so young it's really difficult and if you pick them up they get stressed and all make the same noise. What do you think would be a good ratio for males and females? If I'm right there could be three ducks and 7 drakes (not taking into account what sexes JoJo and Lloyd are of course!). On another note re the ducklings - we seem to have five aylesburys, three light gray ones (harlequins?) and two which are almost black with a yellow 'bib' - any idea on the black ones? They should have all been aylesburys.... I think we (hubby and I) decided last night that instead of re-introducing the two little ducklings to the others in the pen/stream we might re-introduce the 10 to the 2 on the grass and see what happens? The only problem we have now is a broody goose who won't let anyone near her nest except me - and that's only if I have bread in my hands :lol: .
 
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