Duck Questions

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*Please bear with me as I'm a newbie to poultry and am trying to get this right with out screwing up my ducks.*

My well meaning but misguided husband recently bought 3 Peking ducklings as a gift for me. The thing is he brought home 3 ducks in a box but no food, no place to put them, and no fore thought put into how to care for them...Yeah this is the guy I'm stuck with until death do we part. I'm not sure if he was thinking this would be like a parakeet and we would just stick them in a little cage and give 'em bird seed or what! Ugh! this man makes my head hurt.

Anyway, here's how I have them set up for now (feel free to offer constructive criticism):
I have them indoors until I can get a safe pin for them built. They are in a large dog cage with a nest box and a heat lamp to keep them warm. I clean it out twice a day to keep it from getting gross. I'm feeding them chick starter right now to which they have 24hr access. They have a deep enough water bowl to dip their faces in and I add vitamin drops to the water which I change 4 or 5 times a day. I also let them swim in the bath tub twice a day so they can play and get a little exercise.

Questions:
How can I tell how old they are? I've read that you have to make changes to their diet as they grow but I'm not sure when to make those changes because I don't know how old they are.

I suspect that I have two males and a female. If this is true can I keep them together as they mature or will the males eventually fight over the female?

I have a large, heavily filtered, ornamental fish pond. I have ALOT of money invested in this pond. Could the ducks live in peace with my pond and its inhabitants or will they wreck everything and kill my expensive fish?
 
they will kill your pond
girls quack boys make a donald duck noise and have a curl in their tail
chick crumb is what i gave mine until out side then they started eating layers pellet. there is a duck pellet but im pretty sure its the same as the layers just £1 dearer so i mix the 2 bags jus in case i wrong as all eat together.
iv a dog kennel for them with a door and a large rabbit house on stilts so have a choise.
 
You cant really tell how old they are, if we seen pics we could give you a guesstimate! Have their feathers started to come through? Are you hearing any quacks or purrs? My pekin first quacked at four weeks. And she her feathers were coming through quite well by that point.

Mine are in a dog crate until about 2-3 weeks of age. I have corrugated plastic lining the sides to prevent them getting heads/necks etc trapped. and they have an electric hen in it too!


I feed mine chick crumb mixed with water for 1st day or two. Theyre on this for about two weeks, then i gradually introduce growers to them which I mix with dry chick crumb. By two-three weeks theyre usually off their crumb and flat out on growers. I then feed growers until theyre about 18-20 weeks.

Some people say to do it differently, but this is what works for me. :-)17
 
I just took these with my ipod:

wittleDucks.jpg


ducks2.jpg
 
Cute!!

My guess would be about 2 1/2 -3 weeks, by comparing pics of my pekin.

http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z328/Kayla_Lewis/007.jpg

This is my spoilt pekin girly that was around four weeks old on that picture. - with a border collie and baby gate for comparison! Ducks grow imensly quickly! very surprising! That duck in the pic now weights about 9lbs lol shes so lovely though, i getta dead leg if she sits on me too long!!
 
little babies i cant belive mine were that small once. chick crumb for some time then. id say fue weeks too no fethers.
 
Thanks for the guesstimate on age. I just learned that the store where my husband bought these from gets them from a hatchery that mass produces ducks generally for food. That makes me feel kind of sad in a way. These little ones love to be held and talked to. When I take them outside they follow me every where and every time a sit down they come and sit on my feet. You'll never find a warmer, softer pair of slippers. Now eating a duck just seems taboo...like eating my dog or my cat and washing it down with a couple of hamsters lol
 
unless very warm out side id leave them under the light if they are only 2 weeks they can get cold very quick.
 
Lol thats exactly how i feel about ducks now! I used to love duck before having them as pets! Im too scared to get chickens as i LOVE chicken, i live on it lol so I would have a tough time keeping and eating them!
 
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