Indian Runner ducklings and water

[roysandi]

We hatched a lone Indian Runner last week who was premature, she is doing really well now but thinks she is human so we bought some more babies of the same sort of age (give or take a day or two) to keep her company and persuade her she is a duck! This is our first duckling, we have hatched chicks before but not ducks and have read in lots of places that we should teach them to swim from 1 day old (using a paint roller tray), however when we collected the new ducklings we were advised not to let them get wet till they get their proper feathers or they will die of cold. They are in a nice warm brooder with sawdust and she seemed ok with this but obviously we don't want to kill them. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. 19

 

[foxy]

Hello Roysandi and welcome to the forum! 99

Yes the internet can be very confusing and difficult to work out the best advice at times!

Young ducklings when reared with their mother often hit the water very young, indeed can be seen bobbing around in the water next to mum at a day old. This is because mum actually uses her own oils to waterproof her ducklings, as at such a young age ducklings are unable to waterproof themselves or keep warm.

Artificial ducklings tend to be very energetic, especially runners, but are unable to provide adequate waterproofing or control their temperature so do run the risk of chilling if the get too waterlogged. I tend to use little ceramic bowls to start off with , they can dabble and eat their duckling crumb but not get too wet, then at around 2 weeks they can have something like a paint tray to dabble in, gradually increasing the depth as they get older.

I am sure dorsetduckowner will be along to add her thoughts too!

 

[roysandi]

Thanks for the help, we will keep them out of the water for a while longer, they all seem to be doing really well, just hoping we get a few girls!

 

[dorsetduckowner]

Hiya Sorry for the late reply I would totally agree with Foxy on this one. How are they getting on?