We survived our duck journey week 2 and learned even more! The babies are growing more and more everyday and are becoming more entertaining to watch. We have seen their personalities come our a little more each day. This week I was able to convince my youngest to change Ghosty’s name to Olive. Much more fitting and my momma brain is happy with that!

A few things we learned this week about Lemon and Olive.

Water

• When you buy ducks or research ducks they tell you that you need enough water for them to put their heads in. We learned that it doesn’t mean just to put their heads in. When we bought the recommended starter package from IFA when we brought the babies home that it was all we needed until they got bigger. (Here is the recommended kit, I would use it for chicks over ducks).https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/double-tuf-beginner-poultry-kit-dtbpkit-1429581?store=1936&cid=Shopping-Google-Local_Feed&utm_medium=Google&utm_source=Shopping&utm_campaign=&utm_content=Local_Feed&gclid=CjwKCAjwx_eiBhBGEiwA15gLN_iTMeh4FvJV8TDC2dddKD13fac_5HejotQ-WtYicShc2OPzwEuU5BoCkecQAvD_BwE. Were we wrong! Ducks need water for many reasons. First they need it to eat food. I explained the process to my boys like this. Imagine eating a whole mouthful of crackers and not having anything to drink after. Ducks mix their food and water together so they don’t choke.
• They need it to keep their eyes, nose, and bodies clean. When you have ducklings that don’t have a mom, their feathers are not water proof so they can’t swim but they still need enough water to clean themselves off. They use the water to clean out their noses by blowing bubbles into it. Our ducklings started to get really warm almost feverish and a little bit lethargic. I changed their water to a deeper dish and they climbed right in cleaned themselves off and they pepped up and were clean and happy. We let them go into our bathtub as well to give them more room to move around in. They need deep enough water to clean and play but shallow enough that they can stand in if they get to soaking wet!
  • Our babies in the bathtub!

Clean Bedding

• Aspergillosis… scary word I know. It’s a non-contagious fungal infection that can happen in ducks and is common. Causes…
  • Living in an area with humidity and poor circulation
  • Regularly exposed to damp bedding
  • Exposed to large accumulations of dust
  • Unsanitary beds with a buildup in feces
• No our ducks did not get this but it was on our list of research that we found when we noticed that they began to be feverish and lethargic. We were using two storage buckets and would change their bedding in the morning and the night including a new clean bucket that we had sprayed out early and let dry. We cleaned their bedding that often before but it just became less dusty and dirty for them and easier to clean for us.

So Social

• They follow my boys everywhere and love attention. They even follow my husband and I around the house. One day my husband left our back door open when he went outside and turned around and noticed that they had followed him out. So we let them hang outside only because it was 78 degrees. They loved it.
  • Posing for Pictures! This is our oldest’s scooter and his ducky. He was so proud when he saw the picture of Lemon “riding” his scooter.

Thanks for checking in on our duck journey week 2. Check back next week for a new week of updates, tips and more things that we have learned along our journey!

Note

We are not professionals when it comes to raising ducks. This is just a journal of our experiences and things that we have seen and gone through with ours. You can use our ideas but please do your own research and studying if you are thinking about getting your own.