Friday, January 18, 2008

Pet Ducks


This post is for my young niece Jeniffer... Every time she comes to visit me she loves playing with the ducks around my property (especially is captivated by the cute little ducklings) and constantly she alludes to perhaps owning her own pet duck. I thought that I would post a link and some very useful advice regarding the best way to rear young ducklings so that you may have happy and healthy drakes and ducks! I know that all the ducks that I have come to know over the decades have each bought a piece of joy to my life and with this advice I know each of you can look after your flock as well as they look after you!



Ducks as Pets
Pet ducks will entertain you with their antics and eat pesky slugs and snails. A female will produce abundant eggs.

To look after ducklings all you need is a large cardboard box, some shavings or straw, a heat lamp, a feeder and a waterer. As they grow, they will need more space and less heat. Keep an eye on the birds; if they stay away from the heat, turn it off, if they get their pen messy quickly, they need more bedding and more space. By 5 or 6 weeks they can probably be outside all the time in good weather.

Ducks need a deep enough water bowl so they can dip their heads in water 2 or 3 times a day. They need to wash their eyes otherwise they can get dry eyes and cataracts.

A single pet duck can make a great pet but you should make sure you have enough time to devote to your duck. Make sure you get your duck very young or incubate the egg yourself and be the first thing he or she sees when it hatches. You will need to spend a lot of time bonding with your duck so that you and your family become the duck's flock. So you’ll need to devote yourself to playing and just being with your duck everyday, on top of the usual cleaning and feeding duties.

Ducks are social animals and will suffer if they don't have companionship. So if you can't make this commitment for the full 12 or so years a duck can live, you should get two or more ducks.

www.birddealer.com/australianpets/ducks

5 comments:

Ava said...

Hello, my name is Ava Koo, and I'm trying to legalize backyard ducks as pets in residential areas in Huntington and Huntington Station, NY. I started raising ducklings in my backyard because my mother is allergic to chicken eggs, and duck eggs would allow her to eat eggs again. Unfortunately, the town found out about my backyard ducks and are trying to make me get rid of them. Currently, only chickens are allowed, but I'm trying to change that! If you have any advice that would be amazing. I've also created a facebook group that I'll be updating as things progress and an online petition. Thank you!

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=147806406185

http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/ducks/

Unknown said...

What happens to the pets at a pet store if the pet store goes out of business?
It is advised that when wanting a pet, it is best to adopt at a shelter or adopt one from a reputable breeder. Pet store pets come from puppy mills and buying a pet from a pet store is supporting puppy mills, an exist generic viagra
for pets can be possible.

KatieCincotta said...

Hi Malcolm,
I'm a journalist for Pets magazine, writing about children owning a pet duckling. Would love to interview you for this story to offer kids some advice.
You can contact me on email at katie@kcword.com.
I'm on deadline to file this Friday 20 January.
Hope to hear from you.
Regards,
Katie Cincotta

Cialis said...

They are so adorable!

Elliott Broidy said...

Freaking cutest thing ever.